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A review by theciz
Ilium by Dan Simmons
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I have really mixed feelings about this book - it took me a while to decide if I really actually enjoyed reading it. It’s a fascinating concept - literary sci-fi, the Iliad in space, sentient robots, post apocalyptic Earth, etc. But the execution is such a turn off - this is clearly written as an homage to classic sci-fi and only the random and unnecessary 9/11 references mark this out as being from 2003 rather than 1963.
The sexism was just too much for me at several points - unnecessary sexual descriptions of teenage girls, "breasted boobily" writing throughout, female POV characters who can only think about relationships and their poor hysterical female emotions, the slubby everyman who is somehow irresistible to beautiful women - I could go on. Just so much casual misogyny for such a long book grinds you down mentally, and it made me hate two out of the three main POV characters (Mahnmut and Orphu forever).
Ultimately though, that’s not what’s stopping me going on to the second book - I feel like Simmons has made an interesting world, but I don’t think it needs a sequel. I don’t usually read the "preview of the next book" they put at the end, but I did here, and it and some reviews confirmed my worst suspicions. There didn’t seem to be a need for another 800 pages to finish this story, and it seems drawn out with new POV characters whose thoughts don’t really add anything - drawn out and meandering where the story doesn’t ultimately demand it. I think I’m happier inserting a head canon extra chapter ending drawing on the best parts of this one and calling it a day.
The sexism was just too much for me at several points - unnecessary sexual descriptions of teenage girls, "breasted boobily" writing throughout, female POV characters who can only think about relationships and their poor hysterical female emotions, the slubby everyman who is somehow irresistible to beautiful women - I could go on. Just so much casual misogyny for such a long book grinds you down mentally, and it made me hate two out of the three main POV characters (Mahnmut and Orphu forever).
Ultimately though, that’s not what’s stopping me going on to the second book - I feel like Simmons has made an interesting world, but I don’t think it needs a sequel. I don’t usually read the "preview of the next book" they put at the end, but I did here, and it and some reviews confirmed my worst suspicions. There didn’t seem to be a need for another 800 pages to finish this story, and it seems drawn out with new POV characters whose thoughts don’t really add anything - drawn out and meandering where the story doesn’t ultimately demand it. I think I’m happier inserting a head canon extra chapter ending drawing on the best parts of this one and calling it a day.