The Rise of Endymion, Dan Simmons, Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York NY 10036, 1997, ISBN 0-553-10652-X, hardback, US $23.95, CAN $32.95

Nominated for the 1998 Hugo Award for Best Novel of 1997.

The Rise of Endymion is the sequel to Endymion and the fourth in Simmons' Hyperion Cantos saga. We learn how and why the messiah Aenea will counter the corrupt Church and save mankind.

As in Endymion we experience Rise through the eyes of Raul Endymion (whose family took its name from the planet they lived on.) Raul is condemned to die for his activities against the Church and the empire and sits in his cell transcribing his remembrances while awaiting the random event which will trigger his execution. He has very detailed knowledge of conversations and events at which he was not present. We are again asked to accept that he knows these things with 100% certainty and will eventually explain how he came to this knowledge.

Raul had been Aenea's protector and later became her lover. Never quite understanding what was going on, he followed her on an odyssey around the galaxy, always a step or two ahead of the armed might of the Church. Their final goal was to understand the true nature of the universe.

The Church has help from the rogue Artificial Intelligences called The Core which did their best to destroy mankind in the first two books. These AIs have given humanity immortality, with an extremely sinister price tag of course.

The Shrike also follows Aenea. This mysterious killing machine in semi-human form is able to move back and forth through time, and tends to appear at the last possible instance when Aenea needs help. To counter the Shrike, the AIs created their own non-human assassins to chase Aenea.

The result of the final showdown is both expected and a surprise. It is at once a total downer and a rousing triumph. Simmons has a masterpiece on his hands. Too bad it took him 4 books to do it.

Rise is about 100 pages too long. I suspect Simmons spent some time in Tibet or mountain climbing in the Himalayas and used details from his trip to flesh out one of the many worlds mentioned in the book. This section greatly slowed the flow of the story. It was almost a relief when Church forces arrived to destroy the peace and tranquillity of the planet where Aenea and Raul were hiding.

I suppose since The Rise of Endymion had such a pre-sold consumer base, Simmons' editors chose to indulge him.

I read the first two volumes of the Hyperion Cantos, Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion about 8 years ago. I've forgotten much more than I remember but Simmons gives enough recap in the third and fourth volumes that new readers will understand the action. However, I feel that you must read Endymion to understand The Rise of Endymion.

The title The Rise of Endymion is a joke of sorts. It is just one of several jokes and punch lines Simmons placed at various parts of the two books. Several times during my reading I came across a sentence which I knew to be the punch line of an old joke and said "Huh?" These lines always fit, but I suspect Mr. Simmons had quite a bit of fun writing these to volumes.




Recommended: Yes