They all have a sense of distrust for each other but the sheer magnitude of what they are facing forces them to swallow their pride and focus on the mission that is assigned to them. It is also very fast paced and a quick read with plenty of unexpected twists.
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The consequences of the conclusion of this story promise to be far reaching within the DC universe so if you have been looking for a place to get started reading comics this would be that place. Mary Roach is an incredible author and she did not disappoint with Spook. Between the normal occurrences at the funeral home to the ways cadavers are used in medical research, you will be amazed to know about all of the things your dead body can do.
It's humorous and informative. I'm not typically a non-fiction reader, but Mary Roach never fails to keep me interested. If you're looking for something educational but also a little bit quirky, then I highly recommend Spook or any other title by Mary Roach! Mary Beard's book How Do We Look delves into history to investigate how art and monuments impacted history, both socially and culturally.
Perfect for any casual reader of history or art with interesting looks into ancient civilizations, Beard gives her usual coverage of ancient Greek and Roman culture, but also expands past Western civilizations into Chinese, Olmec, and Indian culture. This book is quick paced and insightful, leaving the reader more open-minded to civilization and what that word has meant throughout history.
This answered the question of what happened to Zuko's mom. This gave a good history regarding why she left and where she has been. If you like "The Search" you will also like "The Promise. A classic fantasy story told exceptionally well. Knight and Queen's Champion Sparhawk returns home after 10 years in exile he finds his young Queen Ehlana slowly dying and kept alive only by being trapped in mystical crystal, being sustained by horrible sacrifice. Sparhawk only has a year to find the cure, and save both his Queen and Kingdom.
Jim Butcher does a fantastic job stepping into the world of Spider-Man. He managed to write a novel about a superhero that everyone knows and loves, and made it his own! Butcher does a great job with Spider-Man, Mary Jane, and even a surprise villain's character development. This book is like reading a comic book with no pictures, and I loved every minute of it. The Eyre Affair tells the story of Thursday Next, a government worker who specializes in literary fraud.
When her uncle invents a device that literally transports a reader into the story of their choice, he is targeted and kidnapped by the villain Acheron Hades along with the original manuscript of "Jane Eyre. Set in an alternate reality Great Britain, "The Eyre Affair" is packed with surreal British humor and action-packed detective work.
Thursday is a delightfully snarky and powerful female lead. Her cynicism and wit make her a hilarious narrator. With elements of time travel, cloning, and mysteriously menacing government agencies, this genre-bending book will have you laughing out loud. Conor's mother has been diagnosed with cancer, but that doesn't stifle her fun-loving nature.
She continues to live on and to fight the disease with everything she's got, and Conor believes in her ability to overcome it. But when her treatments start to fail, Conor's hope slowly falters. Meanwhile, a monster begins showing up at Conor's bedroom window every night.
Who is this monster, and what, if anything, can Conor learn from him? As Conor comes closer and closer to having to accept the devastating reality of his mother's fate, he finds that sometimes the most terrible truths are the ones that we hide deep within ourselves. This is a beautiful and heart-wrenching tale that, for me, hit extremely close to home.
I bawled my eyes out several times throughout it. Short, but powerful, A Monster Calls is a story that both young and old will be able to appreciate and enjoy. Just make sure you have a box of tissues handy This is not your parents' Yuletide tale. Get in the holiday spirit with the action-packed origin story of Santa Claus.
Grant Morrison pens a gritty medieval tale in which Klaus returns to a hometown that has become an authoritarian nightmare. All toys are confiscated from children, and the men toil away in a mine for Lord Magnus's pursuit of demonic power. Combined with Dan Mora's superb illustrations, Morrison presents a thrilling seven chapters that humanizes the gift giving populist as a superhero who risks life and limb to bring joy to Grimsvig, and the world beyond its walls.
The book Marshall Field's by Gayle Soucek is a richly detailed journey back in time via Chicago's legendary department store. With a wealth information and a riveting story the history of Marshall Field's reveals itself to not only be a large part of Chicago history but American and International history as well. Alliances tells parallel stories between two time periods: It focuses on a planet, way beyond the reach of the Republic, where rumors say the Separatists are building factories.
The Galactic Civil War story is about Thrawn and Darth Vader working together to find a disturbance in the Force on the same planet they met all those years ago. The strength in the book comes from the parallel stories. One shows Anakin as a hero of the Republic, while the other is about Darth Vader doing everything in his power to leave that life in the past.
I would highly recommend this book if you are fan of the animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars as well as Star Wars: Rebels, as this book does a very good job of bridging the two series together as well as filling in plot between seasons of the shows. Because You Love to Hate Me makes you have a better understanding of villains and really relate to them. After finishing this book it made me think about all of the other villains I have read about and question if they really were terrible people or just had to make hard choices in bad situations.
As a war is being waged against the forces of evil that have crept into the far reaches of this world, the winding paths of our beloved characters converge in this final epic battle. Despite the abundance of immortal warriors bearing arms on both sides of the battle, it is those select few with the power to heal that can truly sway the tide of the war. As she takes her final stance for the home she loves and the people she swore to protect, Aelin Galathynius will rattle the stars to bring forth this new world, a better world.
For fans of Sarah J. Maas's bestselling series, "Kingdom of Ash" was a phenomenal way to conclude the world of the Throne of Glass. Aelin had been captured by Queen Maeve at the end of one of the previous titles "Empire of Storms" and thus creating a chain of events that lead us towards the final battle that takes place, one most heart-wrenching was discovering her new fae husband, Rowan, and her were mates all along.
Determined to be reunited with her, he sets out with some of their comrades and set out to rescue her. Little did they all know, though, was that Aelin didn't leave them behind empty handed. SHe brought them an army from just about every corner of Erilea and even Wendlyn, calling old favors and debts in order to try to fight for a better world.
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The story has multiple groups throughout, some meeting up later on, others not until the final battle. It was so amazing as a fan when certain characters were reunited, and almost as great with some meeting each other for the first time. Lots and lots of battles take place, some groups faring better than others. Lewis kind, with a bit of L.
Ron Hubbard thrown in for good measure, had me gagging. Apparently love is a fundamental basis of the universe, whilst god, being woven in at the Planc level, transcends time and is the triune entity of the Christians How often I found myself skipping the obsessing about Keats and pointless quotations of poetry. Yeah, well, take your Parker to your next sword fight and see how you get on.
The setting of Hyperion was excellent, with this whole story taking place under a sky lit by interstellar war, as was the interplay between the shrike pilgrims. The tree of thorns is a horrifying image that sticks, and the time tombs were the kind of idea just about any science fiction writer would be jealous of. The shrike itself was good whilst only glimpsed, but suffered under close inspection. My feeling was that it started out as a monster from Dr Who and was not cured of the rubber mask syndrome by the later add-ons from Alien.
There were lots of ideas and threads needing to be tied together in these books, and so they were, sometimes very well and sometimes in a kind of soapish babble. Simmons did manage to pull the rabbit out of the hat, but it had lost one ear and most of its fur during its stay. Nov 05, Ben Shee rated it it was amazing. This review and the stars relate more to The Fall of Hyperion than Hyperion itself.
The book is a beautiful masterpiece, capturing characters with depth and events on a grand scale, and all written before the advent of the internet datasphere. The second book doesn't have the same creative and structured storytelling of the first book, but covers a lot of ground while explaining most of the apparent mysticism from the first book. I don't know how Simmons manages to keep track of the huge unive This review and the stars relate more to The Fall of Hyperion than Hyperion itself. I don't know how Simmons manages to keep track of the huge universe he has painted for us, while interweaving gems of philosophical pondering, but I've not seen much in the way of scifi that captures the true epic-ness of space the way Simmons does.
Oct 29, Simon rated it really liked it. Apr 29, Juan rated it it was amazing. Como el cerrojo de un penal. Lo que uno espera tras enfrentarse a una obra de esta envergadura en un idioma impropio es que, por lo menos, le guste para que el cerebro compense el esfuero y el tiempo dedicados. Otras veces el resultado no ha sido tan bueno y uno tiende a deprimirse y pensar cosas feas, pero lo de esta vez ha sido arrebatador.
Tan solo espero que los otros dos libros de los Cantos me apasionen tanto. Y eso es bueno. Nov 18, Brian rated it really liked it Shelves: Reading these two novels published in one volume was something of an emotional rollercoaster. At times I hoped for it to end, and I wanted to put the book down rather than continue experiencing the anxiety and hardships these characters endure. Other times I was fascinated by the universe Dan Simmons created, or inspired by the bond the characters built through shared adversity.
To produce such an empathetic response from the reader was probably one of the better results Simmons could have hope Reading these two novels published in one volume was something of an emotional rollercoaster. To produce such an empathetic response from the reader was probably one of the better results Simmons could have hoped for. One of the overall themes of the story is after all Human Empathy. In any case, this work contains much to reflect on. It is not quickly or easily digested, which is something one could say about too few Science Fiction novels.
Otherwise, this is an impressive achievement. The descriptions of the many human colonized planets, the strange Time Tombs, and the Shrike itself create very striking visuals in the imagination. I am grateful to have read an edition with suitably abstract cover art, rather than the hopelessly literal artwork found on the covers of the mass market editions. For some like me, Hyperion is also an interesting opportunity to learn more about the poetry of John Keats! One could easily imagine this story as an allegory for our current cultural and social conditions on Earth.
The citizens of this fictional Hegemony of the far future have adapted to the convenience of nearly instantaneous travel and communication between extremely distant locations. Thanks to their dependence on this "Farcaster" technology, they consider themselves one population, rather than hundreds of different groups separated by vast light years in distance. Likewise, some part of our human population on Earth has adapted to the instant communication made possible by our Telecom and Internet infrastructure, and the quick travel made possible by the burning of fossil fuels for air travel.
The resulting implications of this dependence may be very similar. Jan 02, Ann Webb rated it really liked it Shelves: Rarely do I enjoy hard Science Fiction novels. Some are so long and involved that I lose track amid all the new names and places and technologies. However, although I got lost a couple of times in this long series, The Fall of Hyperion proved to be worth the effort. I have only been aware of Dan Simmons as a horror novelist, but when I came across a review for this book on a book blog, I decided it looked interesting enough to give it a go.
I'm glad I did. The novel is complex and completely ima Rarely do I enjoy hard Science Fiction novels. The novel is complex and completely imagined. The worlds are intricate and believably scientific. While John Keats is a good poet to base a novel on, I'm not entirely sure that it works as the plot device on which to base all of our questions about God, the internet, and the meaning of life in the far future.
Poets as Messiahs and prophets? But I'd much prefer a novel based around Percy Bysshe Shelley than Keats, but that's just personal preference talking. Simmons creates a cosmos that, to me, resembles the mythology of Battlestar Galactica. There are planets and worlds connected by farcaster portals that can transport you instantly through time and space. None of the science is explained but assumed as any good sci fi novel should be and science is not the main character either.
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The main characters are a group of pilgrims chosen to visit the Shrike Time Tombs in order to find out various questions about life and the universe. The Shrike are mechanical, soulless beings who are bent on making the world and its inhabitants suffer. The pilgrims each have a story to tell and, depending on our predilections, we will have favorites. My favorite is the story of Sol and his daughter Rachel.
Sol is there to help his daughter recover from Merlin's disease, which ages her backward to the day of her birth. I've still not thought through all the implications of the pilgrims' discoveries yet, but it is intriguing enough to ponder long after the last page of the book. I am a complete fan of originality and these novels are indeed original in plot, character, and technology. Keep an eye out for many literary allusions.
For that Simmons gets almost full marks. Mar 13, Rob rated it really liked it Shelves: These two vastly different looks at the same conflict make the books almost inseparable in my opinion. Putting them in one omnibus edition makes a lot of sense.
Without the in depth looks at the motivations of the pilgrims Fall of Hyperion doesn't work well as a novel. On the other hand the ending of Hyperion is rather abrupt. There isn't really any sense of conclusion at the end of the book the see what the sacrifice the pilgrims are making is all about. I rarely read two books that are so I rarely read two books that are so different yet so much interlinked.
Each of these books has its merits but it's the combination that makes it a great work of science fiction. Do not start on Hyperion without a copy of Fall of Hyperion at hand. Full Random Comments review. Jan 12, Mat rated it it was amazing. Poetry and Science Fiction mixed together, like an incredibly beautiful picture that paints itself slowly before your eyes. I'd give it six stars if I could, this is a Masterpiece not just of Sci-Fi but of contemporary literature. This particular edition is unfortunately filled with typos--pretty annoying. Sep 25, djcb rated it really liked it Shelves: Excellent space-opera, with allusions to all kinds of literary genres and books, such as Keats or the Canterbury Tales.
It's years back since I read the books, but I remember thoroughly enjoying them. Aug 06, Tim rated it it was amazing. This story is beyond amazing! I have never read anything like it before and it totally blew my mind!! One of the rare few books that I just couldn't put down.
May 23, Simon rated it it was amazing. Aug 13, Bret Gregory rated it it was amazing. I've read all four books twice they really are that good I'm gonna do it again. Nov 30, Nik rated it really liked it. I have mixed feelings about this book. It's very well written and in places I thought it was outstanding, but every now and then I would hit a patch that really wasn't doing it for me. Being the omnibus edition this is a novel of two parts and although the story is one, the two novels are presented rather differently. Volume one is very much sectioned up into separate life stories told by the main characters of the book, some were fantastic while others a bit more of a slog.
I have to say I'm not I have mixed feelings about this book. I have to say I'm not much of a fan of this format as it often makes me feel like I reading a collection of short stories rather than a novel and had the stories been revealed in a more integrated manner they may have balanced each other out and been more enjoyable. Volume two not only expands and focuses on the most enjoyable parts of the first half but also continues the story in a conventional manner, as such I enjoyed the second novel far more than the first. I guess you could read the second novel on it's own but you would be missing out on a huge amount of character development so it really is best to read the two together.
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So which aspects of the story did I struggle with? It has lots of random poetry thrown in. Given that one of the main characters is an AI persona derived from the real world poet John Keats this is understandable, but I'm really not a fan of poetry and don't really expect it in the middle of a SciFi novel. It was a distraction that pulled me out of the story every time as I had to decipher what the hell it was supposed to mean and I eventually found myself just skipping over any verse that appeared mid chapter as it really wasn't necessary to the story. There is also a lot of religion woven into the story due to several characters in the book being priests and the story itself having religious tones, but again it's just not my thing and at this point in our future I find it hard to believe that anyone would still be peddling this nonsense.
Everything else was fantastic, well written, imaginative and well fleshed out, but those niggles will probably stop me from reading another Dan Simmons novel. Humanity has left Earth behind. Thanks to FTL and wormhole tech, humanity has reached out to the stars and made new homes, united under the Hegemony.
Hyperion and the labyrinth worlds hold secrets though The Shrike a multi armed killing organic machine worshipped by some, feared by all, walks Hyperion awaiting the end of the world or its next victim, depending on Hyperion Cantos By Dan Simmons Publisher: The Shrike a multi armed killing organic machine worshipped by some, feared by all, walks Hyperion awaiting the end of the world or its next victim, depending on whose dogma you are listening to.
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War has broken out between the Hegemony and the post-human Ousters, humans who have left planet bound living behind. The Time Tombs in the home area of the Shrike are opening. A last group of pilgrims are on their way. All are colliding on Hyperion in what may be the last days. I wanted to re-read them again and finding them in the Cantos format was a godsend. This is a huge sweeping space opera covering the future history of man in a mysterious universe with more mysteries than answers.
This Story is About: The story is very immersive and drags you along with it causing a well crafted suspension of disbelief as Simmons shows us what he wants to show us and hints at what lies beyond. Colonel Fedmahn Kassad comes across as a man of his time though he has things in his past that would mark him a monster by the other people of his time. All the pilgrims are wonderful characters, with the exception below.
Martin Silenius is the poet. His inclusion seems to be to give Simmons the chance to trot out bits of the classical intermixed with his own poetry. All that said, the Silenius character continually comes across as an ass. Ummon speaks in verse or koans. Reading his dialogue is painful. Character I Most Identified With: In the later stages of the book, you see and feel a lot through the eyes and feelings of the pilgrims plus Johnny II. The tragedy of Sol and Rachel Weintraub is very palpable. But, yes, we can imagine it. Simmons gave us good deep insight into the character of the man.
And his final, final showdown with the Shrike is pure excellence. The pacing of the story is excellent. Not a roaring page turner, but whenever you put it down, it draws you back. At least, it does for me. The story drags me along through the tragedies of some of their stories and the sheer WTF-edness of what is happening to some of them.
I would definitely read more stuff by Simmons. This is a Keep it. Proud to own it book. I fear that the story would have to be watered down too much to make it fit the screen. Warner Brothers is supposedly developing Hyperion for the big screen. Fedmahn Kassad would need an actor of Arabic descent who could play early middle age and world weary while maintaining the military precision aura. I could see Fedmahn and the Consul combined. If Hyperion had become a movie 25 or 30 years ago, I could see Ricardo Montalban in the role, either as Kassad or a combined Kassad and Consul.
Vinnie Jones would be excellent in the role. Faran Tahir would as well. I have a picture of Sol in my head. I see an old man slipping toward ancient. The dome of his head is bald with a fringe of white flyaway hair. Johnny Lee Miller could be Martin Sillenius. His Sherlock on Elementary makes me realize that he could inhabit the character of the poet out of time who remembers Old Earth before the Big Mistake. People who like a crunchy plot with lots of characters and lots of action spread over a wide range. Oct 28, Mikael Cerbing rated it it was amazing Shelves: Think this is the fourth or fifth time I read these books and they are still as great as ever.
Simmons shows how you make great litterature out of what once was a pulp genre. And the books change with you over time. When I first read them Sol, the academic, was the least interesting character arc in the book. Now 13 years later that I am a father I think that story is one of the best in 6 of 5 stars The best Space opera I have read and one of the top two sci-fi books series all categories.
Now 13 years later that I am a father I think that story is one of the best in the book and I understand why Simmons put so much time into it. He has a nack for hitting you in the gut as a parent see Song of Kali. I love these books, and I look forward to read them again in a few years. Pero el conjunto es muy bueno. Jul 19, Olethros rated it liked it. May 26, Ruud Lee rated it it was amazing.
One of those series that sticks in your head for a while. It appears 'just' a sci-fi novel at first but it is so much more! A mixture of poetry, philosophy, theological discussion and packed with the right ammount of action. Highly reccomended and I can't wait to read parts 3 and 4.