A resurgent Catholic Church, thanks to its mastery of the mysterious resurrection parasite called the cruciform, has filled the void left after the fall and has become the dominant political power in the universe in the form of a theocratic government called the Pax. The events and characters of the original story have faded into legend since the fall of humanity’s intergalactic empire at the conclusion of The Fall of Hyperion, though they continue to haunt Endymion‘s story at various points. Simmons chose to evolve his formula for Hyperion’s sequel as Endymion takes place in the same universe but is set hundreds of years after the events of the first two books. Thus, Endymion-the third book of four in the Hyperion Cantos, followed by the finale, The Rise of Endymion-is the work that actually bears the burden of a traditional sequel. The Fall of Hyperion may technically be the sequel to Hyperion, but it is really the conclusion of the original story. Simmons’s approach to (hopefully) avoiding a sophomore slump was to write a 1,000-page book, split it in half, and publish it as two separate books. Should you hew closely to the formula that resulted in your initial success? How much can you evolve your work while retaining as many fans as possible? Can anything really live up to the original?Įnter Dan Simmons and Endymion ( | Amazon), the 1996 follow up to the Nebula and Locus award winning Hyperion. Sequels are notoriously hard, perhaps even impossible, to pull off in a satisfying manner.
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