Picture My World

I just finished one of the best science fiction books I’ve read in a long time, reminding me what an incredible author Dan Simmons is. Ilium is one of those books you can’t put down yet hate turning each page because it takes you closer to the end (but, luckily, there is a sequel — Olympus). It’s an intelligently written book set in the future and the past with characters from Homer’s Iliad and Shakespeare’s The Tempest. If you’re familiar with either of those works, you’ll probably enjoy the book more than I did (being semi-literate, I haven’t read Homer or much Shakespeare ). Simmons also keeps three parallel threads going through the novel — a technique that I particularly like.

I first read Dan Simmons’ Phases of Gravity about an ex-astronaut struggling for meaning in his life ever since walking on the moon. I barely remember it, but now I want to read it again.