After three long years, Sam finally wraps up the Hyperion saga with the grand finale of The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons. Aenea has taken her show on the road and is spreading the love with her magic blood. Raul, who finally got a taste of it, is tripping: hearing the voices of the dead, chatting with the cosmos, seeing auras (irrelevant), and apparently he can hear every thought and feeling of everyone ever. Privacy? Who needs it. Doesn’t matter though, because Raul, the worst choice for the future leader of humanity ever, spends the entire finale trying to figure out who else Aenea slept with (spoiler: it’s future him, obviously him). You’d think all that blood power would make that solvable much more quickly. Anyway, for reasons, Raul and Aenea show up at the Vatican where they make out in the back of St. Peter’s Basilica during Holy Thursday (as you do) and then Aenea cuts that short to call the Pope an abomination. They immediately get attacked by the Pope’s minions, and shockingly, Raul’s killer chess moves do not help, and they’re separated, both kidnapped and taken into custody. The church, learning literally nothing from their own history, torture and poison Aenea, dead set on making her martyr Jesus. And Endymion, FINALLY, makes it into the stupid cat box he’s been in for two books. Also, the Tree of Pain goes on a road trip. Toot! Toot! Will our two heroes make it out alive? Will the Tree of Pain fulfill its destiny? Will Raul ever be less exhausting? Haha, no. Join us for the epic conclusion of a story three years in the making as Sam finally gives us answers we never wanted for things we didn’t need to know and Filip, our reluctant guest, finally gets his curse lifted (or does he…)

Special thanks to friend of the pod and honorary co-host Filip from Mind Duck Books for joining us on this thrilling journey! You can find Mind Duck Books on Twitter and Instagram, and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Theme: Earning Happiness by John Bartmann.

For more delightful weirdness, follow us on Bluesky or YouTube.

If you like our content and want more of it, please consider supporting us on Patreon.