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Ilium by Dan Simmons
In Ilium by Dan Simmons, Thomas Hockenberry, reconstructed from his 21st-century DNA by the ancient Greek gods on Olympos Mons on Mars, is sent to earth's past in high-tech to monitor the Trojan War and the historically accuracy of The Iliad. Meanwhile, Aphrodite tries to convince him to help her in her plan to eliminate Athena. On what is left of the earth are the few remnants of humans who "fax" themselves from party to party, and are supposed to fax themselves to an evolutionary heaven after 100 years. A man named Harman decides he'd rather be an adventurer and explore for himself. At the same time, sentient machines near Jupiter are sent to investigate, and possibly terminate, potentially disastrous quantum flux emissions from a mountaintop on Mars. These three storylines come together in Dan Simmons' epic space opera, filled with literary allusions from the Iliad, to Shakespeare, to H. G. Wells. The first of two-part series, Ilium is receiving high praise. The Denver Post says, "There's so much going on between the covers of this magnificent creation one might want to have a second go at it right after finishing it. Not just to soak in all of the literary allusions and the wild plot twists, but for the sheer pleasure of enjoying such a well-crafted novel."
