- Hardcover: 579 pages
- Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group (30 Sep 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 055310652X
- ISBN-13: 978-0553106527
- Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 15.5 x 4.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 941,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Rise of Endymion (Gollancz S.F.)
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Product Description
Product Description
In The Rise of Endymion, Dan Simmons brings to a triumphant conclusion one of the most celebrated, compelling, and dramatic science fiction sagas of our time. Brilliant, provocative, unfailingly inventive, the odyssey began with the Hugo Award-winning Hyperion, continued through the critically acclaimed The Fall of Hyperion and Endymion, and now ascends to its greatest heights yet....
The final chapter of this magnificent saga begins with two momentous events: the death and resurrection of Pope Julius XV and the coming-of-age of the new messiah. Her name is Aenea and she is the only person who can counter the pope and his plan to unleash the Pax Fleet, the Church's military wing, on a final genocidal Crusade to gain total dominion over the universe. The Church is allied with the infamous AI Core, which has offered immortality to humankind--or at least to those faithful who pledge total obedience to the Church--but at what terrible price? The Core has its own dark motives and secrets, and only Aenea knows what they are.
Aenea, too, has an ally. Her protector, Raul Endymion, onetime shepherd and convicted murderer, finds her in exile undergoing a strange apprenticeship on Old Earth. Here she has gained access to an information matrix created by the Others--the same mysterious Others who moved Old Earth to save it from the Core. But who are these Others? What has Aenea learned from them? And why has Old Earth been turned into a stage upon which cybrids from the past--from John Keats to Frank Lloyd Wright--repeat historical dramas of human genius for purposes known only to the Others?
The answers to these questions must wait. Together with the android A. Bettik, Endymion and his beloved Aenea embark on a final mission to find and comprehend the underlying fabric of the universe. The surprising nature of this medium and Aenea's ability to instruct her growing army of disciples in its discovery and use could provide the one weapon powerful enough to thwart their enemies while liberating humanity. Meanwhile, the enigmatic Shrike--monster, angel, killing machine--has followed them on their intergalactic sojourn and now stands ready to complete its own mission, revealing at last the long-held secret of its origin and purpose.
In The Rise of Endymion, Dan Simmons masterfully weaves together the complex strands of this extraordinary series. He answers all of the unsolved mysteries posed in the earlier volumes and brings the story full circle to the planet Hyperion, where it all began. A work of unparalleled power and vision, The Rise of Endymion is a masterpiece of the imagination by one of our most gifted writers.
The final chapter of this magnificent saga begins with two momentous events: the death and resurrection of Pope Julius XV and the coming-of-age of the new messiah. Her name is Aenea and she is the only person who can counter the pope and his plan to unleash the Pax Fleet, the Church's military wing, on a final genocidal Crusade to gain total dominion over the universe. The Church is allied with the infamous AI Core, which has offered immortality to humankind--or at least to those faithful who pledge total obedience to the Church--but at what terrible price? The Core has its own dark motives and secrets, and only Aenea knows what they are.
Aenea, too, has an ally. Her protector, Raul Endymion, onetime shepherd and convicted murderer, finds her in exile undergoing a strange apprenticeship on Old Earth. Here she has gained access to an information matrix created by the Others--the same mysterious Others who moved Old Earth to save it from the Core. But who are these Others? What has Aenea learned from them? And why has Old Earth been turned into a stage upon which cybrids from the past--from John Keats to Frank Lloyd Wright--repeat historical dramas of human genius for purposes known only to the Others?
The answers to these questions must wait. Together with the android A. Bettik, Endymion and his beloved Aenea embark on a final mission to find and comprehend the underlying fabric of the universe. The surprising nature of this medium and Aenea's ability to instruct her growing army of disciples in its discovery and use could provide the one weapon powerful enough to thwart their enemies while liberating humanity. Meanwhile, the enigmatic Shrike--monster, angel, killing machine--has followed them on their intergalactic sojourn and now stands ready to complete its own mission, revealing at last the long-held secret of its origin and purpose.
In The Rise of Endymion, Dan Simmons masterfully weaves together the complex strands of this extraordinary series. He answers all of the unsolved mysteries posed in the earlier volumes and brings the story full circle to the planet Hyperion, where it all began. A work of unparalleled power and vision, The Rise of Endymion is a masterpiece of the imagination by one of our most gifted writers.
About the Author
Dan Simmons won the World Fantasy Award for his first novel, SONG OF KALI,. inspired by his travels in India. In the 1990s he rewrote the SF rulebook with his Hyperion Cantos quartet. He has also written thrillers. Alongside his writing he maintains a career as a college lecturer in English Literature in the USA.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I came to this book via the Hyperion series, good books in their own right, all deserving five stars. But nothing prepared me for this.
First and foremost this is a love story and if you relate to the characters you've had it - you are in for a rollercoaster ride (if not - are you alive?). Yes, the ending is signposted in outline from a long way out, but it still does not prepare you when you get there. Since finishing the book, I re-read the final chapters several times and it haunted me for several days afterward. At best bittersweet, at worst horrific. I can't imagine another book in the series or setting - it could only be monochrome in comparison to this.
The book does suffer from the criticisms mentioned by other reviewers - overly long in places, overturning previous 'facts' as lies. It does not detract from the overall impact.
The last time a book caught me like this was reading Raymond Feist/Janny Wurts' Servant of the Empire nearly 15 years ago. I'll warn you in advance, its not as good as this.
I pity the author of the next book I read, the bar has been set impossibly high.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
SF series are, if well written, often tense, fast-moving, page-turners with action on an epic scale. What they are rarely is emotional and touching, leaving the reader moved by the dignity, suffering and, ultimately, tragedy (in its classic sense of inevitability) of the characters.
The Rise Of Endymion is both of these but it is the emotional grip it takes on you that is most unusual. At one point the impact of one of the revelations on me was so strong that I felt as if I had been slapped, and had to put the book down for a while to recover.
The final 'twist' is signposted so much that I guessed it about 300 pages in advance but the cleverness of the writing is such that this in no way diminshes the power the text has over you. Like the previous reviewer my first inclination on finishing it is to go back to the beginning of the Hyperion Cantos and read it all over again, but more slowly.
This is the best series I have ever read, far better than Dune, Foundation or any of the usual suspects always trotted out as comparisons when a book like this is published. Read it and enjoy - but don't think that you can remain unaffected by it!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I doubt if anyone who has read all four of the Hyperion/Endymion books would disagree that the collection, viewed as a whole, is a science fiction masterpiece. Unfortunately this last volume suffers from a malaise that is infecting much of the genre (and Fantasy as well): literary elephantiasis. Simply put, it would have been a much better book if about a third of it had been binned, particularly large chunks of the "Tibetan" stuff and many of the descriptive passages. I found myself speed-reading dozens of pages until I spotted signs that the story was starting again or that Simmons was expounding a bit more of his philosophy.
Nevertheless, if you have finished the first three volumes you would be mad not to read this one as well, and to be fair, the "good" two thirds are as good as anything in the series. Nearly all the story lines are brought to satisfactory conclusions, but there are several appetising morsels scattered around the closing pages that suggest that Simmons would like to revisit his universe. I hope he does.
Nevertheless, if you have finished the first three volumes you would be mad not to read this one as well, and to be fair, the "good" two thirds are as good as anything in the series. Nearly all the story lines are brought to satisfactory conclusions, but there are several appetising morsels scattered around the closing pages that suggest that Simmons would like to revisit his universe. I hope he does.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Pseudo-Religious Waffle
This is a great read. The futuristic world that Dan Simmons creates in his Hyperion and Endymion books is fascinating, engaging, and one that I would have enjoyed exploring in... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Kublai Dom
a bit of a problem
what is the point of having 3 out of 4 books available on kindle without having the 3rd book available
Published 11 months ago by Mr. C. Nicholson
The End of the Hyperion Cantos?
First, realise that this is book 4 of 4 (at least as I write) of the Hyperion Cantos, and within the 4 part Cantos, book 2 of 2 of Endymion's story. Read more
Published on 16 Nov 2009 by S. Loddick
The Rise of Endymion
Well, my path towards this book started when I read a short story by Dan Simmons in an anthology called New Horizons. Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2009 by B. Humphreys
The Rise of Endymion
This is a great book. Carrying on and concluding the story begun in Endymion, it was even better than its predecessor. Read more
Published on 28 May 2009 by J. Layland
My 100-word book review
Don't even think about starting The Rise of Endymion until you have read the three other Cantos novels in order. Read more
Published on 12 April 2007 by A. J. Cull
SUPERB ENDING TO A SUPERB SERIES
I have read the Hyperion Books in a row, and this is a very good ending to a great saga. Characters are well described, action soars, imagination is rich and solid. Read more
Published on 23 July 2005 by RAMON
Left a profound imprint on me
The Hyperion series truly are a remarkable set of novels and have seemingly untold depths of concepts described in a rich and capable prose that is rarely encountered. Read more
Published on 5 May 2004 by J. Snape
Superb ending to an astonishing series
First the bad - This book did drag more than the other three books in the Cantos, and sometimes it seemed to sag under the weight of unnecessary detail. Read more
Published on 14 Jan 2004 by J. Farris
Peaks and troughs
Surely the weakest of the four books in the series.
Although in places it had me going WOW and soared to the heights of the first three, there were major sections (e.g. Read more
Published on 21 Jun 2002 by M. Bryant
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