Endymion

Amazon.com

Two hundred and seventy-four years after the fall of the WorldWeb in Fall of Hyperion, Raoul Endymion is sent on a quest. Retrieving Aenea from the Sphinx before the Church troops reach her is only the beginning. With help from a blue-skinned android named A. Bettik, Raoul and Aenea travel the river Tethys, pursued by Father Captain Frederico DeSoya, an influential warrior-priest and his troops. The shrike continues to make enigmatic appearances, and while many questions were raised in Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion, still more are raised here. Raoul's quest will continue in at least one more volume.

This series has something for everyone: Simmons's prose is imaginative and stylistically varied; point-of-view and time-scale are handled with finesse; the action is always gripping; the device of Old Earth allows Simmons to work in entertaining references to present-day culture; and the technology raises bizarre questions of ethics and morality in its use of repeated death and resurrection.

Book Description

The multiple-award-winning science fiction master returns to the universe that is his greatest triumph--the world of Hyperion and The Fall of
Hyperion --with a novel even more magnificent than its predecessors.

Dan Simmons's Hyperion was an immediate sensation on its first publication in 1989. This staggering multifaceted tale of the far future heralded the conquest of the science fiction field by a man who had already won the World Fantasy Award for his first novel (Song of Kali) and had also published one of the most well-received horror novels in the field, Carrion Comfort. Hyperion went on to win the Hugo Award as Best Novel, and it and its companion volume, The Fall of Hyperion, took their rightful places in the science fiction pantheon of new classics.

Now, six years later, Simmons returns to this richly imagined world of technological achievement, excitement, wonder and fear. Endymion is a story about love and memory, triumph and terror--an instant candidate for the field's highest honors.

Average customer rating:

A bit boring
Wonderful Conclusion
Not Free SF Reader
The secret you've been waiting four books to know: It turns out it's all magic!
Much more than science fiction

Rise of Endymion
Dan Simmons
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0553572989

Amazon.com

This conclusion of the Hyperion saga (Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, and Endymion) finds Raul Endymion, Aenea, and M. Bettik still on the run from agents of both the Pax and the TechnoCore. But Aenea is reaching maturity, clearly growing into the messiah who will one day bring down the church and stop "the resurrection." One answer lies in Aenea's blood, which she shares with her followers through a ritual of communion; the blood allows anyone to travel through the Void Which Binds, but it cannot coexist with the cruciform that brings immortality. And although Aenea's gift makes her both a power and a danger, she is also a young woman, vulnerable to the forces allied against her.

Book Description

The magnificent conclusion to one of the greatest science fiction sagas of our time

The time of reckoning has arrived. As a final genocidal Crusade threatens to enslave humanity forever, a new messiah has come of age. She is Aenea and she has undergone a strange apprenticeship to those known as the Others. Now her protector, Raul Endymion, one-time shepherd and convicted murderer, must help her deliver her startling message to her growing army of disciples.

But first they must embark on a final spectacular mission to discover the underlying meaning of the universe itself. They have been followed on their journey by the mysterious Shrike--monster, angel, killing machine--who is about to reveal the long-held secret of its origin and purpose. And on the planet of Hyperion, where the story first began, the final revelation will be delivered--an apocalyptic message that unlocks the secrets of existence and the fate of humankind in the galaxy.

Customer Reviews:

A bit boring.......2007-09-10

I will try to be laconic, a quality the author apparently lacks. Overall I like the story and the characters, however the story at times gets a little boring. There are pastoral descriptions that run over several pages that I had to skip, otherwise I would have fallen asleep. The science part is rather enjoyable and innovative, the part about the genetic algorithms and their hyper-parasitic nature is rather clever without getting into too many computer science details as to the nature of the algorithm, my only comment at this point is the author's obsession with lengthy forays into minutia of events which ultimately have no relevance to the plot.

Wonderful Conclusion.......2007-09-08

The Rise of Endymion is a wonderful and fitting conclusion to one of the most interesting, broad ranging series in Science Fiction...or just fiction, for that matter...since Asimov's Foundation series. It's inevitable that Simmons won't satisfy everyone; with so many currents running through the previous books many readers are bound to find something to quibble about, whether it's a perceived anti-Christian/Catholic storyline, or the 'quantum love' idea, or planets that routinely have only one ecosystem, or perhaps a feeling that the Shrike wasn't explained well enough given his importance, or any of a number of issues; and they might well be right--but all that would pale into insignificance when regarding the scope of Simmons' accomplishment. What a series this was, with ideas flying fast and furious; and to me, The Rise of Endymion was a most satisfying conclusion. Other reviewers have written about 'tying up loose ends', but that trivial phrase does no justice to the mastery of Simmons' plotting. Yes, what is revealed here conflicts with what we were told in previous books; that the source of the earlier 'information' provided disinformation should come as no shock. Indeed, for me the revelations in this book were almost entirely uniformly satisfying, especially the reason that so much of previous books were spent traipsing around the galaxy in what seemed to me at the time a really unnecessary and awkward plot device designed primarily to show off Simmons' talents at world-building. I was ahead of Simmons on a few crucial plot points, wondering why a particular character couldn't figure out a particular series of events, and I suspect that most thoughtful readers will be, also; but I was behind him on many more and those revelations were so well done that I was in awe of how Simmons so clearly laid the trail as far back as the first book. These were not storylines Simmons hadn't had the time or interest to clear up that "loose ends' implies; they were carefully laid traps, red herrings, tangled stories twisted between present, past, and future for our entertainment. I'd love to see Simmons' notes for the series, those would make fascinating viewing.

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Aenea, along with her protector Raoul Endymion, must try and avoid the fate of almost all messiahs to stop the Catholic Church's genocidal military operation to wipe out all resitance to its plans, and really, the plans of the TechnoCore.

With the help of the Others, a rebel faction of the Core, and a visit to Old Earth, Aenea has to come to understand the nature of the universe, to enable humanity with the power to escape AI domination, and have the ability to face the Church's Pax fleet.

The secret you've been waiting four books to know: It turns out it's all magic!.......2007-08-19

If you are a long time reader of science fiction, you are probably used to a certain amount of disappointment in the later parts of any series. Whether it's the Ewoks in "Return of the Jedi" or the ever less relevant backstory provided by the successive Pern books of Anne McCaffery, every fan has their favorite example of a good concept taken to destruction by a writer with no respect for their own previous work. My own pet peeve up to this point had been the "Ender" series by Orson Scott Card, where a compelling character had been destroyed by the author's attempt to combine science and mysticism into a new "rational" religion. Unfortunately, in this last book of the "Hyperion" series Dan Simmons makes exactly the same mistake, and even uses almost exactly the same concept to do it.

What I mean by this is that it turns out that the mysterious power that has been at the edges of every piece of drama for the last two books is a mystical conglomeration of the souls of all the other species in the universe, a conglomeration which is both intrinsically good and, of course, scientifically based. As these sorts of plots are wont to do, this science is also used to "explain" the great philosophies and religions of our past, including Jesus and Buddha.

What is especially annoying about this is that it completely abandons the conflict that drove the first two books and seemed, until nearly the end, to be driving the conflict in the second two as well: There is no mention of a future war between machine and man, between machine ultimate intelligences and super evolved humans. There is in fact so little connection to the events of the first two books that the last two books should, in my opinion, have been written as completely separate entities.

But even more basic, the premise itself rankles. Asserting that wonderful things are possible is what books of the future excel at. Asserting that these wonderful things are possible because we have figured out the science of godhood is just lazy. Because no matter what scientific wrapper you put around it, a god can do anything, and an omnipotent actor is inherently boring. An omnipotent actor IS a deus ex machina who comes not only at the end of the plot, but casts her shadow over the entire previous story with the question "well if you're so powerful, why didn't you just DO something"?

As disappointing as this was, I was still compelled to give the book an extra star for the beautiful language and imagery. Dan Simmons is one of those authors who has built up a lot of credit with me, and I'll still pick up a few more of his books before giving up hope.

Much more than science fiction.......2007-07-25

This book may disappoint the science fiction fans who read the first three books. It slows down, moving away from the intertwined story arcs and space ships of the Hyperion series.

Instead, Dan Simmons offers a vision of hope for our mucked up, violent and tribal world. While pulling together the story lines he left behind, he offers up a vision of love, interconnectedness and acceptance that just might work to help our besotted race survive and advance.

This is fiction at its best: engaging, imaginative, and most of all - inspiring.

Average customer rating:

great premise, poor execution
endymion spring while engaging lacks the richness of harry potter
best book
Great Book
This was great!

Endymion Spring
Matthew Skelton
Manufacturer: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0385733801
Release Date: 2006-08-22

Book Description

"You've stumbled on to something much larger than you can possibly imagine."

In the dead of night, a cloaked figure drags a heavy box through snow-covered streets. The chest, covered in images of mythical beasts, can only be opened when the fangs of its serpent's-head clasp taste blood.

Centuries later, in an Oxford library, a boy touches a strange book and feels something pierce his finger. The volume is blank, wordless, but its paper has fine veins running through it and seems to quiver, as if it's alive. Words begin to appear on the page--words no one but the boy can see.

And so unfolds a timeless secret . . . .

Customer Reviews:

great premise, poor execution.......2007-07-07

The idea behind this story is right up my alley, but I was disappointed when I finished it. The story had so much promise, but it fell short with many avenues unexplored. Some of the words chosen felt like writing for writing's sake, rather than trying to paint the clearest picture possible for the reader. The characters were not consistent, so, to me, they were not very likable. Particularly the mom. She had no character development at all, and her role at the end felt contrived and unrealistic - which made me mad because it was difficult to read all the way to the end.

The author's intriguing historical note alleviated some of that, but only enough to go from one star to two. Much more time needed to be devoted to bring this story to it's true potential. It's a shame that didn't happen.

endymion spring while engaging lacks the richness of harry potter.......2007-06-27

Endymion spring is a interesting story regarding a secret lost book containing all answers to all questions. Two main characters emerge, Blake the modern day child who is searching for the book and Endymion a child living in the 1400's who has hidden it. There are of course terrible enemies for each child of the story, which each child has to overcome. It is able to bring both stories to a satisfactory ending but never gives you more than a hint of what the lost book contains. This gave me a little bit of a hollow feeling at the end, as if the book did not quite fulfill its full promise. Still it was otherwise an engaging read.

best book.......2007-06-24

I enjoyed Endymion Spring alot. Like Philip Pullman's series, it's based in Oxford. I'm a girl and I still enjoyed it. Boys and girls should read this book. Go into the past with Endymion Spring as he discovers the book, and go into the future as blake witnesses the book's power. The goes from swithes from old Germany to Oxford as present. Trust me you'll enjoy this book very much

Great Book .......2007-05-02

Endymion Spring is a great book with amazing descriptions by the author Matthew Skelton. There are some confusing parts but overall is good. I recommend this book for boys 12+.

This was great!.......2007-03-04

I loved this book! It has a unique feel to it as well as a great story line. The book keeps you quessing ever step of the way. The way in which the story laces itself together to make the whole story is briliant! I definately name this as one of my favorites!

Chinese History: A Manual, Revised and Enlarged

Average customer rating:

Peerless Resource for Chinese Historiography
An invaluable guide to all aspects of traditional China

Chinese History: A Manual, Revised and Enlarged
Endymion Wilkinson
Manufacturer: Harvard University Asia Center
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0674002490

Book Description

Since publication of the first edition in 1998, Chinese History: A Manual has become an indispensable guide to researching the civilization and history of China. Updated through January 2000, the second edition discusses some 4,300 primary, secondary, and reference works, an increase of 1,500 titles over the first edition. The temporal coverage has been expanded to include the Republican period; sections on nonverbal salutations, weights and measures, money, and furniture have been added; the chapters on language, etymology, people, geography, chronology, warfare, leishu, food, and the Chinese world order have been thoroughly revised; and the subject index has been enlarged to include 2,500 technical terms.

Customer Reviews:

Peerless Resource for Chinese Historiography.......2002-11-30

Wilkinson's 'Chinese History: A Manual' is an essential volume on the bookshelf of any serious Chinese historiographer or scholar of Chinese history. Since the publication of the first edition, this book has very much become a standard reference for Chinese history. Note, though, that this is not a textbook on Chinese history, although one can certainly learn a great deal about Chinese history from it. It serves better as a handbook on Chinese history, an informative reference one consults to discover resources for the study of divers aspects of Chinese history.

The first section provides an excellent introduction to Chinese history, and the methods of Chinese historiography. Topics such as language, geography, demography, chronology, statistics, etc., are introduced, and reference works such as dictionaries and encyclopaedias are discussed in some detail. This section provides much of the groundwork necessary for study of Chinese history.

The remainder of the book is devoted to the description of the primary and secondary sources of historical documents, categorising them by genre, era and topic. Some 4,300 sources and references are described, from pre-Qin periods to the modern era, making the book an excellent first-port-of-call for identifying historical texts and documents. Wilkinson's work is especially helpful because the resources are not merely presented as lists, but their context is described, and often, some evaluation of the quality, worth, reliability, ubiquity, etc., is presented. Difficulties and obstacles encountered in research are mentioned, and solutions are often suggested.

This is a revised version of the 1998 edition, enlarged to include republican period. An already excellent manual was improved upon, and there is little I can say to criticise this edition. The book is physically well bound and the print is clear and of a good size: no magnifying glass is necessary. One particularly laudable feature of this book is that where English is employed for terms particular to Chinese culture or history, the Chinese term is given throughout, and the name of texts and sources are always given in Chinese. Moreover, romanisation is generally accompanied by Chinese characters, elminating the often frustrating guesswork involved in trying to figure out the characters corresponding to a romanised phrase. My only complaint is that, although Pinyin romanisation is used consistently, the tone marks are generally omitted.

In short, then, I have nothing but praise for Wilkinson's work. It is an indispensible guide to the study of Chinese historiography, and constitutes an excellent resource for anyone at all interested in Chinese history. Although written as a handbook for research, I have found the book suited to casual browse, and I often use it as a coffee-book table: I open it to a random page, and, more often than not, I find something that strikes my fancy and piques my interest. All in all, this book is a valuable resource seldom to be met with elsewhere.

An invaluable guide to all aspects of traditional China.......1998-11-10

This is an annotated resarch guide and bibliography, as described by the publisher, but has much more: introductions to the sources available for the writing of traditional Chinese history (up to 1911); shrewd evaluations of reference and research tools involved; explanation of how the study of the field developed; brief summaries of the state of research on a wide variety of topics, including:origins of Chinese characters, history of Chinese food, how to handle dates and chronology; how to find out where places are and who people are... well, you get the idea. The MANUAL is useful not only for primary research, but also for finding articles and secondary references on many topics (my own bibliography, CHINA (Clio: World Bibliography Series, 1997) lists mainly books). The term "Manual" in Wilkinson's title really describes it, i.e. something which must be "at hand" for anyone working in Chinese history, and a "must" for libraries.

The Major Works: Including Endymion, the Odes and Selected Letters (Oxford World's Classics)

Average customer rating:

"Arise, good youth, for sacred Phoebus' sake..."

The Major Works: Including Endymion, the Odes and Selected Letters (Oxford World's Classics)
John Keats
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0192840630

Book Description

This authoritative edition was originally published in the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode. It brings together a unique combination of Keats's poetry and prose - all the major poems, complemented by a generous selection of Keats's letters - to give the essence of his work and thinking. In his tragically short life Keats wrote an astonishing number of superb poems; his stature as one of the foremost poets of the Romantic movement remains unassailable. This volume contains all the poetry published during his lifetime, including Endymion in its entirety, the Odes, 'Lamia', and both versions of 'Hyperion'. The poetry is presented in chronological sequence, illustrating the staggering speed with which Keats's work matured. Further insight into his creative process is given by reproducing, in their original form, a number of poems that were published posthumously. Keats's letters are admired almost as much as his poetry and were described by T. S. Eliot as 'certainly the most notable and most important ever written by any English poet'. They provide the best biographical detail available and shed invaluable light on Keats's poems.

Customer Reviews:

"Arise, good youth, for sacred Phoebus' sake...".......2004-02-10

This review is of -John Keats: The Major Works-,
edited by Elizabeth Cook (Oxford World's Classics)
ISBN: 0192840630, 2001, 667 pp.
There are now 3 major editions of the complete poems
of John Keats. Each of them has its own excellencies.
There is the -John Keats: Complete Poems-, edited by
Jack Stillinger (Belknap Press, Harvard) ISBN: 0674154312,
-John Keats: The Complete Poems-, edited by John Barnard
(Penguin Classics) ISBN: 0140422102, and also this
present volume, edited by Elizabeth Cook, ISBN: 0192840630.
A fact which both John Barnard and Elizabeth Cook point out
as editors is their debt, as well as the debt of all Keats
scholars, to Jack Stillinger. As she says in her "Note on
the Text": "In deciding which source text to use I am deeply
indebted to Jack Stillinger who in -The Text of Keats's
Poems- (1974) and in his subsequent edition of Keats's
-Poems- (1978) presents his informed and considered arguments
for and against each transcript and state of text. Prior
to his work editors had frequently created Keats's poems
from a patchwork of different source texts."
The glories of this Oxford Classics edition are the
same as with many of their editions, the fine "Introduction",
the wondrous notes to the poems (pp. 557 - 641), an excellent
selection of "Further Readings", Glossary of Classical
Names, Index of Keats's Correspondents (with much helpful
background information about them), and an Index of Poem
Titles and First Lines. In this volume, there are also
Appendix I, "St. Agnes' Eve" as found in George Keats's
manuscript, and Appendix II, "La Belle Dame sans Mercy",
as printed in the -Indicator-, 10 May 1820. Some editors
and Keats lovers feel the changes that Keats made to
the latter poem to publish in the -Indicator- mar the
wondrous tone and atmosphere, so they print the first
version.
In her "Introduction," Elizabeth Cook stresses several
important aspects of Keats's psyche and his reverences
toward other authors (Spenser and Milton, in particular).
From the side of the aspect of his psyche, she states:
"Keats conceived of history as a process of *actualizing*
the world's sum total of what is knowable and thinkable.
In Stoic fashion he postulates a finite quantity of
world-stuff of which Milton has used up an unfairly
large portion, therby depleting not only his contemporaries,
but posterity [later writers] as well.
* * * He writes with the assumption that a certain quota
of qualities, capacities, and experiences is allotted to
each individual." In relating of Keats's sensitivity,
sense of dedication, and love, she says: "In June 1818,
when one brother, Tom, was dying of tuberculosis and
the other, George, planning to sail with his new bride
for America, Keats wrote to his friend Bailey, 'My Love
for my Brothers from the early loss of our parents and
even for earlier Misfortunes has grown into a affection
"passing the Love of Women"." This was a section of
verse from the Old Testament regarding the love of
Jonathan, King Saul's son, and David, the exiled,
hunted song singer, which Herman Melville was also
attracted to.
The formatting in this edition is very readable,
the font is medium, not small, the layout of the
pages is uncrowded and accessible, so that even with
the longer poems one is not presented with a complicated
task by smaller type.
The excellence of this Oxford edition is the inclusion
of 87 (!) of Keats's letters to various correspondents
(pp. 348 - 543), as well as the prose pieces, "When
Alexandre the Conquerore was wayfayring" (which according
to the Notes was "Composed probably late 1815 while Keats
was a student at Guy's [Hospital]. The only source for
this fragment is Walter Cooper Dendy, -The Philosophy of
Mystery- (London, 1841), pp. 99-100 where it is quoted at
the end of a chapter on the pathology of 'Poetic Phantasy
or Frenzy." The other prose pieces are "Keat's Marginalia
to the Shakespeare Folio", "Keats's Marginalia to Milton's
-Paradise Lost-", a piece on "Mr. Kean" [the actor], and
the "Rejected Preface to -Endymion-." Keats's letters are
a very valuable source of information of his views on
poetry as a craft and an avocation, as well as providing
commentary on his times.
The only caution with these large-size Oxford Major
Works is that one should be very careful not to crease
the outside binding, as the pages if not sufficiently
glued, might tend to come apart. Otherwise the Oxford
Classics editons, and this one in particular, are
treasured resources of fine works as well as extremely
helpful scholarship.
-- Robert Kilgore.

$Oberon\'s Vision in the Midsummer-Night\'s Dream, Illustrated by a Comparison with Lylie\'s Endymion$
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Oberon\'s Vision in the Midsummer-Night\'s Dream, Illustrated by a Comparison with Lylie\'s Endymion
Nicholas John Halpin
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0543985520
Release Date: 2001-10-01

Book Description

This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1843 edition by the Shakespeare Society, London.

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Endymion and Other Poems
John Keats
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1893 edition by Cassell & Company, London-Paris-Melbourne.

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Endymion Omnibus
Dan Simmons
Manufacturer: FIRETHORN PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0575076348

Average customer rating:

Endymion
Benjamin Disraeli
Manufacturer: BiblioBazaar
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1426426674
Release Date: 2006-09-27

Book Description

It was a rich, warm night, at the beginning of August, when a gentleman enveloped in a cloak, for he was in evening dress, emerged from a club-house at the top of St. James’ Street, and descended that celebrated eminence.

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Endymion
Dan Simmons
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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