Olympos was published by Eos in 2005, completing the Ilium/Olympos duology. All three narrative threads converge toward apocalypse: on Mars, the war between the Achaeans/Trojans and the post-human “gods” escalates; on Earth, the voynix (robotic servants) turn on the old-style humans, and the true nature of Prospero, Caliban, Ariel, and Sycorax (characters from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, reimagined as AIs and post-human entities) is revealed; in space, the moravecs discover that the entire Mars situation is a quantum black hole threatening to consume local space-time.
The novel resolves Simmons’s meditation on literature’s relationship to reality — a theme running through the Hyperion Cantos as well. The post-humans on Mars are literally living inside literary texts, and the question of whether stories can reshape the physical universe is answered affirmatively and catastrophically.
Collecting Olympos
First edition (Eos, New York, 2005): Boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine in jacket: $20–$50
- Signed first: $60–$120
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
The Ambitious Conclusion
Olympos attempts to resolve three wildly divergent storylines — the Trojan War on Mars, the post-human crisis on Earth, and the moravec investigation of quantum anomalies — into a single coherent resolution. The ambition is enormous, and opinions differ on whether Simmons entirely succeeds. But the attempt itself — a science fiction novel that requires simultaneous knowledge of Homer, Shakespeare, Proust, and quantum mechanics — is one of the most intellectually challenging popular novels of the 21st century.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are moravecs? In Simmons’s fiction, moravecs are sentient robots originally created by humans and based in the outer solar system (Jupiter’s moons). They are named after Hans Moravec, a real roboticist. Simmons’s moravecs are literary enthusiasts — one is obsessed with Shakespeare, another with Proust — which adds a layer of humanist comedy to the science fiction.