doubleplusgood

This post having nothing to do with 1984, I'm just misusing George Orwell's newspeak to sing the praises of Dan Simmon's Illium-Olympos series. Yes, the same author of the acclaimed Hugo-winning Hyperion tetralogy penned yet another treat for his fans.

I'll be the first to admit that I was somewhat confused when I finished the first book Illium last summer, but all of that was cleared up when I tore through Olympos a little over a month ago.

Ok, enough about me.

This sci-fi series is set thousands of years in the future and spanning Earth and Mars, and guests from the outer planets of Jupiter and Saturn. In this post-human future there are strange things going on, such as Homer's mythological characters, gods and mortals alike are engaged in a battle over the city of Troy, and more accurately, over Helen, the wife of Agamemnon and ertswhile lover of Paris.

Without divulging further plot material, this series skillfully combines the complicated epic struggle of the Illiad and Shakespearean characters with the best of hard science fiction elements in a delightful manner. If a post-postmodern interpretation of greek mythology is your "thing", you will love and enjoy this series as much as I did.

Go on, buy it.