Book Review: Ilium, by Dan Simmons

If you're a fan of hard science fiction, Greek mythology, or just love to sit down with an absorbing book that will capture your imagination, then this novel is for you. The story takes place far in the future when technology is so advanced that "post-humans" are capable of terraforming planets, traveling through worm holes in space and resurrecting humans.

A certain group of post-humans decides they want to see a reenactment of the Trojan War, so they resurrect all the heroes, including Achilles, Odysseus, Paris, Hector, etc., and all their hangers on and put them in a recreated Earth of that time period. To make sure their Trojan War unfolds as it did in legend, they also resurrect scholars who specialize in the Iliad (of Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey), whose job it is to keep track of what's going on and report back.

If an intervention is required to keep events true to the Iliad, the post-humans will appear, using their super-advanced technology, in the form of gods. They have cast themselves, in effect, in the role of the Greek gods of myth, and influence events as Zeus, Athena, Ares and the other gods did in the days of yore. They live atop Olympus Mons on the planet Mars.

A central character in this multi-narrative tale is one of the resurrected scholars of the Iliad, a geeky, dweebish professor from the Twenty First Century named Thomas Hockenberry. He does his job faithfully for years, following the day-to-day events of the Trojan War, but one day gets fed up of being a pawn of the gods and decides to change events himself. (He also falls in lust with the fabled Helen of Troy.)

Meanwhile, back on Earth (the true Earth, not the recreated one), humans are living an idyllic life. They are waited on hand and foot by automated servants and droids, so they can while away the hours having casual sex, traveling, viewing entertainment or doing whatever else takes their fancy. One human, Harman, starts asking questions about what everyone else takes for granted. He makes friends with several people and they begin traveling, looking for answers. One day they come upon an ancient woman who aids them in their quest, and takes them on a wild adventure.

While all this is happening, four sentient robots from the other side of the solar system are called upon to travel to Mars. Their mission is to investigate dangerous fluctuations in "quantum space" emanating from the Red Planet and destroy the source, if necessary.

Dan Simmons has created a wonderfully detailed, fascinating set of worlds and populated his novel with believable, intriguing characters. I haven't read a science fiction story this good in years.

(HarperTorch, 2003, 725 pages)