History Literature / Illium

'''''Illium''''' is a SpeculativeFiction novel by writer Creator/DanSimmons. It's a sprawling epic story that is conveyed through three seemingly disconnected but intertwining narratives. Though it touches on many topics, the story is perhaps best described as a [[RecycledInSpace high-tech reenactment]] of TheTrojanWar.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Mahnmut and Orphu. Well, as HeterosexualLifePartners as a sentient robot and a sentient crab-creature can be...

* BigBad: Caliban for the Old-Style Human's story arc, the Gods of "Olympos" for the scholics trapped in the Iliad.

** To elaborate: Most of the major players from ''Literature/TheIliad'' show up, including Odysseus and Achilles. Characters from Theatre/TheTempest appear, such as Prospero and Caliban.

'''''Illium''''' is a SpeculativeFiction novel by writer DanSimmons. It's a sprawling epic story that is conveyed through three seemingly disconnected but intertwining narratives. Though it touches on many topics, the story is perhaps best described as a [[RecycledInSpace high-tech reenactment]] of TheTrojanWar.

* ShoutOut: It's a DanSimmons novel, who did you expect? A Moravec General in Olympos suggests nuking something from orbit, as it is the only way to be sure, along with other subtler shout outs to both modern pop culture.

* BrainUploading: One of the defining attributes of the post-humans, who are described as "wearing" bodies.

* CharacterDevelopment: Daeman, Daeman, Daeman.

* ShoutOut: It's a DanSimmons novel, who did you expect?
* TheSingularity: The post-humans blew right through this centuries before the story begins. Subsequently feeling rather bored after unraveling the secrets of the universe they [[spoiler: decide to go out and play god, Greek gods to be specific]].

* ThirdLineSomeWaiting: Balancing ''three'' different storylines at once that will eventually intersect causes this trope to happen.

** It helps that there are characters who love talking about Proust and ''Literature/TheIliad'' while much of the rest can be taken as [[TechnoBabble "awesome magic stuff"]].

Meanwhile, on Earth, humanity seems to be hugely reduced in population; the few societies that exist [[{{Utopia}} have everything they could ever want]], due to instantaneous teleportation and advanced technology, but they [[CrapsaccharineWorld live in relative ignorance of the past]]. A young man named Daemon struggles to make his cousin Ada [[KissingCousins notice him]], but she only has eyes for an older man named Harman. Along with Ada's friend Hannah, the four are set off on a journey to figure out what's wrong with the world...why are there [[WorldHalfEmpty so few people]]? And why is there a [[AlienSky giant ring in the sky]]?

* {{Badass}}: Savi, Harman, [[spoiler:Daemon]] after some CharacterDevelopment.

* TheCasanova: Daemon believes himself to be this at the beginning of ''Illium.''
* CharacterDevelopment: Daemon, Daemon, Daemon.

* DidNotGetTheGirl: Daemon ends up with neither prominent female character (ie, Ada, Hannah), but he doesn't seem to mind. On the other hand, Hannah does not get the guy - she does not end up with Odysseus, however much she wants to.

-->If I am to be the unwilling Chorus of this tale, then I can start the story anywhere I choose. I choose to start it here. [''And the plot begins'']

* {{Jerkass}}: Daemon starts off like this, but thanks to CharacterDevelopment, he grows out of it by the story's end. He's even happy for Ada and Harman, an attitude he would not have shown at the novel's beginning.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Daemon, after CharacterDevelopment.

* ParentalAbandonment: Of a sort - none of the Old Style Humans living on Earth have any idea of fathers or mothers, since that part of life has been eliminated by test-tube conception and birth. Thus, when [[spoiler:Harman]] tells [[spoiler:Ada]] that he desires to stay alive beyond his "[[YourDaysAreNumbered fifth twenty]]" (the maximum age a human is usually allowed to be, and also when most people choose to die) to be a father to their child, the idea is foreign and shocking to her, and she is actually ''angry'' at him for suggesting it at first.
* ThePlague: The Rubicon Virus, which was really a SyntheticPlague created by [[spoiler: the Global Caliphate to kill the Jews, but which ended up spreading to most of humanity]].

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: All of the old-style humans living on Earth. They can (and in most cases, do) live up to 120 years, all the while looking youthful.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: This is what happens when the entire cast of ''Literature/TheIliad'', a resurrected Scholic, two sentient robot creatures, and a band of five old style humans on earth. It's no wonder that the novels are ''huge.''

* {{Expy}}: Savi [=/=] [[spoiler: Moira]] is essentially [[spoiler: Rachel Wintraub of ''{{Hyperion}}'']] placed into a new setting. Much like [[spoiler: Rachel, she can travel back and forth in time and her death brings rebirth for herself as "Moira" and the others of humankind. Heck, once Prospero even refers to her playfully as "Moneta", Rachel's nickname in {{Hyperion}}]]

* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover: Let's see...we have a re-enaction of the epic poem of Homer, two sci-fi robot creatures, and the people of an Earth that no longer remembers how to live (as they have essentially become [[ShoutOut Eloi]]) and [[spoiler: the Reveal that another time traveller shares the same name as one from another continuity; the {{Hyperion}} quadtrilogy. However, when you put the two together the facts match up: Moira is Jewish, as is Rachel, and they both are described as having dark hair and being able to travel through time, having a small romance of some sort.]] Put 'em all together and you get a work like this one.

'''''Illium''''' is a SpeculativeFiction novel by writer DanSimmons. It's a sprawling epic story that is conveyed through three seemingly disconnected but intertwining narratives. Though it touches on many topics, the story is perhaps best described as a [[RecycledInSpace high-tech reenactment]] of the [[ClassicalMythology Trojan War]].

Professor Thomas Hockenberry, a Homeric scholar [[FishOutOfTemporalWater from the 20th century]], finds himself resurrected in the far future by the Greek Gods themselves...[[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane except not really]]. In fact they're post-humans ''imitating'' the Greek gods, and they're re-enacting the entire Trojan War on a terraformed Mars [[CosmicChessGame just for fun]]. And it's Thomas's job to compare the events of the re-enactment to actual history.

Professor Thomas Hockenberry, Homeric scholar [[FishOutOfTemporalWater from the 20th century]], finds himself resurrected in the far future by the Greek Gods themselves...[[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane except not really]]. In fact they're post-humans ''imitating'' the Greek gods, and they're re-enacting the entire Trojan War on a terraformed Mars [[CosmicChessGame just for fun]]. And it's Thomas's job to compare the events of the re-enactment to actual history.

''Illium'' is a SpeculativeFiction novel by writer DanSimmons. It's a sprawling epic story that is conveyed through three seemingly disconnected but intertwining narratives. Though it touches on many topics, the story is perhaps best described as a [[RecycledInSpace high-tech reenactment]] of the [[ClassicalMythology Trojan War]].

** [[PlayingWithTropes Played with]] in that these characters might not literally be from those stories, but simply are high-techn MaybeMagicMaybeMundane ClarkesThirdLaw versions of them. But they sure as heck ''act'' like them.

* HoYay: Mahnmut believes he sees this in Shakespeare's 116 sonnet to the mysterious "Young Man." In a feverish dream though, Mahnmut's dream version of Shakespeare is quick to disabuse him of the notion. Played straight with Achilles and Patroclus though, much to Hockenberry's disgust, which is then shot in the foot in ''Olympos'' when Achilles is completely interested in pursing a queen [[spoiler: although the Girdle of Aphrodite has a lot to do with this, and he is still determined to find Patroclus despite his enforced love for the queen]].

Meanwhile, on Earth, humanity seems to be hugely reduced in population; the few socities that exist [[{{Utopia}} have everything they could ever want]], due to instantaneous teleportation and advanced technology, but they [[CrapsaccharineWorld live in relative ignorance of the past]]. A young man named Daemon struggles to make his cousin Ada [[KissingCousins notice him]], but she only has eyes for an older man named Harman. Along with Ada's friend Hannah, the four are set off on a journey to figure out what's wrong with the world...why are there [[WorldHalfEmpty so few people]]? And why is there a [[AlienSky giant ring in the sky]]?

* ThePlague: The Rubicon Virus.

* HoYay: Mahnmut believes he sees this in Shakespeare's 116 sonnet to the mysterious "Young Man." In a feverish dream though, Mahnmut's dream version of Shakespeare is quick to disabuse him of the notion. Played straight with Achilles and Patroclus though, much to Hockenberry's disgust, which is then shot in the foot in ''Olympos'' when Achilles is completely interested in pursing a queen.

* {{Casanova}}: Daemon believes himself to be this at the beginning of ''Illium.''