Rise of Endymion

The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


After four years on Old Earth, Raul Endymion resumes the voyage on the river Tethys to find the Consul's ship. Meanwhile, Aenea leaves Old Earth behind to find her destiny. In addition to hunting for the One Who Teaches, The Pax launches a Crusade to wipe out the Ouster menace once and for all. Will Aenea fulfill her destiny and end the Pax's reign once and for all?



I have to admit, I was skeptical for the first half of this book. It wasn't urination-inducing good like the first two and I actually liked it less than Endymion for at least half of it. Then Raul incurred the time debt and things really kicked into high gear. The plot came togerther and by the end, it surpassed Endymion. Everything ran its course, from Aenea to the cruciforms to farcasting.



Like the other books, there's not a whole lot of the plot I can divulge without spoiling things. However, I will say that I enjoyed the tale's conclusion and loved learning more about the Ousters and their habitat. De Soya continued his development into one of my favorite characters in the Cantos. Also, I was surprised as hell to see Fehdman Kassad and Het Masteen again. I was hoping Simmons would touch upon the Templars again and he surpassed my expectations. Hell, were Brawne and Sol the only pilgrims that didn't make appearances?



While I was bored for a portion of the book and thought it felt padded, the second half more than made up for it. I got a little emotional when Aenea and Raul said their goodbyes to their friends. I saw the ending coming but I still liked it quite a bit.



It's not as great as the first two books of the Cantos but The Rise of Endymion is quite the satisfactory conclusion to the saga.



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