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Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos #1)

4.15 of 5 stars 4.15 · rating details · 45,690 ratings · 2,258 reviews

Hyperion is the tale of seven people who make a pilgrimage to a terrifying creature called the Shrike in an attempt to save mankind. Stunningly written and beautifully crafted, Simmons's Hyperion resonates with technical achievement and the excitement and wonder found only in the best SF.

Published (first published 1989)

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Apr 09, 2013 Megan Baxter rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hyperion was so good that it did something odd to everything else I was reading. It didn't show those books up as lesser, it made everything else better as well. I'm not really sure how that happened.

People had been raving about Hyperion for quite a while, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it, prompted by a science fiction group I'm part of. As soon as I picked it up, I was grabbed by the story.

This is a science fiction riff on The Canterbury Tales - or maybe, as I look into it, The...more Hyperion was so good that it did something odd to everything else I was reading. It didn't show those books up as lesser, it made everything else better as well. I'm not really sure how that happened.

People had been raving about Hyperion for quite a while, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it, prompted by a science fiction group I'm part of. As soon as I picked it up, I was grabbed by the story.

This is a science fiction riff on The Canterbury Tales - or maybe, as I look into it, The Decameron (I've never read The Canterbury Tales or The Decameron, so take this with a grain of salt.) A pilgrimage of seven set out to the Time Tombs on the planet of Hyperion - Canterbury Tales. But they do this in a time of mass upheaval, when it appears that the world itself could be ending - The Decameron, which is set during the Black Death.

On the way to their final destination - the Time Tombs, and the creature that roams them, The Shrike, a deadly killing machine that may or may not be from the future, sent backwards in time to unleash the coming war, the pilgrims tell their stories of how they came to be where they are.

The stories themselves are little masterpieces - creepy, atmospheric, mind-bending. Every one takes a story of the Shrike and of Hyperion, and does something different with it, creating a mosaic of images that is never neatly resolved. The reality is possibly all of these stories, none of them, or more. A priest thinks he has found evidence of Christianity that predates the coming of humanity. A soldier is repeatedly visited in battle by a woman. A poet finds inspiration in disaster. A man watches his daughter grow younger by the day. A woman fails in her duty to protect another. A diplomat harbours an ancient secret.

And the menace of the Shrike grows, as the universe edges closer to war. But war with whom?

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.

Crossposted to Smorgasbook (less)

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Jan 17, 2012 Kay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: offerings for the lord of pain

Shelves: smilingdamnedvillain, chilling, epic, mind-fuck, sci-fi, time-travel, war-and-conflict, all-time-favorites, 6-plus-stars, gods-and-beasts

WHAT THE SHRIKE!

What in the world did I just read, and why didn't I read it sooner? This book is so superbly written and crafted—it's easily one of the best modern books I've read, one that excels in storytelling and writing!

If I could give this book more than five stars, I definitely, definitely would.

The scope of imagination, wordplay, and critical analysis of humankind is astounding. I do think that the "frame" structure of the story, in which each character's tale slowly unfurls the plot,...more

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Apr 09, 2013 Jon added it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, space-opera, read-in-my-40s, award-winners, hugo-winner, liked-it

3 stars

Amazon hired the Shrike to shred my review, but you can make a pilgrimage to my blog, where I've pasted the pieces back together here: http://bit.ly/10P0qZ1

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May 04, 2013 Clouds - (¿head-in-the?) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction-series, locus-sci-fi, hugo, science-fiction, reviewed, 5-star

Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to release new works. Something had to be done.

On the spur of the moment I set myself a challenge, to read every book to have won the Locus Sci-Fi award. That’s 35 books, 6 of which I’d previously read, leaving 29 titles by 14 authors who were new to me.

While working through this reading list I got married, went on my honeymoon, switched career and became...more

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Jan 28, 2011 Jonathan Cullen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone

I'm frankly terrified to review Dan Simmons' masterpiece Hyperion. It is too good and too big for me to do this right. So...if I'm going to do it wrong, I might as well have fun. I thought I would mirror both Chaucer's and Simmons' use of the frame story in my review:

(The opening bit of Keats poetry)

He enter’d, but he enter’d full of wrath;
His flaming robes stream’d out beyond his heels,
And gave a roar, as if of earthly fire,
That scar’d away the meek ethereal Hours

The Overarching Frame

This ma...more

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Mar 13, 2011 Kemper rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, sci-fi, space, time-travel, favorites

Somehow I’ve managed to read a dozen books by Dan Simmons without getting around to Hyperion, one of his most acclaimed works. Frankly, I’ve been scared of it. Simmons has been mashing up horror, sci-fi, hard boiled crime novels, thrillers, and historical fiction while often stuffing his books with so many ideas that it was all I could do to keep up so this seemed like it could be a bit more than I could comfortably chew.

Just as I feared, while I was reading and nearing the end, Simmons crept i...more

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Aug 29, 2009 Brad rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, novel-in-short-stories

I am a sucker for novels made up of short stories; I am a sucker for the Romantic poets (especially Keats); I’m a sucker for spine tingling sci-horror, space opera, sci-fi tragicomedy, sci-tragedy, techno-noir, cyberpunk, conspiracy theories and doomed love stories. I am a sucker for literary intertextuality and pop intertextuality. Mostly though, I am a sucker for a good tale, and that is what Hyperion is, but when I read this story ten years ago I found that it left me a bit cold. I think I fi...more

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Jul 15, 2012 knig rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to knig by: mark monday

Shelves: 2012, scifi

Outstanding, even for a reluctant sci-fi novice such as yours truly. As the saying goes, ‘a long time from now, in a far, far away part of the Galaxy’, Hyperion oscillates as a lone outpost planet: inadmissible for political reasons to ‘the web’ (just read ‘the Federation' here and you get the picture).

Hyperion refers directly to Keats’ abandoned poem dedicated to Titanomachia in an undisguised parallel between the subject matter there and current events in the now Web. Whilst Christianity (and...more

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Feb 01, 2008 Dale rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dan-simmons

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Tales From the Commute: Something happened to me for the first time yesterday. As I was getting off the train at the Rosslyn station to transfer from the blue line to the orange, a total stranger turned to me and pointed at the copy of Hyperion I was reading and said, "That book is so awesome." Unsolicited endorsements on public transportation have to come from a pretty profound place, in my opinion. And since I was almost done with the book at that point, I agreed with him that it was awesome....more Tales From the Commute: Something happened to me for the first time yesterday. As I was getting off the train at the Rosslyn station to transfer from the blue line to the orange, a total stranger turned to me and pointed at the copy of Hyperion I was reading and said, "That book is so awesome." Unsolicited endorsements on public transportation have to come from a pretty profound place, in my opinion. And since I was almost done with the book at that point, I agreed with him that it was awesome. He then advised me that the other two books in the series were also quite good, and I assured him I would check those out as well.

Hyperion is a multi-faceted book, many things at once, all of which held some appeal for me. On one hand, it is hardcore sci-fi. Dan Simmons did a fair amount of world-building in the book, creating a future timeline for the development of humanity and the colonization of worlds outside our solar system, and the technology that goes along with that. There's a lot of jargon which whizzes by unexplained but makes sense and sounds right, like words real people would come up with the describe real inventions. On another hand, Hyperion is a layered literary homage. It's the story of seven pilgrims journeying to the titular world, and each pilgrim tells a story along the way, which hearkens back of course to The Canterbury Tales (and as an English major/book geek, I think exercises like that are cool). The framing device allows a couple of entertaining things to happen. One, each pilgrim tells his or her story in a unique voice, so one chapter reads like a hard-boiled detective story, another like a pulp adventure diary, another like the overblown memoirs of a deranged artiste, and so on. Two, the entire novel encapsulates a central mystery (actually mysteries) and the tales of the pilgrims slowly reveal the clues.

The mysteries themselves fall into three categories. First, the general kind of mystery that most good hardcore sci-fi automatically engenders: what is going on here? How does this imaginary world work? Bad hardcore sci-fi opens with lots of boring, didactic exposition; good hardcore sci-fi drops the reader right into the middle of things, surrounded by characters who don't overexplain things because they take their world for granted. But given enough time for acclimation, everything sorts out (or almost everything, but some things remain strange and wonderful til the very end). Hyperion does well with this kind of mystery because every answer is partial at best. The reader starts out wondering why humanity has spread so far from Earth, then realizes "something bad happened to Earth", then learns exactly what happened to Earth, and then later learns the REAL story of exactly what happened to Earth. All of which ends being surprisingly crucial to the story at hand.

The second mystery is why the seven protagonists specifically were chosen to make the pilgrimage to Hyperion. Again, this is more nuanced than it seems at first, as each pilgrim's tale illuminates more of the ones that came before it.

The third mystery is one that transcends the entire sci-fi genre, and for me is the reason to read any book: what's going to happen? Early on in the book it is revealed that most pilgrims to Hyperion do not survive, and that this pilgrimage is supposedly going to be the last one. Will these seven survive where others have not? Is it going to be different because of the finality? Is everything that's widely known about the pilgrimages actually wrong? And what is the exact nature of the deadly force that lurks at the end of every pilgrimage?

And here we come to the reason why I gave the book four stars rather than five. It's extremely well-written, in every style Simmons goes through from militaristic to romantic to comedic to tragic. It's jammed with brilliant ideas. It's peopled with compelling characters. And it ends just as the pilgrims are approaching the final destination of the pilgrimage. When I hit the last page I felt like someone had woken me up right before the best part of the dream. Just when I went from being curious about what happened next to NEEDING to know what happened next, there was no more next.

So maybe it was a fortuitous thing that a stranger on the Metro told me the other two books in the series are good. I have to console myself with that thought and hope that the closure I need is coming in The Fall of Hyperion. Never mind the fact that once again I seem to have started a book and wound up in the middle of a trilogy. I've got plenty more commuting to do after all.(less)

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Aug 28, 2007 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sciencefiction

I loved this book.

It follows roughly the same format as Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales": several separate stories all related to each other.

On the planet of Hyperion there exists a being called "The Shrike". It is a being made out of shiny metal covered with spikes and has four arms and a deadly reputation for killing people. Fortunately, it's constrained to a small area of the planet Hyperion. The Shrike is so mysterious that a church has been formed around it and, once in a blue moon, the chu...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Apatt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

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...more 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 have entirely forgotten what is so good about it, besides I have not read the subsequent books in the Hyperion Cantos. If I remember correctly I could not get my mitts on a copy of The Fall of Hyperion at the time. 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 Long Good-Bye" which begins as a noir crime fiction then transform into a cyberpunk story with a ton of action with a touch of martial arts and even romance. 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. Part 4, The Scholar's Tale: "The River Lethe's Taste is Bitter" also deserves a special mention as the saddest, most poignant story here, somewhat reminiscent of Flowers for Algernon crossed with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. 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.(less)

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Aug 28, 2009 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy

Not having ventured far into the literary world of fantasy/sci-fi in my years of reading I was surprised to find, while rummaging through my bookshelves, that I had all four books of the Hyperion "cantos". That's rather presumptuous of me, I thought, since the author and book was totally unfamiliar in my mind. "I hope I bought these at a used bookstore", i muttered to myself. The "Hugo Award" label on the front cover had some influence on me I'm sure in addition to the strange artwork depicting...more Not having ventured far into the literary world of fantasy/sci-fi in my years of reading I was surprised to find, while rummaging through my bookshelves, that I had all four books of the Hyperion "cantos". That's rather presumptuous of me, I thought, since the author and book was totally unfamiliar in my mind. "I hope I bought these at a used bookstore", i muttered to myself. The "Hugo Award" label on the front cover had some influence on me I'm sure in addition to the strange artwork depicting one of the central characters-the Shrike. I remembered my experiences birding "Ah! Named for the songbird with a hook-tipped bill that impales its prey on thorns or barbed wire before eating." While driving on the open roads in Arizona it's not uncommon to see a lizard or small bird hung like trophies on the miles of barbed wire fence lining the roads. Now I knew why I wanted to read these books.

I really loved this book and it wasn't just for the enigmatic Shrike but because of the entire future world that Simmons had created. The book takes on an epic feel because he creates within the story histories and mythologies, not just for surrounding the characters, but by building up the future technologies, populated planets, governing bodies, renegade, warring factions and religions. I really got swallowed up in the breadth of his universe, which helped me understand the main characters even better. I feel that's important for a writer when trying to create a brand new world for a story otherwise it can feel flat and lifeless then who cares what happens to the characters.

Probably the most difficult aspect of the book, aside from the fact that it doesn't end with this book but continues on in "Fall of Hyperion", was the frame story set up with seven pilgrims each telling their story of why they've returned to Hyperion to find the Shrike. Each story was gripping and exciting on their own and had my tired eyeballs racing back and forth to see how each concluded. So once the excitement of one story ended a new and different story would begin but I didn't want to leave the previous story and wanted to know how that character's destiny was going to be forged. It wasn't that much of a problem as I got accustomed to it because the events of the story began connecting not just the lives of the pilgrims but also the entire Hegemony universe to the planet of Hyperion and the Shrike with the effect of an out of control rollercoaster.

I also appreciated the way in which Simmons was able to weave into his Hyperion story and universe many elements that hinted at those influences that had effects on him and his writing or were generally of interest to him: The 19th century poet John Keats, writer Jack Vance, Sierra Club founder John Muir and subjects like cybernetics, artificial intelligence and chaos theory. It helps to guide me to other authors to look into reading as well as subjects I'm not familiar with and which I know that Simmons studied extensively before including in the story.(less)

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Sep 25, 2008 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I can see why this book won the Hugo. It's a well-conceived and mostly well-executed "space opera" type scifi book. You know...lots of new terms to use, lots of talk of strange teleporter technology and different types of "drives" for space travel, the introduction of a new variant of a far-future space "empire" (in this case the "Hegemony"). I gave this 3 stars not because I think mathematically it deserves a "60%" rating. I picked it because in the rating system for this site, 3 stars means "I...more

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Mar 25, 2007 SKB rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I cannot put into words how much I hate this book. A friend of mine gave me this book as a birthday gift, so I had to read it. I kept telling him I don't "do" most sci-fi, but he said based on other books I liked that I would probably like it. I did not. Oh boy, I did not. I also almost vomited on the bus when I got to the part about the cruciform. And there is an actual vagina dentata in the book--I totally laughed out loud because I thought, "Really? Dan Simmons, you are REALLY going to go the...more

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Dec 22, 2008 Charles rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 13, 2009 Hugh added it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi

This was like a movie you love as entertainment and that you go back to over and over, but that you hesitate to recommend because you think it probably deserves the critic's rants. The five stars means that I know I will pick these up and read them again some day. I don't expect anyone else to.

I picked this up on the shelf in the office at the little summer resort on Saltspring Island where we go every year. We were checking in for the week and I wanted something to read. And i was hooked. I can...more

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Nov 11, 2012 sologdin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: blew-it-up-you-maniacs, nerd-boiled, speculative, ruling-class-protagonist

Framed narratives while on pilgrimage to religious site suggestive of The Canterbury Tales, but no real influence. Whereas Chaucer's pilgrims generally do not tell their own stories, the focus in Hyperion is the tale of the teller. The caveat, though, is that each teller's tale is intimately wrapped up with a tale of another: the priest must tell a second priest's story; a soldier, another soldier's; a poet, a patron; a teacher, his daughter; a PI, her lover; a diplomat, a rebel. So, the tales o...more Framed narratives while on pilgrimage to religious site suggestive of The Canterbury Tales, but no real influence. Whereas Chaucer's pilgrims generally do not tell their own stories, the focus in Hyperion is the tale of the teller. The caveat, though, is that each teller's tale is intimately wrapped up with a tale of another: the priest must tell a second priest's story; a soldier, another soldier's; a poet, a patron; a teacher, his daughter; a PI, her lover; a diplomat, a rebel. So, the tales of others are passed along, but only to the extent that the persons embedded in the tellers' tales relate to the teller. The tales are furthermore focused on aspects of Hyperion and the object of the pilgrimage therein; that's not chaucerian, either. And of course there's no proto-bourgeois Hoost in this non-novel to guide the proceedings, nor is there much in the way of humorous infighting between the tellers via their tales (cf. the Summoner v. the Friar in Chaucer, say).

"Non-novel" because it really is a collection of six novelettes that overlap in various ways. Some of the tales are proficient (priest's, soldier's, detective's), and several are affirmatively annoying (consul's, poet's)--but the scholar's tale is very affecting (though I'm not sure if it's cheap sentimentalism or not). But that overlap doesn't make for a sustained narrative. Yeah, the setting gets developed, allowing one to piece together a lengthy political backstory, pushing toward a nasty conclusion.

Some tedious explorations of scifi technology (though it is very cool that one guy has a "home of thirty-eight rooms on thirty-six worlds" (196)). Pedestrian commentary on religion via the figure & church of the Shrike, which is actually not doing it for me, except when the scholar refers to it as the golem (298) which makes it more interesting than it otherwise happens to be. (Poet refers to it as the Frankenstein monster (223)--not seeing that, though the reference is explained.) The object of the pilgrimage is the Shrike's house, the "Time Tombs," a lackluster name, apparently referring to backward arrow of time at that point. Okay, then. Lotsa pointless references to poet Keats. Plenty of bad art theory (from the poet, mostly).

Nifty concept is "time-debt," arising out of travel at relativistic speeds--but the non-novel manifestly fails do anything with that concept other than use it to refer to the effect of everyone else aging while you stay the same.

Pleases me perversely to note that one character has vagina dentata (172). Also like that this story fits into my general thesis that if robots or AIs are part of the story (as opposed to merely being a component of the setting--a fine distinction), then the point of the story will eventually be a robot/AI rebellion.

Reveals that they blew it up, the maniacs, by not-at-all foolishly building a quantum singularity on Earth, and--surprise!--it got loose. Villains of the piece are loony spacemen and some surly computers. Overall, the non-tale framing portions account for about a less than a fifth of the book; that's not sufficient to drive the narrative forward, though there's plenty of generic setting development in there--so, when the pages run out, it's kinda difficult to see the point. Maybe that's cleared up in the sequel. Dunno.

Recommended for fans of dislinear plotting and non-contiguous prose, those involved in Post-Destructionist music theories, and Visigoths crouching on the ruins of Rome's faded glory.(less)

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May 25, 2012 Jonathan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classic-literature, science-fiction

This is not the novel you are looking for...

By which of course I mean that this novel is not what you may be expecting when you pick it up. I certainly didn't predict that the book would be exactly what it was in the end. I thought it was a straightforward classic sci-fi in the same manner as others. By association I thought this meant action, space flight, cool and crazy gadgets and zany characters.

But instead I ended up with something very different. There were gadgets and action but it was li...more

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May 12, 2012 Traci rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

I'm doing this review a little different and writing it as I finish reading sections. I don't want anything to be lost.

Can I just say Wow. To me the best books read like listening to a piece of music. Some are like rock. Others classical. But they all have a melody that is just as fun to read as it is to advance in the story. I'm only one hundred pages in while I'm writing this but so far, it's looking good.

We start off in confusion. We seem to be in a galaxy somewhere and somewhen far from Eart...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Tim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my third read/listen of Hyperion I will be doing a mini review on each story as I finish reading it.

The Priest's Tale: The man who cried god.

This is without a doubt the finest piece of fiction I have ever read. A rumination on faith, death and rebirth, immortality and one mans quest to rediscover his faith. This story is haunting and each time I read it I find more to think about and ponder. On re-reading the foreshadowing of the story really takes on a sinister turn and brings on more m...more This is my third read/listen of Hyperion I will be doing a mini review on each story as I finish reading it.

The Priest's Tale: The man who cried god.

This is without a doubt the finest piece of fiction I have ever read. A rumination on faith, death and rebirth, immortality and one mans quest to rediscover his faith. This story is haunting and each time I read it I find more to think about and ponder. On re-reading the foreshadowing of the story really takes on a sinister turn and brings on more meaning and nuance that might not be picked up upon first reading. The mindless faith of the Bikura is horrifying and I wonder if Simmon's was having a deliberate stab at organised religion. I look at this story as one filled with hope and a regaining of faith, which whilst I am not religious I can understand and appreciate, which to me means that Simmon's has written a masterpice

The Soldier's Tale: The war lovers.

As it states just after the conclusion of this story it is a "grim and confusing" tale. Star and time crossed lovers, war, heroics, violence and sex: it's all here. Simmons often mixes the themes of death/violence and sex together and I can only think of one other example in his work where it is so prominently on display as it is here. It is interesting to see how Simmons uses the bloodlust of battle to ignite the sexual lust between Kassad and Moneta and to show how the two seem to be closely related as very base instincts. Once again the writing on display here is powerful; the imagery can be striking at times, especially the scenes between Moneta and Kassad. It is not my favourite story of the bunch but as a set up for what is to come it is a very powerful link in the overall story arc.

The Poet's Tale: Hyperion Cantos.

In the beginning was the word. This is where Dan Simmons gets to show off his literary chops whilst creating one of my all time favourite characters. The wordsmithing on display here is awe-some: "Sad King Billy’s five seedships spin like gold dandelions above this all too familiar lapis sky. We land like conquistadors strutting to and fro; more than two thousand visual artists and writers and sculptors and poets and ARNists and vid makers and holie directors and composers and decomposers and God knows what all, supported by five times that many administrators and technicians and ecologists and supervisors and court chamberlains and professional ass kissers, not to mention the family of royal asses themselves, supported in turn by ten times that many androids willing to till the soil and stoke the reactors and raise the cities and lift that bale and tote that load… hell, you get the idea."

I can see how many people could feel that Silenus is basically a total A-hole (which he is) but I really think it just adds to the whole roundness of his character: you aren't supposed to like him. Literary allusions are rife within this tale and really add to the story if you want to do a bit of extra research. There seems to be a similar thread here that is found also in China Mieville's EMBASSYTOWN, of words as truth and of words as creators of things that cannot be without them. I just find the idea of the muse so interesting and that when in the act of creation it can seem like the artist has a direct line to god. Love this story!

The Scholar's Tale: The river Lethe's taste is bitter.

Restrained Beauty. This is one of the most emotional stories I have read. Having a small daughter myself and having read it the first time whilst my wife was pregnant, this story means a lot to me. Heartbreaking: Sol and his wife Sarai must watch their daughter Rachel age backwards and forgetting everything that happened the day before upon awakening. This allows Simmons to really focus on the pain of Sol and Sarai as they lose their daughter to the "Merlin Sickness". The story of Abraham features heavily here and asks the question "Why should god require Abraham(Sol) to sacrifice his son Isaac(Rachel)?". It is really interesting to see how this thread ties in with the overall story. Intensely moving stuff.(less)

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Jun 06, 2012 terpkristin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, fantasy, dead-tree, 2012, audiobook, re-read, sword-and-laser

Audiobook from Audible Frontiers
Narrated by Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, Jay Snyder, Victor Bevine
Length: 20 hours, 44 minutes

I read this book in 2004 or 2005 after seeing it on some "Top 100 Science Fiction Ever" type list and deciding to try to read them all. Hyperion was rated very highly (within the top 5), so I read it pretty early in that project. At the time, I didn't know that it was only half a book, so when I got to the end, I was livid. I couldn't believe the "ending"...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, books-i-own, favorites, hugo-award-winners

Ah. Hyperion. Quite the achievement. Like its fascination with poetry might suggest, this novel is a piece of art.

There are many themes addressed here, and a re-reading at some stage is likely in order. On one level it's a novel about faith: the loss of faith, and, perhaps, the regaining of faith. On another, it's a novel about retribution. Alternatively, it is nothing of the sort, and just a darn good Space Opera.

As other reviewers have noted, there is a notable element of horror throughout. I...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Rob rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, science-fiction, 2008, 100-paperbacks, 2012

More like: ★★★⅔

SHORT VERSION: a scifi redux of the Canterbury Tales; six densely packed, interlocked, interwoven tales that create a whole that is epic in scope. Gripping and creative with all the right literary nods. And yet oddly anti-climactic and maybe even a little unsatisfying.

NOTES IN PLACE OF A REAL REVIEW:
* A strong, engaging (if somewhat vague) opening chapter; but the vague elements seem to be in line w/ some scifi conventions so...
* the pace creatively waxes and wanes; of particular...more More like: ★★★⅔

SHORT VERSION: a scifi redux of the Canterbury Tales; six densely packed, interlocked, interwoven tales that create a whole that is epic in scope. Gripping and creative with all the right literary nods. And yet oddly anti-climactic and maybe even a little unsatisfying.

NOTES IN PLACE OF A REAL REVIEW:
* A strong, engaging (if somewhat vague) opening chapter; but the vague elements seem to be in line w/ some scifi conventions so...
* the pace creatively waxes and wanes; of particular interest are the multiple layers of narration (i.e., excerpts from a priest's journal as read aloud and re-contextualized by another priest as heard by the Counsel...)
** for most of the sections this is very effective (if a bit affected and tedious at times)
* about halfway through: oscillated between whether the multiple voices are effective and authentic or if they're just gimmicky
** ultimate conclusion: we'll grade this effort a B- (that we question whether/not they're distinct is enough to cast that shadow -BUT- that is not a distraction, so they're at least effective)
* "Scholar's Tale" = favorite (DENSE and gut-wrenching)
* NOTE: the lead-in paragraph in "Poet's Tale" is a MASTER STROKE
* SIDE NOTE: OK -- why is it that we fail to call an "AI" anything but "AI"? (disappointed here b/c we have "Hawking drive" and "farcaster" etc. and revert to just plain ol' "AI")
* SIDE NOTE: too much "of ... this" in the dialogue

UPDATED: (8/15/2012) After a second reading, I stick by these original notes (though still no "fully baked" review). There are some real 4- and 5-star moments in the book, but some others that just don't come together. Which isn't a knock against Simmons; what he does here is ambitious, and to try to interleave all these stories, told in all these distinct voices and styles, into one cohesive writ-large-whole... well, that would be a challenge for anyone. Some of these work well (e.g., Priest's Tale, Scholar's Tale), and others do not (e.g., Detective's Tale, Consul's Tale).(less)

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Jan 21, 2010 Nicholas Armstrong rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh, Simmons, you awesome bastard. This is a sci-fi take on the Canterbury Tales. Except really interesting. With amazing characters. And great settings.

Seriously, the characters here are all unique and wholly interesting. I found myself reading about the story of one character and wanting to tear the book page by page when I was jumped to the next tale. The only thing stopping me was how good the NEXT story was.

Not all of the tales are gold but the ones that aren't are still great. I want to k...more

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Jul 04, 2008 Dave Fay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A great sci-fi story told in the "frame story" format. (Like Canterbury Tales.) Seven very different people are on a pilgrimage together to Hyperion and each of their back-stories unfolds the plot.

What I liked best about this story is that in addition to being a great story and setting, (common in good sci-fi/fantasy) the author happens to be a great writer (not so common even in good sci-fi/fantasy). You can tell that the author has a love of science and futurism but also a love of language and...more

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Mar 30, 2007 Adam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love these books.

Simmons is a prolific writer, and Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion are the best two books he's ever produced. Song of Kali comes close, but these two books are at the pinnacle of science fiction. They're really a single book, probably split to hit publishing deadlines.

The story is loosely built around the structure of the Canterbury Tales. There's a primary arc that weaves the lives of several characters together as they try to unravel several mysteries. Each character has a personal...more

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Dec 16, 2012 James rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is very highly regarded by lots of SF fans, but I have to say I felt a little let down by it.

The future history (actually pretty much the whole book) is superbly imaginative, but I think he didn't quite pull off the format he was going for. I sometimes felt that the viewpoint characters displayed knowledge that they couldn't have, or maybe that what was meant to be narrated by one of the characters came across as being narrated by the author with all of his omniscience.

I also didn't...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Shelly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

The greatest science fiction story ever written and the first book in the greatest science fiction series ever made. There are a lot of other Scifi books that I truly love, but this one will always hold a special place in my heart.

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May 23, 2008 Lynn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Adult science fiction that is a lesson in how to write science fiction! Awesome read. Highly original, fabulous characterization and a page turner to boot. A sort of space setting Canterbury Tales with a twist.

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Jul 09, 2008 Mike Muse rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The first of four glorious pieces of high literature of the science fiction genere. Yes the cover looks ridiculous, but Simmons kicks some serious literary ass with this series. Trust me.

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About Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1948, and grew up in various cities and small towns in the Midwest, including Brimfield, Illinois, which was the source of his fictional "Elm Haven" in 1991's SUMMER OF NIGHT and 2002's A WINTER HAUNTING. Dan received a B.A. in English from Wabash College in 1970, winning a national Phi Beta Kappa Award during his senior year for excellence in fiction,...more Dan Simmons was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1948, and grew up in various cities and small towns in the Midwest, including Brimfield, Illinois, which was the source of his fictional "Elm Haven" in 1991's SUMMER OF NIGHT and 2002's A WINTER HAUNTING. Dan received a B.A. in English from Wabash College in 1970, winning a national Phi Beta Kappa Award during his senior year for excellence in fiction, journalism and art.

Dan received his Masters in Education from Washington University in St. Louis in 1971. He then worked in elementary education for 18 years -- 2 years in Missouri, 2 years in Buffalo, New York -- one year as a specially trained BOCES "resource teacher" and another as a sixth-grade teacher -- and 14 years in Colorado.

ABOUT DAN
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His last four years in teaching were spent creating, coordinating, and teaching in APEX, an extensive gifted/talented program serving 19 elementary schools and some 15,000 potential students. During his years of teaching, he won awards from the Colorado Education Association and was a finalist for the Colorado Teacher of the Year. He also worked as a national language-arts consultant, sharing his own "Writing Well" curriculum which he had created for his own classroom. Eleven and twelve-year-old students in Simmons' regular 6th-grade class averaged junior-year in high school writing ability according to annual standardized and holistic writing assessments. Whenever someone says "writing can't be taught," Dan begs to differ and has the track record to prove it. Since becoming a full-time writer, Dan likes to visit college writing classes, has taught in New Hampshire's Odyssey writing program for adults, and is considering hosting his own Windwalker Writers' Workshop.

Dan's first published story appeared on Feb. 15, 1982, the day his daughter, Jane Kathryn, was born. He's always attributed that coincidence to "helping in keeping things in perspective when it comes to the relative importance of writing and life."

Dan has been a full-time writer since 1987 and lives along the Front Range of Colorado -- in the same town where he taught for 14 years -- with his wife, Karen, his daughter, Jane, (when she's home from Hamilton College) and their Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Fergie. He does much of his writing at Windwalker -- their mountain property and cabin at 8,400 feet of altitude at the base of the Continental Divide, just south of Rocky Mountain National Park. An 8-ft.-tall sculpture of the Shrike -- a thorned and frightening character from the four Hyperion/Endymion novels -- was sculpted by an ex-student and friend, Clee Richeson, and the sculpture now stands guard near the isolated cabin.(less)

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Books by Dan Simmons

The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #2)

The Rise of Endymion (Hyperion Cantos, #4)

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Quotes from Hyperion

“It occurs to me that our survival may depend upon our talking to one another.” — 23 people liked it

“Evolution brings human beings. Human beings, through a long and painful process, bring humanity.” — 15 people liked it

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Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos #1)

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