Dan Simmons...suggestions?

[Crash-Man]

Hey.

I recently read Dan Simmons' Hyperion (currently reading Fall of Hyperion), and it was an eye-opener. I haven't enjoyed a novel that much in a long time, and it's changed the way I look at sci-fi.

I loved how Hyperion spanned genres and integrated literary references and analogs. I was really impressed by the sheer depth (and disturbing plausibility) of the novel's universe, and the way Simmons explained the backstory over time.

So I plan to order a few more of Simmons' novels, and I'm wondering which of them represent the best of his work.


It doesn't necessarily have to be confined to his sci-fi stuff, but I'll add that I'm not too interested in the mystery novels.

Is The Terror worth a read?

[Subotai]

You're well advised to stay away from his Kurtz novels. The Terror is pretty solid; but you may want to start with Summer of Night, which is the first in the Elm Haven terror series. It follows up with several other solid novels and even touches on one of his crime novels.

[Crash-Man]

Thanks. I like what I've been reading about it.

Would my enjoyment of Ilium be affected by the fact that I haven't read the Iliad?

Granted I thoroughly enjoyed Hyperion without having read much Keats.

[Roquefort Raider]

Ilium and Olympos are in the vein of Hyperion, but aren't as wildly creative. They're slower and more ponderous, although to fans of the Iliad they are a lot of fun.

I really enjoyed Simmons' "The crook factory", a cold war thriller that counts Ernest hemingway as one of its characters.

I was deeply disturbed by the shock ending of his horror novel "the song of Kali".

I did enjoy his Hyperion sequels, "Endymion" and "the rise of Endymion", even though they are admitedly not as good as the Hyperion titles.

[Kaiju]

Song Of Kali is a deeply disturbing book and the ending just guts you.


Carrion Comfort is another of his early horror novels that hits you like a ton of bricks.

[Donald M.]

The only Dan Simmons I've read is Summer of Night and Children of the Night.

Children of the Night was a vampire novel I didn't find very memorable (My favorite all time vamp novel is Robert R. McCammon's They thirst, with Christopher Moore's Bloodsucking Fiends a close second.) but Summer of Night is a whole 'nother story. Easily my favorite of the various "small town kids vs. supernatural terror" books I've read.

[Chiasm]

Carrion Comfort is another of his early horror novels that hits you like a ton of bricks.

Yep, especially the point about midway where spoilers:

the police officer character dies

end of spoilers. I totally didn't see that coming.

[Ryan Day]

Ilium and Olympos are in the vein of Hyperion, but aren't as wildly creative. They're slower and more ponderous, although to fans of the Iliad they are a lot of fun.

I loved Ilium - it's big and epic, and full of neat ideas and characters - but got bogged down in Olympos. Simmons tendency to narrate in flashback got on my nerves after he did it for the 30th time. (ie. "The robots attacked at midnight. At nine pm, everything was peaceful..."

[Rutsah]

I started Reading Dan Simmons with the Hollow Man, which I would call his 2nd best after Song of Kali which has been praised already. Carrion Comfort was a big book I couldn't stop reading. Children/Summer of night not so much, and the Crook Factory was tv drama reading for anyone familiar with book's focus.

[Expletive Deleted]

Ilium and Olympos are in the vein of Hyperion, but aren't as wildly creative. They're slower and more ponderous, although to fans of the Iliad they are a lot of fun.

And fans of Proust. And The Tempest. And, if I'm recalling correctly, Pilgrim's Progress.

I think the problem with Ilium (which I really liked, I should mention) is that it tries to do too much. It ends up being allusion overload.

[Lester C.]

It's a radical departure from the novels listed here but the extremly hard boiled Krutz series is a personal favorite of mine. I'm not going to lie to you. The Krutz series lacks the depth of Dan's other work but man oh man is it a good time.