Sing to me, O Muse

[nishatalitha]

I have been rereading Ilium by Dan Simmons this week, because I was trying to explaing talking about it with deepbluemermaid and then felt the need to reread it.

I like it much more than its sequel Olympos, although that will probably be my reading book for next week. I've read Ilium three or four times since it came out (2003); Olympos once.

I picked it up because of its title; that it was $15 hardback and new; that it was clearly science-fiction; and that it began as follows:

Rage.
Sing, O Muse, of the rage of Achilles, of Peleus' son, murderous mankiller, fated to die, sing of the rage that cost the Achaeans so many good men and sent so many vital, hearty souls down to the dreary House of Death. And while you're at it, O Muse, sing of the rage of the gods themselves, so petulant and so powerful here on their new Olympos, and of the rage of the post-humans, dead and gone though they might be, and of the rage of those few true humans left, self-absorbed and useless though they may have become. While you are singing, O Muse, sing also of the rage of those thoughtful, sentient, serious but not-so-close-to-human beings out there dreaming under the ice of Europa, dying in the sulfur-ash of Io, and being born again in the cold folds of Ganymede.
Oh, and sing of me, O Muse, poor born-again-against-his-will Hockenberry - poor dead Thomas Hockenberry, Ph.D., Hockenbush to his friends, to friends long since turned to dust on a world long since left behind. Sing of my rage, O Muse, yes, of my rage, small and insignificant though that rage may be when measured against the anger of the immortal gods, or when compared to the wrath of the god-killer, Achilles.
On second thought, O Muse, sing of nothing to me. I know you. I have been bound and servant to you, O Muse, you incomparable bitch. And I do not trust you, O Muse. Not one little bit.

I like two of the three story threads and I'm starting to like the third by the end of the book. Even so, this is a book that I only reread every year or two. It's not comfort, light easy reading. It's not as screwy as The Golden Age by John C Wright (little is and yet it remains my benchmark), but it doesn't always make sense. It mostly makes internal sense. I think. And it has some fantastic scenes.

We bought sushi ginger at the grocery shop and I am eating it straight from the container. The ginger is half the reason I buy sushi, so getting it separate is a good thing.

The other side of a settlement decided at 4.50pm today that yes, they would settle today and could we please fax them the undertakings we were obtaining? The guy who holds the power of attorney faxed them to us with the wrong fax number, so there was sortof settlement, I guess. I didn't care much by the end. It'll get sorted on Monday.

I'm going to play Alice and have another go at killing the centipede. Does anyone have good tips for me?

EDIT: Yay, I killed the centipede. Alice is her proper size and I'm getting lost (again) in yet another 3D maze.

Comments

Ilium

[anarchangel23.livejournal.com]

I probably should read the Shakespearean(?) play that he references a lot in the Odysseus thread before I read it again, but yes, great book. I have Olympuos, but I've been told it's pretty bad in comparison and I haven't read it yet.

Re: Ilium

[nishatalitha.livejournal.com]

The Tempest mostly, and the sonnets.

I started reading Olympos over breakfast and a cup of tea this morning. It's really bad in comparison. Almost makes you wonder if Dan Simmons really wrote both books.