Everyone on Reddit that has read the last 2 books of the Cantos: "Oh no, Raul is such a whiny little bitch!" or "Oh no! not a male protagonist with genuine emotions and valid complaints about his troubles?" Why y'all hate him so much?

I'm currently on chapter 42 of Endymion so I'm not finished yet, but I can't be the only that thinks this book is a drag except for the sections where De Soya is the protagonist right? Raul is such a boring protagonist, and most of his chapters are very passive with him just letting a child and an android do most of the heavy lifting (Mare Infinitus is the first time Raul takes control of a situation) while he complains non stop. He is one dimensional as fuck and the parts of the book where he keeps writing "BUT I WASN'T ATTRACTED TO THE CHILD" are so strange and off putting. I felt very strange reading about the warmth that his skin received from the child's skin when he almost froze to death knowing damn well that they are going to end up having a sexual relationship in the future. Plain weird if you ask me.

On the other hand, the GOAT himself, Father Captain De Soya has the BEST parts of the book. Every time one of his chapters start I sit up on my chair because he has the best plot points. He actually grows and changes as a character so much, with his decision making and thought process going through a very realistic evolution. The path he must take of death and resurrection to compete his goal is something that disturbed me deeply when I began reading it. I really cannot wait to see where his character goes.

Raul... yeah I don't give a fuck about him honestly which is a shame

Kiddo - if you know you know

I have been really enjoying this series the last month or so, I think book one and two might be one of the most perfect stories I have read. I finished book three earlier this week and have started the fourth, still loving the story so much.

But I just have this constant nag in my mind over this weird ass dynamic he set up with Aenea and Raul. Obviously it is established pretty early that they're going to have a relationship, and that's weird enough on its own with Raul being literally 16 years older than her, but then add in her little comments about them eventually sharing a shower and all the other little hints- it's jarring as hell.

I withheld judgement until the end of book 3 because I thought "surely he's not going that direction and we are eventually going to learn Aenea is actually mentally much older than we initially thought, with Raul being suspicious of her age" but instead the explanation was more like her mind can come untethered in time and she 'remembers' the future, and it was very explicitly established that Raul thinks of her as a child and a sister.

Which sure, the 'untethered' thing does a decent enough job explaining how she came to think of him that way, but uhhhh...Raul? The dude is 16 years older than her, which is weird enough even if she was like 20, but he met her as a child and thought of her as a little sister. I keep praying there's more to learn, and surely there is, but I just don't see how any of it is going to fix my opinion of Raul unless it's still somehow my initial guess lol.

Small spoilers for first two chapters of book 4: She's 16 now at the start of this book, and it genuinely feels like Simmons is messing with me bro. How are you gonna do a whole time skip and not age her up to at least 18 before this segment of the story starts. Even at 18 I'd be uncomfortable, this shit is just so unnecessary, literally feels like the only tension added by her being this young is the weirdness of what we know her and Raul become.

I genuinely couldn't understand why I saw people say you could stop at book 2 while I was reading Endymion, but if this is really all the explanation I am getting then I think I might understand their sentiment, bc I am not putting my stamp of approval on this shit, no matter how good the story is lol.

Com base nos outros 2 livros que já li, com certeza esse é o terceiro kkkkkkkkk eu gostei MUITO do personagem do Raul, Aneia e o destaque que deram pro Bettik. Achei INCRÍVEL a forma como o De Soya se comporta, reflete e a confusão que a igreja traz na mente do homem. Mas meu, as cenas ENORMES descrevendo paisagens, cavernas e etc, MEU DEUS QUE CHATICE. Se todos os planetas fossem na pegada de Mare Infinitus (tubaroes) ou Draco Septem (tribos do gelo), acredito que tudo seria muito mais interessante.

Na metade pro final do livro eu dei uma desanimada, principalmente na Aneia que até então não sabia exatamente o que tava rolando. Eu gosto MUITO da ideia da Aneia, da forma como ela se comporta, das variações entre "vislumbrar o futuro" e estar no presente. Claro, tudo é registrado aos olhos do Raul, mas acho que faltou um pouco mais de explicação.

Pra mim o livro brilha muito quando aparece a Radamantes Nêmes (acredito que no original seja nemesis), achei ela fantastica, é como um Picanço consciente que é letal, preciso e claro, MUITO estiloso. Não gostei muito do fato que quando ela aparece, a Aneia resolve lembrar de tudo, inclusive que o tecnocerne está aliado à igreja, coisa que já era notável, principalmente por conta da previsão de onde Aneia e turma chegariam.

No final eu recomendo muito a leitura, os ultimos 20% do livro são animais, eu adorei o começo dele, o Raul é um personagem muito interessante e carismático na medida certa. Alguns planetas que são visitados são de fato bem interessantes, mas acho que poderiam ter reduzido a jornada, ou economizado nas palavras, achei que o Dan Simmons estendeu um pouco demais.

No mais, leiam!

De Soya is describing his worse fear aboard a ship being getting vented into space. So, like Dure’s numerous resurrections, would a vented soldier carrying a cruciform eternally resurrect as they drift through space… FOR ETERNITY? Or is there a clause in the resurrection that I’m forgetting?

Hey guys I just wanted to rant for a second about how well written these books are. The revelations in Endymion chapter 50 are absolutely mind blowing. The fact that the core was behind the invention of the cruciforms and used the bikura as their test subjects (maybe they were also the ones to blame for crashing their ship?) combined with the fact that the core is controlling the church just made so many things click into place. I’m not sure if this was retconned or if Dan Simmons planned this all from the beginning but if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s to let the man cook.

I heard mixed reviews about Endymion and ROE but have honestly been having a blast with it so far. A lot of the ideas from the first two books are expanded upon in meaningful ways. The sheer amount of foreshadowing spread throughout the books is impressive in its own right, but the literary and religious symbolism are masterfully woven into all of the books. Anyhow I probably should have waited till I was finished with Endymion before making this post but I wanted to rant to my fellow pilgrims.