The Rise of Endymion[Hyperion 4]

The latest episode (following last year'sEndymion) of Simmons' Foundation-like saga of the far future tells of the struggle for dominance between humanity and its siblings, one of which is a highly evolved race with artificial intelligence and another of which has experimented upon its own DNA until it is no longer quite human. What might be called classical humankind is under the rule of a newly established, dominant Catholic Church, which undertakes to exterminate one of its rivals, the Ousters, and also seeks the girl Aenea, part-human and part-machine and a messiah for whom the adventurer Endymion is guardian. But Endymion and Aenea part as their destinies begin to fulfill themselves, and before they meet again, Endymion leaps through time portals from world to world. These worlds, including a gas giant with jellyfishlike lifeforms in its upper atmosphere and an ice kingdom carved among mountain peaks, are brilliantly realized. Thus Simmons pushes his vast entertainment along unfalteringly.