Muttering Bill Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I tried to read Hyperion recently. I made it about 40 pages. I found it to be rather boring, and there was something about his writing style that I didn't like. Maybe, if he's as adaptive as everyone here is claiming, then I might like it better once I got to the next characters story. :dunno: I haven't officially given up on it. But, realistically, the chances of me picking it up again are very low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uruk-hai Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I tried to read Hyperion recently. I made it about 40 pages. I found it to be rather boring, and there was something about his writing style that I didn't like. Maybe, if he's as adaptive as everyone here is claiming, then I might like it better once I got to the next characters story. :dunno: I haven't officially given up on it. But, realistically, the chances of me picking it up again are very low.I'm going against the grain of most Simmons fans I know, but I didn't like Hyperion near as much as some of his other (non-scifi/allegory) stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phostopheles Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I'm halfway through Hyperion and haven't picked it up in nearly a month. Yes, his prose is (with a few very minor exceptions) very tight and his tales are well-developed if rife with derivative sci-fi cliches. But as much as I like religion it's starting to feel too Abrahamic-centric, too apologeticist to me. That, and he uses way too many allusions (many of them quite shallowly) than I feel is proper for this brand of sci-fi. It comes off as pretentious, and from the looks of things several people in this thread agree with me.If the book ends the way I hope it doesn't end, I don't think I'll care to read another Simmons book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Phosto,Have you gotten to "The Scholar's Tale" yet. That is my absolute favorite work by Simmons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr esden Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I like his stuff, usually, but Drood was so, so dull. I didn't dig The Terror as well, but at least it was readable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phostopheles Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Phosto,Have you gotten to "The Scholar's Tale" yet. That is my absolute favorite work by Simmons.RRRRRRRRADSOFINAODSNGIANDFGIABERIGBWERGIYBWERGOIQERNIG QERGPQERGPIQERGHP SO MUCH RAGE.The Scholar's Tale was good, I'll give it that much. As were the Priest's Tale and the Detective's Tale. And I appreciate the religious nature of the stories, if only as parallels to both Abrahamic mythology and the Canterbury Tales. But goddammit. The Poet's Tale ruined everything, it had little to do with the story and was clearly a means for Silenus to soapbox Simmons' views on publishing. When the character wasn't acting as a self-insert, it was terribly written. And Keats. Fucking Keats. Why Keats? Because Simmons knows Keats. No special reason otherwise. He could have named the planet "Prospero" and replaced Lamia's Johnny with Willy and had Silenus slobbering over his Tempest Cantos, and the book would have been just as bad. But the fact is he did it, and apart from Silenus slinging those (very) loosely related quotes left and right, the whole concept feels completely irrelevant to the rest of the tale. WHY KEATS? More importantly, WHY NOT CHAUCER?I was eying Olympos in bookmans earlier today, but I'm not going to read it now. The Tempest has more right to be in a book like that, but since I've always thought that the people who named Uranus' moons were imbeciles, I would find Shakespeare-riddled Greek mythology in space just as frustratingly pointless as Keats-riddled Abrahamic mythology in space. I hate this author so much, flames. Flames on the side of my face. Breathing, breath, heaving breaths... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lannes Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Whenever I hear Dan Simmons' name, the first word that pops into my head is- "Uneven"...as in, you never know what you are going to get.That said, 'The Terror' was one of the best reads I've read in the last 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Whenever I hear Dan Simmons' name, the first word that pops into my head is- "Uneven"...as in, you never know what you are going to get.That said, 'The Terror' was one of the best reads I've read in the last 10 years. That's funny. Usually the first words that pop into my head are "racist dickhead". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phostopheles Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 That's funny. Usually the first words that pop into my head are "racist dickhead".I like you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Valkyrie Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 I was eying Olympos in bookmans earlier today, but I'm not going to read it now. The Tempest has more right to be in a book like that, but since I've always thought that the people who named Uranus' moons were imbeciles, I would find Shakespeare-riddled Greek mythology in space just as frustratingly pointless as Keats-riddled Abrahamic mythology in space. I hate this author so much, flames. Flames on the side of my face. Breathing, breath, heaving breaths...Don't read Olympos. Ilium got me through a lousy Greyhound ride very well, but Olympos is just godawful. It's not even worth it for the finding out what happens aspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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