I have been a Dan Simmons fan for more than a decade, and whenever he releases something new, I buy a copy right away. Until now, that has always worked out great. In this case, however, I paid $24 for a hardcover copy of a new Simmons book without noticing that it's a 100 page novella. I think that's a ridiculous amount of money for such a short work of fiction.

On the plus side, Muse of Fire is pretty good, as is nearly everything Dan Simmons writes. Here, Simmons extends his homage to the eternal greatness of Shakespeare (as evidenced by Shakespeare-quoting robots in Ilium). In fact, he turns the volume all the way up, suggesting that the works of Shakespeare are the pinnacle of human accomplishment.

Frankly, I find this view a bit depressing. Still, the image of a post-apocalyptic troupe performing Hamlet for our alien overlords to save the human race from extinction is at least amusing.

Because of the cost, this one is for die-hard fans only. Hopefully the upcoming Drood will offer quite a bit more bang for the buck. [Just noticed that Drood is in stock at Amazon — MUST ... ORDER ... NOW!]