Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos Book 1)

Behold The Unfilmable: Hyperion Cantos

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Instead of straight-forward narrative momentum, Hyperion is almost entirely the backstories of these pilgrims. Each story genuinely adds to the forward narrative, by going backward. This is equally both. Each tale feels like a slightly different genre married to science fiction, and the interstitial sections weave them together tightly. Only one of them fell slightly flat for me. Hyperion has that indescribable, almost lovecraftian terror, dread and brooding present throughout, and one tale in particular left me unbearably heartbroken.

I was torn whether or not to dig straight into The Fall of Hyperion after finishing this, but ultimately I decided not to just yet. View all 15 comments. Deep in the shady sadness of a vale Far sunken from the healthy breath of morn. Imagine a universe where the Earth has been destroyed and humanity is spread out across hundreds of planets. Combine the artful poetry of John Keats with a science fiction retelling of the Canterbury Tales.

Add tons of references to the myths and legends of the three Abrahamic religions, and what you have is Hyperion. A masterpiece of literature. Seven pilgrims come together aboard the treeship Yggdrasil to Deep in the shady sadness of a vale Far sunken from the healthy breath of morn. Seven pilgrims come together aboard the treeship Yggdrasil to make a journey to the remote planet Hyperion, outside the authority and jurisdiction of the Hegemony of Man.

Each and every one of them has been specifically chosen by the Church of Final Atonement to undertake a pilgrimage to the enigmatic creature known only as the Shrike. And each and every one of them has been chosen because of a personal connection with the planet itself. Thus begins a quest to uncover the lost secrets hidden within the Valley of the Time Tombs, a place from which no pilgrim has ever come back alive. This book deserves to be hailed alongside the greatest works of science fiction.

The most fascinating part of the book is definitely the mystery of the Time Tombs themselves, huge structures that supposedly move backwards through time, originating in a distant future. Thus the book explores the concept of time itself, and the unforeseen consequences the effects of the Tombs have had and will have on the pilgrims' lives and the universe as a whole. Hyperion is more a collection of short stories with an overarching frame story than an actual novel. That structure is part of what makes the book so much of a joy to read.

Every chapter has one of the pilgrims tell his or her tale to the others in order to share information that will be vital for their survival and the success of their mission. And each tale brings the group closer to the Valley of the Time Tombs, where the Shrike is waiting for them. All of them with a with a story to tell and a part to play. Still singing loudly, not looking back, matching stride for stride, they descended into the valley. View all 26 comments. Mar 22, Megan Baxter rated it it was amazing. These stories are, individually, mind-blowingly good - in concert, they are little short of breathtaking.

This is science fiction at its very best, and its avoidance of simple answers satisfies me deeply. I can't wait to read the next book. The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the recent changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here. In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook. View all 22 comments. On the eve of interstellar war between the Hegemony of Man and the barbarian Ousters over the fate of Hyperion, seven pilgrims embark on a journey to the Time Tombs and their mysterious protector, The Shrike, a three meter tall, four-armed monster covered with blades.

One pilgrim will have his wish granted and the others will be impaled on the Shrike's Tree of Pain. Only one or more of the pilgrims isn't what he appears to be I first read Hyperion almost seven years ago as part of the The Hype On the eve of interstellar war between the Hegemony of Man and the barbarian Ousters over the fate of Hyperion, seven pilgrims embark on a journey to the Time Tombs and their mysterious protector, The Shrike, a three meter tall, four-armed monster covered with blades.

I first read Hyperion almost seven years ago as part of the The Hyperion Omnibus: When I found the ebook on the cheap, I decided it was time for a reread. Hyperion is an epic tale that's hard to quantify. Borrowing its structure from the Canterbury tales, Hyperion is a literary sf tour de force, encompassing much of what I love about reading in the first place. There are literary references, far away places with strange sounding names, three dimensional characters, and a universe that is anything but black and white.

There is also artificial intelligence, faster than light travel, robots, lasers, and many other spectacular sf concoctions. As I said before, Hyperion is really a multitude of tales in one. Seven people have been selected to go on what is possibly the final Shrike pilgrimage. Along the way, they tell their stories, stories which run the gamut of genre tales. There's romance, humor, action, adventure, sex, and violence, everything I love about genre fiction. Simmons really flexes his writing chops in this, from Martin Silenus' verbose tale of being a writer to Brawne Lamia's Raymond Chandler homage.

World-building is often intrusive and wielded like a club but Simmons' world-building is more like a massage, doled out in bite-sized chunks during each of the characters' tales. While the world-building is staggeringly interesting, it's the characters that really fuel this fire. A repentent soldier, a conflicted diplomat, an old man with a child aging in reverse, the captain of a treeship, a burden-carrying priest, a detective in love with a poet, and a poet in love with the past. There isn't enough space to write down everything I loved about this book.

The only gripe I have is that it ends abruptly once the Consul's tale is told and the real ending is in the second volume, The Fall of Hyperion.

I originally read this way back in and it was one of those wonderful books that eclipsed many of the books before it. On the second read, it still is. Five out of five stars. View all 19 comments. Jan 28, Jonathan rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: I'm frankly terrified to review Dan Simmons' masterpiece Hyperion. It is too good and too big for me to do this right.

I thought I would mirror both Chaucer's and Simmons' use of the frame story in my review: The Pilgrimage is the perfect literary tool for bringing together a bunch of characters who appear to have little in common but soon all share the same goal. Simmons does a masterful job at telling each story in different styles. The feel is unique each time. The structure of Hyperion offers something for everyone, even readers unfamiliar with sci-fi. Horror fans will be drawn to the legend of the Shrike, and the Priest's story, while perhaps the slowest to develop, reminded me of Stephen King.

There's plenty to love for space opera junkies, and there's mystery, intrigue and deceit. There's also the exploration of the depth of a parent's love for their child. Oh and people get sliced and diced, nah huh. I'm not at home in a sci-fi or fantasy book unless I'm confused for at least the first few pages, if not longer. The opening scene confronts us with new words "time-debt"? Read in retrospect, we feel very comfortable in this scene which is one I particularly like. That's good, and means we've integrated ourselves into Simmon's freaky world.

Although the overarching story is definitely odd, by the end of it you've bought what Simmons is selling; at full price. It's just odd enough for you to be curious, and there's just enough information revealed to encourage you to fly through the pages. Strange can be good, and in Hyperion, it's incredible. Story Within a Story 1: I was delighted to learn that its his? The Shrike reminds me of Darth Vader on a few levels.

It's Vader, like the Shrike, that dictates how the story progresses. The actions of all of the other characters are only in reaction to the Shrike. The protagonist in Hyperion is the Shrike; and it never says a word. However, I wouldn't classify it as an anti-hero because it certainly doesn't elicit any sympathy or other positive feelings. Actually, the opening lyrics to that song make a great pilgrimage tune for the Consul et al.: The physical description of the Shrike is cool to mull over: It's metallic, but it's also organic.

Don't forget the ruby red eyes. Come, come, commala Lord of Pain, come, commala. Story Within a Story 2: I have to admit that in a potty humour kind of way, I liked Martin's somewhat limited yet colourful vocabulary during his brain-damaged period. Simmon's homage to George Carlin was pretty funny and reminded me of a scene in Iain M.

Bank's Use of Weapons when a cab driver who uses a voice box to speak gets the crap kicked out of him and the voice box keeps saying things like "thank you", "where would you like to go" and "I'd like another please". Through Martin we get a glimpse of what happened to Old Earth. It was a creative method of exposition and obviated the need to have a character suddenly give a misplaced history lesson. Martin gives Simmons an excuse to answer the reader's natural curiosity. Story Within a Story 3: Dan Simmons has proven that he can not only tackle tech and space opera with aplomb, but that he can also create vivid characters with whom we no doubt identify.

I'm a new father and I found Sol's story to be extremely moving. Plus the freaking Shrike reaching for me in the dark would turn my shorts brown. Sol deserved the cover spot on my edition of The Fall of Hyperion. Story Within a Story 4: If this was real, people like Britney Spears would have enough money for two such houses AND be stupid enough to actually own two. Simmons does something with tech that I think a lot of authors fail to take advantage of: In the opening scene of Hyperion, we're aboard the Consul's ship with his piano. At some point in the story we're told that private ownership of space vessels is extremely rare.

I found this fact odd until we were introduced to farcasters and their relatively ubiquitous use. Who the hell would own an expensive space ship when you can go to a multitude of planets in your PJs? I also liked that with power comes increased access to farcaster technology. The fact that the President has a private farcaster makes sense. Story Within a Story 5: The scene with Kassad and the Shrike was a very interesting concept of time as a weapon. That cool fight was also a nice little exemplar of how nobody has a chance against the Lord of Pain Story Within a Story 6: Reading journal entries is always an interesting way of being exposed to facts because there is a suddenness to each revelation.

Things happen while the journal's author is not jotting down his thoughts. It rocketed him to the top of my favourite authors list and cemented him as one of my must-reads for years to come. I've since checked out his online writing course and have gained even more appreciation for the structure of Hyperion, the exposition and the prose.

Hyperion Cantos Series

View all 29 comments. I loved this sci fi classic, Hyperion and want to read the rest of the series now - especially with the massive cliffhanger at the end! A sort of Canterbury Tales in space, Simmons takes us years in the future with a human race that fled the ineluctable implosion of planet earth in two groups - the Hegemony and the rebellious Ousters. There are, if memory serves, about 25 or was it ? The story revolves around seven pilgrims headed to a world not connected to the WorldWeb this being a network of human habitations connected by networks and AI intelligence of the TechnoCore.

There is a ton of speculative ideas that were very far-reaching for a book written in including the aforementioned WorldWeb think of the World Wide Web that was conceptualized in and opened to the public in ! The Hegemony has become somewhat authoritarian amd paranoid following the incredible rise of intelligence in the AI systems and the menace of the Ousters who are now completely comfortable living in deep space and have developed sophisticated weapons that threaten Hegemony worlds. On Hyperion, the destination of the pilgrims, there is mysterious murderous creature called the Shrike who lives near the Time Tombs which are now off limits to the imminent danger.

Each of the pilgrims has a specific and important link to Hyperion and to the Shrike and each tells their story during the long voyage. Needless to say, there is a LOT of material here and telling you more would inevitably lead to spoilers so suffice it to say that there is no question that Hyperion belongs in the upper echelon of science fiction novels and its vision of the future is at the same time quite terrifying and incredibly fascinating. Looking forward to the next installment! Since, read and reviewed here on GR! Sep 23, Apatt rated it it was amazing Shelves: Hyperion is generally regarded as a science fiction classic, it tends to be included in most "Best SF Novels of All-Time" lists.

I first read it when it was first published in paperback, at the time I had no idea I was reading a book that is destined to become a classic in the genre. When I began to participate in online sf books discussion groups not so long ago primarily PrintSF these days I noticed how often Hyperion is mentioned, usually reverent tones. A reread is then in order because I Hyperion is generally regarded as a science fiction classic, it tends to be included in most "Best SF Novels of All-Time" lists.

A reread is then in order because I have entirely forgotten what is so good about it, besides I have not read the subsequent books in the Hyperion Cantos. Anybody who is familiar with the works on Dan Simmons will know how versatile he is. Simmons has published books in several genres including, sf, fantasy, horror, crime, and non-fiction.

I can not say that he excels in all of them because I have only read his sf and horror novels but it would not surprise me if he does.

Hyperion is beautifully structured and skillfully built up from gradually introducing the reader to the universe of the book to taking the readers through the adventures of the seven protagonists. It is one of those rare books that is highly readable from start to finish, yet its accessibility belies its complexity. The novel is comprised of brilliant six distinct novella length stories wrapped within a frame story a la The Canterbury Tales.

This book encompasses several different styles or sf sub-genres including space opera, hard sf, soft sf, military sf, cyberpunk, horror, and even literary fiction, each story even manage to encompass multiple subgenres. The different parts combine into a cohesive excellent volume, Simmons' wonderful versatility is amply showcased by the different narrative voice and tone he adopts for each part.

My favorite is Part 5, The Detective's Tale: The difference in narrative voice is particularly noticeable here, Brawne Lamia is the only female protagonist but kicks more asses than all the males put together yet still comes across as feminine. It is a sort of The Long Goodbye in reverse with the woman as the private eye.

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Part 4, The Scholar's Tale: All the parts are great, though, these two are just my personal highlights. An earlier story even reminds me of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness before things take a left turn into Twilight Zone-ish weirdness. Characterization is certainly a strong point of this book, all the characters are complex and believable, moments of humor and irony are discreetly slipped in to prevent the book from becoming leaden. The prose style, as mentioned previously, changes in accordance with the setting and character, as a whole the book is beautifully written.

I also love that the book ends on a surprisingly cheerful musical note though not quite a song and dance number which is also something of a cliffhanger, and our "heroes" are far from safe. If you count yourself an sf fan you need to read this. If you just want to read a damn good book this is also for you. View all 10 comments.

The fiction of Dan Simmons reminds me of a sporty and high maintenance dog, a dalmatian or Weimaraner perhaps, the type of athletic breed who walks its owners as opposed to the other way around. Like a canine with stamina to spare, the author's science fiction epic Hyperion , winner of the Hugo Award, may be the best fit for those who enjoy hours of exercise and mental stimulation in their personal time, a beast as opposed to a buddy.

Intensely literary, highly imaginative, mostly capable of The fiction of Dan Simmons reminds me of a sporty and high maintenance dog, a dalmatian or Weimaraner perhaps, the type of athletic breed who walks its owners as opposed to the other way around. Intensely literary, highly imaginative, mostly capable of being understood without a B. Set in the 28th century, Earth has been destroyed several hundred years ago when an artificial black hole ultimately gobbled up the planet in what is commonly known as the Big Mistake.

The Hegemony of Man has hopped across the stars through "farcasters," portals which bend space and allow instantaneous travel to certain points. The Hegemony's infrastructure is known as the "WorldWeb" and uses military strength to subdue and incorporate new worlds into the network for commercial purposes. Beyond the WorldWeb are the Ousters, interstellar barbarians who live free, as well as the TechnoCore, a race of AI who operate mankind's technology and may have their own agenda.

Both the Ousters and the TechnoCore are obsessed with the backwater world of Hyperion, colonized by a patron of the arts who dreamed of establishing a new Renaissance there. Hyperion features mysterious structures known as the Time Tombs, which are surrounded by an anti-entropic field which may have been built in the future. They are used as a gateway by an entity known as the Shrike. Composed of metallic blades and known to slice, dice and impale its victims on its thorns, the Shrike has spawned a cult which often sends a prime number of pilgrims to the Time Tombs.

Legend holds that one pilgrim will be spared slaughter and granted a wish. On the eve of interstellar war with the Ousters, the Shrike Church requests the compliance of seven individuals--six men and one woman chosen by the TechnoCore--to participate in a pilgrimage to the Time Tombs in hopes of averting war. These individuals are a priest, a soldier, a poet, a scholar, a detective, a diplomat and a guide.

Revived from cyrogenic freeze aboard a treeship--living trees propelled through space by alien beings which emits force fields--the pilgrims share that they each have a unique relationship to Hyperion. Hoping to learn as much as possible before confronting the Shrike, the pilgrims draw straws and begin to share their stories en route to the Time Tombs.

Hyperion stands out by offering six stories for the price of one, each tale leaning heavily toward the work of a different author. The priest's tale is a horror story, Joseph Conrad in space. The soldier's tale is military science fiction in the mode of Robert Heinlein. The poet's tale, my favorite, has the sensibility of Douglas Adams. The scholar's tale has the sentimentality of Ray Bradbury. The detective's tale channels William Gibson.

The consul's tale feels reminiscent of Jack London, substituting outer space for the South Seas. Different readers are sure to find different literary influences. The prose is at times overwhelming, sometimes difficult to comprehend. Labyrinthine worlds are always Earthlike, at least to 7. The tunnels themselves are set deep--usually a minimum of ten kilometers but often as deep as thirty--and they catacomb the crust of the planet. On Svoboda, not far from Pacem's system, over eight hundred thousand kilometers of labyrinth have been explored by remotes. The tunnels on each world are thirty meters square and carved by some technology still not available to the Hegemony.

Each of the labyrinthine worlds--including Hyperion--had been probed and researched. Nothing has ever been found. No signs of excavation machinery, no rusting miner's helmets, not a single piece of shattered plastic or decomposing stimsick wrapper. Researchers have not eve identified entrance and exit shafts. No suggestion of heavy metals or precious ores has been sufficient to explain such a monumental effort.

No legend or artifact of the Labyrinth Builders has survived. The mystery had mildly intrigued me over the years but never concerned me. My criticism of Hyperion aren't the demands it places on the reader but its influences. The novel's length is brunch compared to a Stephen King word count and not every paragraph Simmons writes is that long or throws as many mysterious nouns at the reader. Simmons's prose is full and he can't be accused of lacking in thought.

Interstellar science fiction is a genre I've been critical of--blasting off into the year with Zoltar on his crystalship can be intensely reader alienating--but there's no bigger fan of Star Trek than me, while Frank Herbert's Dune , which takes place on another star in the year 10,, is deeply enthralling. Simmons is strongly influenced by literature that I'm simply not. His great thinkers are not my great thinkers and his literary references are exhaustive.

The framing device is Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales , a torturous book I took an "F" on in 10th grade rather than try to make heads or tells out of. The novel is filled with the work of the 19th century English Romantic poet John Keats, uses the poet's biography as a major plot element and to develop one of the characters; all of this was met with a polite shrug.

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Other influences were only apparent to me through independent research: The first five tales held my attention and I did enjoy the way Simmons takes his characters across the galaxy, only to have them end up on Hyperion deeply embedded in the mysteries of the planet. The sixth and final tale is drawn up and edited in a completely lackluster way and far worse, the novel ends in a cliffhanger that demands the reader buy a copy of the sequel, The Fall of Hyperion , to be provided with a basic resolution.

Throughout the novel, without that B. I was a regretful dog walker looking for a racetrack to turn this greyhound loose on and find a terrier to hang out with instead. View all 17 comments. Jun 14, Conor rated it it was amazing Shelves: This first novel in the Hyperion Cantos easily surpassed any sci-fi I've ever read.

Instead we get a tale of incredible complexity, deep, brilliantly realized world building and a mature Still singing loudly, not looking back, matching stride for stride, they descended into the valley. Instead we get a tale of incredible complexity, deep, brilliantly realized world building and a mature and intelligent exploration of morality, philosophy and what it means to be human with a ridiculous amount of allusions to the great works of literature ingrained throughout the story for good measure.

These are the stories told by a group of Pilgrim's on their way to meet with a mysterious being who may be an angel of salvation for humanity or the agent of it's destruction. The main narrative of this story concerns 6 mysterious pilgrims on a journey to meet with a dangerous and powerful entity while the galaxy at large teeters on the cusp of destruction. However this plotline mostly just served as a framing device for the stories of the 6 pilgrims. Despite what was ostensibly the main story being reduced to interludes between the tales I still found these sections to be enjoyable.

The Priest's Tale - 5 Stars This story used a weird narrative frame with the Priest pilgrim reading from the journal of a missionary. The start of this tale was interesting with an ageing priest on a journey to find a mysterious people in an isolated rain forest. After reaching his target I thought the plot slowed down a bit however just as I was starting to lose interest there was a massive reveal and from then on this story was extremely intense and compelling, filled with revelations, suspense and mystical overtones.

The ending was extremely moving. A major theme in this story was the exploration of the place of religion in society and I thought it was handled in a really intelligent and interesting way. The Soldier's Tale - 3. Unfortunately it proved to be a disappointment. After a great start with a gripping and surprisingly historically accurate portrayal of the Battle of Agincourt the rest of this section felt rushed. I thought that his childhood and his involvement in the Battle of Bressia especially could have made for great sections and I was really disappointed that they were so lazily glossed over.

These sections definitely could have been expanded although tbf I would have been happy if his entire story had just been a series of intense, realistic recreations of historical battles like Agincourt at the start…. The poet narrated his story brilliantly with inventive descriptions, distinctive methods of storytelling and wry observations.

The story itself reminded me of a really good memoir with the Poet taking us through his life from his indulged but isolated childhood to being sent hundreds of years into the future with his vocabulary reduced to 7 hilarious words where he produced his finest work to his meteoric rise to fame and struggles with all that came with it. While it lacked on paper anywhere near as much action as the story that preceded it, this tale was brilliantly written to be fleshed out and engaging.

The Scholar's Tale - 5 Stars A friend of mine observed in his review of this book that paraphrasing no matter how much weird sci-fi stuff is going on the human element is always the beating heart of the story. That was shown nowhere better than in this tale. This story opens with a brief overview of the early life of Professor Sol Weintraub. The author paints a vivid picture of his contentment in his job and home and most importantly his warm and loving family.

However that all changes when his 26 year old daughter travels to the planet of Hyperion and begins to age backwards. The story opens with a beautiful stranger walking into the office of a tough P. Anyway the start was pretty dull although fans of the genre might like it but as the story progresses it improves dramatically. The ending was also great with some epic action scenes. The Consul's Tale - 3. Also the story skips around in no chronological order.

The narrator was kind of a selfish dick, but his best mate Mike was cool and funny and his love interest Siri was awesome- strong, wise and compassionate. Her only real fault was putting up with the annoying protagonist so much. Flipper will be avenged!

Sorry where was I? View all 7 comments. Mar 02, Henry Avila rated it really liked it. It's the 28th century, through a little accident some people do not believe it was , Earth has been destroyed by scientists, over years before, the inhabitants have dispersed, they struggle in two hundred different planets, to survive, in the vast galaxy, an Empire called Hegemony, rises, to protect or is it to exploit them? But with civilizations growing and changing, in desert planets, ocean worlds, jungle lands, mountains regions, the expanding universe goes on forever, how can any rul It's the 28th century, through a little accident some people do not believe it was , Earth has been destroyed by scientists, over years before, the inhabitants have dispersed, they struggle in two hundred different planets, to survive, in the vast galaxy, an Empire called Hegemony, rises, to protect or is it to exploit them?

But with civilizations growing and changing, in desert planets, ocean worlds, jungle lands, mountains regions, the expanding universe goes on forever, how can any rule? On the world called Hyperion, a strange, frightening looking being lives, the Shrike, some hate it, others love, all fear, and many want to kill the creature, animal or machine, no one knows, in the valley of the Time Tombs, huge structures, some kind of time travel device, incomprehensible , the evil thing kills without mercy, or feeling, but a cult evolves from this ruthless entity, the bizarre "church", has many shrines around the empire Now war against merciless barbarians, Ousters, descendants from Earthlings, living outside the Hegemony, is about to begin, faster than light speed transportation, has been achieved, total destruction is now possible, billions can be slaughtered, by unseen powerful weapons, only dreamed of, by their ancestors.

The Shrike, by way of his followers, invites seven humans on a pilgrimage, to visit him yes, this is a homage, to the Canterbury Tales. They go up endless rivers , stormy seas, remote lands, in aerial trams, high above the ground, telling stories, when the pilgrims stop to rest A brilliant novel, that of course has a sequel, three, in fact. View all 14 comments. Jun 02, Wil Wheaton rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Fathers who are also SciFi fans. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

The updates I posted while reading this book pretty much capture how I felt the entire way, so rather than just rewrite them, I'll focus on my overall impression upon finishing Hyperion. It's about the journey, it's not about the destination. I was deeply disappointed that there was no resolution, once the pilgrims arrived at the Time Tombs, but I don't see how there could have been a satisfying resolution without adding at least another pages to the book.

So I just reminded myself that this b The updates I posted while reading this book pretty much capture how I felt the entire way, so rather than just rewrite them, I'll focus on my overall impression upon finishing Hyperion. So I just reminded myself that this book was about the journey, and not the destination. I guess the Consul's story wouldn't have been as meaningful without the greater understanding we got about the Hegemony and the Ousters, but if not knowing that meant not having this disappointing unresolved feeling that I have right now I just finished the book a few minutes ago , I think it would have been a fair trade.

If the whole thing is telling us about these people going to see The Shrike, fading out just before they do is like dropping Luke into the trench on the Death Star, and never letting us know what happens next. I understand that much of the resolution I currently find lacking is provided in [Book: Fall of Hyperion], but every book, even those that are part of a series, should provide an entirely satisfying experience to someone who reads them in isolation of the other volumes. To that end, Hyperion succeeds, I think, even if it doesn't tell us what happens when they finally get to the Shrike or if they even do as long as we accept that it is about the journey, and not the destination.

I still loved it. I still thought it was a wonderfully-written novel that absolutely deserved the Hugo. I wish I could give it 3. Jul 04, Penny rated it liked it Shelves: When people rave about this book they should really mention that it doesn't have a real ending! Sure it was an enjoyable bunch of stories and all, but I was reading them in the context of learning about the characters before the big showdown at the end of the book.

I guess that only happens in the next book. I also found the description of the settings overdone and a bit indulgent. These sections became very easy to spot as they tend to be at the beginning of a chapter or new story. I found mysel When people rave about this book they should really mention that it doesn't have a real ending!

I found myself skimming over them. That said I did enjoy the majority of this book. I liked the characters and their stories. I'm not sure the first story made for a good introduction since in my mind it is the least interesting and felt the longest. So for anyone who picks this up and finds it a bit slow to get going I'd recommend getting past the priest's tale before you make a judgement. I'm keen to read the next in the series since the confrontation at the "end" of this book was what I was so looking forward to.

But seriously grumble mutter about the ending of this one. View all 20 comments. Nov 10, Scott rated it it was amazing Shelves: By the end of the first page I was hooked. By the conclusion of chapter one I was a craven addict, my Hyperion -obsessed mind now fit for a series of cautionary posters titled "This is your brain on genre-defining science fiction". Hyperion is Sci-Fi to make your breath quicken, to pull you from excitement to sadness to awe in the space of a single chapter. This is genre done as well as the best capital-L literary fiction- the grand scale and imagination of SF wedded to intelligent and ambitious plotting and writing.

Simmons sets up a vast and convincing 27th century tableau. Humanity has spread across the galaxy, forming an empire known as The Hegemony, which is ruled ostensibly via democratic process with a CEO at its head. Allied to this leadership is an amorphous grouping of massively powerful AIs known as the Technocore. The major worlds of The Hegemony are linked with instantaneous travel portals called farcasters, allowing people and armies to step from one world to another, and for wonders such as the River Tethys, which flows through multiple different planets.

Outside this network are fringe worlds, isolated from The Hegemony proper and reachable only via slower ships. One of these worlds, Hyperion, is the home of a series of mysterious structures, known as Time Tombs, which are travelling backwards through time from the future. Guarding these relics is a murderous creature of inestimable power and unknown capability called The Shrike. The tombs and the Shrike have been known of for many years, but strange things are now occurring. The Shrike is ranging further from its usual hunting grounds.

The Hegemony decides to send both a force and a group of pilgrims to Hyperion, several individuals who are drawn towards the world, their lives somehow linked to this strange, distant planet. The protagonists range from a tortured priest to a semi-retired diplomat, and their journeys will pull you in and leave you sleep-deprived from late night page-turning.

This is a book to fire your imagination. There are hundreds of great ideas in Hyperion, and I found myself musing on them for weeks after reading it even now I still daydream about having a portal in my house that leads to a bathroom platform floating peacefully on the endless waters of an ocean planet - a luxury enjoyed by one of the characters.

Each friend who has read it has come back with the same wide-eyed wonder I had when I first read the novel, eager to discuss what they have discovered. The only criticism I have of Hyperion is that Simmons leaves the story unresolved, setting things up for the sequel - The Fall of Hyperion. As a result, I suggest that you buy both books at once, cancel your appointments, close the blinds and settle in for two days of pure reading pleasure - this is science fiction at its absolute best.

Todos los relatos son impresionantes. El final es un corte abrupto hecho por la editorial. View all 16 comments. Although it started out with heavy religious overtones the first perspective being the religious POV , it soon captured my imagination with a complex mystery and only got more engaging from there.

It was not a feel-good story. It was the kind of gritty, morbid tale that kept me page-turning well into the night despite the ever growing knot in my stomach. The unthinking hubris of man resulted in the death of the home-world Earth —which was consumed by an artificial black hole running out of control—and this arrogant philosophy was carried forth to the stars, for centuries.

The Hegemony itself is a largely decadent society, relying on its military to incorporate into the WorldWeb the colony planets, even unwillingly, and to defend the Hegemony from attacks by the Ousters , "interstellar barbarians" who dwell free of and beyond the bounds of the Hegemony and shun all the works of the TechnoCore especially farcasters. Ostensibly a direct democracy governed through the "All Thing " forum, the Hegemony is also managed by a chief executive officer advised by the TechnoCore advisory council and the Hegemony Senate.

All the 'Core's advice and predictions are confounded by mysterious structures on the remote colony world Hyperion named after the moon of Saturn that are commonly regarded as the Time Tombs. The tombs are encased in an anti-entropic field that is theorised to be carrying them backwards in time suggesting that the tombs were built in the distant future for some unknown purpose and are said to be guarded by a legendary time travelling creature known as the Shrike. Occasionally the church sends a prime number of pilgrims to the Time Tombs; there is a legend that all but one are slaughtered and the remaining pilgrim is granted a wish.

The Ousters have been long obsessed with Hyperion, and on the eve of their invasion and a probable war, a final pilgrimage has been organised. Seven pilgrims have been carefully selected by unseen elements of the TechnoCore to make the journey to the Time Tombs and the Shrike, with the objective of aiding the Hegemony in the imminent war. Aboard a treeship the pilgrims finally meet after being revived out of their cryogenic storage state; and, collectively overwhelmed by the mystery and magnitude of their situation, they decide that they will each tell their tale to enliven the long trip to the Tombs, to get to know each other, and to make sense of their situation.

Simmons uses this device to unfold the panorama of this universe, its history and conflicts, and each story gives a greater context to the others. The story opens in medias res with the Consul recalled to the WorldWeb and the seven pilgrims the infant Rachel does not count drawing lots to see who will tell their tale first in the hopes of revealing a reason they were chosen and how to survive.

He reveals to Hoyt that he plans to travel to an isolated region along Hyperion's Cleft, where rumors and centuries-old accounts place the legendary Bikura civilization, in order to establish an ethnological research station among them. He reaches Perecebo Plantation and is given a guide named Tuk. Traveling during the forest's inactive season, they manage to make it through unharmed and reach the Cleft. He deduces that they are survivors from a seedship crash centuries earlier who have been infected with cross-shaped organisms called cruciforms that integrate themselves into their host.

After death, the cruciform rebuilds the physical body and resurrects them. The price of immortality is that resurrection information is lost, and over time they become unintelligent and androgynous, losing all distinguishing features. When he is seen topless while bathing the Bikura discover he has no cruciform on him. Debating killing him they instead lead him into Hyperion's labyrinth system where he encounters the Shrike and is unknowingly infected with a cruciform.

Next he attempted to flee the village but after traveling only a few kilometers from the village the cruciform inflicted extreme pain to keep him near. Hoyt tells the other pilgrims that some of his guides on that expedition died by accident and the rest nuked the village and the story ends. When the time comes to leave the treeship Hoyt is late. The consul finds him in his stateroom in immense pain, his "ultra-morphine" auto-injector having failed.

The consul promises to assist Hoyt in return for hearing the true story. Having arrived on Hyperion, Colonel Fedmahn Kassad's tale begins with a flashback to his days training in the FORCE the general name for the Hegemony's military academy on Mars , when he was immersed in a training simulation of the 15th century Battle of Agincourt. During the battle, a mysterious soldier from "outside" saves Kassad from a French knight and becomes his lover.

Kassad and his mystery savior meet repeatedly in further simulations until Kassad's final year in the Academy. Over his military career, Kassad earns a reputation for bloodlust, and after a brutal conflict with Ousters on the system Bressia, gains the nickname "the Butcher of South Bressia". After the conflict, Kassad is grievously wounded by a leftover boobytrap and is placed on a Hegemony medical ship, which is attacked by Ousters.

After a fight with the Ousters, Kassad hijacks an Ouster shuttle and crashes it onto a planet he learns to be Hyperion. There he is reunited with his lover, who introduces herself for the first time as Moneta. Kassad briefly witnesses the Tree of Pain, a gigantic steel tree where the Shrike has impaled its victims, as it phases in and out of existence. Moneta then introduces him to the Shrike, and the two teach him to use time slowing abilities in combat. The three are attacked by an Ouster landing party, but with the use of these abilities Kassad and the Shrike mercilessly slaughter their attackers.

Overcome with bloodlust, Kassad begins making love with Moneta amongst the corpses of his victims. Upon climax, Kassad suddenly realizes that Moneta and the Shrike have been manipulating him and wish to use him to spark an interstellar war in which billions of people will die. At this moment, Moneta undergoes a horrific transformation into the Shrike and Kassad flees. After Kassad has finished telling the story, the Consul explains that because the Tree of Pain is moving backwards in time, Kassad may have seen victims on it that would be put on it in the future, and suggests that it is possible that he saw one or more of the pilgrims on the tree.

When queried, Kassad reveals he saw one of the pilgrims on the tree, but refuses to disclose which pilgrim it was. On board a giant manta-drawn riverboat manned by androids, Martin Silenus tells his tale.

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He was born as a wealthy scion of an ancient dying North American house, growing up in the time around the "Big Mistake", which led to the destruction of Earth. Silenus trained as a poet, but his training was interrupted when the Kiev Team's black hole "ate" the Earth; his mother dispatched her son aboard a slower-than-light flight to a nearby system, calculating that the shrunken family fortune would accumulate enough in compound interest over the century the voyage would take that the family's debt would be paid off and enough would be left over for Martin to live on for a time.

Unfortunately, the accounts were nationalized by the Hegemony, and Silenus suffered brain damage during the voyage. Deep in penury, Silenus had to work as a common laborer. The back-breaking toil forces Silenus's mind to flee to higher planes, and as he recovers his use of language, he starts work on his Hyperion Cantos , a work he began as a parody of John Keats ' famous poem, but which evolved into a dual account of Silenus's life and an epic account of the Titanomachia , in which the Hegemony of Man takes the part of the Titans and the TechnoCore the Olympians.

His Dying Earth as it is called, in an explicit reference to Jack Vance 's Dying Earth series becomes an enormous hit, selling billions and making him a multi-millionaire. Eventually he falls into debt again due to divorce and the extreme cost of maintaining a house whose rooms are located on over thirty separate planets and connected by continually active, expensive to operate farcaster portals and in an attempt to produce another hit has a larger unabridged version of his cantos published, which is predicted to fail by his publisher.

The work is a terrible flop, selling few copies and not recouping the money he was advanced. In order to pay his debt, Silenus is forced to produce further hackwork for his "Dying Earth" series, a misery many artists face. One day he realizes that his Cantos, his greatest work, has not been added to for years; his muse had fled. Silenus leaves his lifestyle, liquidates his assets, and signs on with Sad King Billy. Billy is an aristocrat of the planet Asquith, descended from the House of Windsor , and an intelligent and sensitive lover and critic of the arts. He chooses for his capital a location near the Time Tombs on the then-even less inhabited Hyperion, reasoning that their presence will give the proper ambience for the creation of great art.

For ten years, all goes well until people begin vanishing, with no abductors ever seen. At the same time, Silenus' muse returns, and he continues work on the Cantos. Soon, the culprit is discovered to be the Shrike. At this time, Silenus becomes convinced that it is the Shrike who is his muse, who, in some occult way, his poem had brought into existence. The murders continue until only Silenus is left living in the City of Poets. He writes the last line on the day that the last murder occurs.

One day, Sad King Billy returns to the deserted city. Martin is gone on a trip to the Time Tombs seeking the Shrike, and when he returns to his quarters Billy confronts him with the fact that his writing is dependent on cold-blooded murder, and that it will need more murders if it is to ever be completed.

Billy burns his manuscript. After Billy is taken away by the Shrike, Silenus recopies his poem as well as possible. Eventually he leaves Hyperion. In the centuries since, reliant on life-extending treatments, he has been waiting to return to Hyperion to finish the poem.

This is told on an uncrewed, wind-powered landship.

Hyperion Cantos

Sol Weintraub, a Jewish academic, had been a professor of ethics on Barnard's World, the second colony founded from Old Earth. He and his wife, Sarai, had been happy when their only daughter, Rachel, was born forty years ago. She eventually became an archaeologist, and while in her post-graduate studies went on an expedition to study the Time Tombs of Hyperion regarding the Shrike as a myth the Shrike not yet having become active again.

While mapping the so-called Sphinx for hidden passages or rooms, something happens to Rachel: Rachel is returned to the WorldWeb where her parents learn of the novel disease she has contracted, dubbed the "Merlin sickness" after T. White 's The Once and Future King , in which every time Rachel goes to sleep, she ages backwards two days for a net loss of one day per day , losing her memories and in fact physically becoming younger; there is no sign that the condition will reverse itself when she ages backwards to her birth.

However, she still needs to eat and breathe normally, she talks and acts normally while awake, and bruises from medical procedures one day are still present the next. Rachel's life is shattered by her retrogression, slowly destroying her links with the present; her parents devote their lives to caring for Rachel and trying to cure her.

A visit to the Shrike Temple on Lusus sees the bishop there cast out Sol, claiming Rachel doesn't need to be cured when she is the most blessed and cursed human in all of existence.

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