Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jul 15, 2011

Ian rated it:

The narrator, Victor Bevine, is one of my favorites. He narrates all the other audio versions of the Hyperion Cantos, including the first, dramatized version of Hyperion itself. I gave five stars to the underlying written work. I only subtract a star for this audiobook because Mr. Bevine isn't quite up to the task of doing all the characters--particularly all the Shrike Pilgrims--by himself. Still, this audiobook is a great way to re-read Fall of Hyperion.

Merged review:

Hav More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2009

Jon rated it:

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

7 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 13, 2011

Kemper rated it:

"Nurse, this patient’s chart is very confusing.”

“Which patient, Doctor?”

“Uh..Mr. Kemper. He’s the one in the vegetative state.”

“Oh, that’s a very sad and odd case.”

“According to the patient history, he was admitted a few weeks ago with cerebrospinal fluid leaking from his nose and ears, but it seemed like he should recover. But yesterday he was brought in again, barely conscious and then he lapsed into a coma. The really odd thing is that I More...

4 comments like (20 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2009

Brad rated it:

The Fall of Hyperion is a sequel. I swear. It says so right there on the cover of my mass market paperback, right above the cheesy artist’s rendering of Sol Weintraub presenting Rachel to a rather unimpressive Shrike.

But I’ll tell you, it sure doesn’t feel like a sequel. It feels more like the first book, the main book, of a series, and it makes Hyperion feel like a prequel -- a superior prequel, but a prequel nonetheless. And I really wish I had read The Fall of Hyperion before I r More...

12 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2008

Mark rated it:

I liked "The Fall of Hyperion". It is an excellent book! Literate Science Fiction at its best. If I could give it 4 1/2 stars, I would. It's not as great as "Hyperion", I loved the structure of that book a lot more, but it is very much a worthy successor to "Hyperion". It's definitely not a standalone book. You have to have read "Hyperion" in order to "get" what's going on.

Plot
This book begins where the previous book ended More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 02, 2007

Andy rated it:

A friend gave me these books (the Hyperion/Endymion series) about six years ago. They're more 'fantasy' science fiction - other worlds, alien races, etc - than 'hard' science fiction (by that I mean, could happen here and now) so I found them interesting, but you've got to like this style of material to get thru it. This book could have told it's story in half the space and still have been just as compelling - if not more so. If you want to ponder the philosophical meanings of existence, these More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Frank rated it:

Dan Simmons is technically one of the best Sci-Fi writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. I am in awe of his narrative structure. This book, and it's first part Hyperion, are part of a story that rivals Herbert's work with Dune in scope and complexity, but if anything his writing style is a bit more approachable than Herbert's. Don't get me wrong, I love Herbert's work dearly, Simmons is just a little less hard-core sci-fi in his writing style. His plots and characters and setting are bold More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 18, 2007

D rated it:

We are created for precisely this sort of suffering. In the end, it is all we are, these limpid tide pools of self-consciousness between crashing waves of pain. We are destined and designed to bear our pain with us, hugging it tight to our bellies like the young Spartan thief hiding a wolf cub so it can eat away our insides. What other creature in God's wide domain would carry the memory of you, Fanny, dust these nine hundred years, and allow it to eat away at him even as consumption does the sa More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 02, 2010

Hazel rated it:

I've just finished this again. At times it seemed unwieldy, although I imagine the change in structure was necessary for Simmons to weave all the strands of the story together. Overall though, I appreciate the complexity of the tale. Theological ideas are always a draw for me, Abraham was testing God! I enjoyed the poetry, too, and although I was never into Keats I'm now minded to look for a collection, and read more about him.

Maybe three and a half stars? I imagine I shall be rer More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 21, 2011

Shara (Calico Reaction) rated it:

Overall, it was a satisfying read. Simmons tied up most of the major loose ends, tied together elements of the first book beautifully, and left this reader with a satisfying ending and anticipation for the next two books. Not that I'm in a hurry to get to them. I found this particular volume to be a bit sloppier than its predecessor, and I spent much of my reading time shaking my head in confusion. It was a good confused, but I'll tell you what, the Lost mythology has NOTHING on this one. Sheesh More...

0 comments like

May 13, 2011

Nancy rated it:

I think it would be difficult to read Hyperion , like it and not want to read The Fall of Hyperion too. There were two themes in the second book that made me think the kind of ideas that gnaw away at me. First was the Core. While the book must have been written in the late 80 s for me The Core symbolized a science fiction version of the internet as an evil collective unconscious. I have a problem with this. My views were shaped by the first astronauts who dreaded being in the black More...

0 comments like

Jan 05, 2011

Brian rated it:

11/9/04 - 5/10

Series: 12/8/04 - 6/10
The Hyperion Cantos started off very promising. The first book is like a sci-fi version of The Canterbury Tales, with detailed personal looks at each individual character, each with different tones. Some of the stories were better than others, but all were good - the Sol Weintraub / Rachel story in particular was very haunting. The story is a creative look at 700 years in the future with very detailed worlds and cultures, mostly touched on in passing in the More...

0 comments like

Mar 17, 2009

Alex rated it:

After enjoying Hyperion more then I thought I would because it turned out to be a book you can think about a little as well as just enjoy for the story, this was a let down. The whole Canterbury Tales deal was jettisoned, and it was mostly running around and space battles and Keats (yeah, I'm not sure why Keats either... I can't even think of a reason that there would be an organic shift from Chaucer to Keats). So basically what you got was your average space opera mixed in with some literary More...

0 comments like

Oct 30, 2011

Христо rated it:

Изключителната сага “Хиперион” на Дан Симънс – величие без граници!
http://www.knigolandia.info/2011/03/blog...

“Падането на Хиперион” вдига неимоверно оборотите. Поклонниците започват безкрайно лутане около Гробниците, сред които всеки преживява отсъдените му изпитания, например поетът Силенъс бива закачен на Дървото на болката, а Федман Касад в съюз със своята Монита пресича границите на времето, за да се бори със злокобния Шрайка (сега ми хрумва, че той е може би единственият More...

0 comments like

Oct 02, 2011

ilike rated it:

Caveat: This book gets only four stars not because it was not amazing (it was) but because its precursor 'Hyperion' was so ultra-amazing, that I cannot in good consciousness give this also a five if that is a five.

My expectations for this book when I opened it earlier this year were in the sky. I had read 'Hyperion' a few years back and it absolutely blew my mind. It belonged amongst the best sci-fi-- as well-written as it was imaginative; LITERARY even. The structure of 'Hyperion' w More...

0 comments like

Mar 28, 2011

Paul rated it:

In short, if you were interested in continuing on with this series but was unsure of the quality of the next book; do not worry. This is no weak sequel, and I would highly recommend it.[return][return]One thing that I like is the conclusiveness of each book, at least so far with the first two. While the first ended as the Pilgrimage was heading off to the nearby Time Tombs and Shrike, I felt satisfied with the book as it were. I felt that it could stand by itself for merely the content of the ch More...

0 comments like

Jan 29, 2011

Jonathan rated it:

There are few words that strike more fear in the hearts of Über-Intellectuals (as defined in my review of The Da Vinci Code, of all places) than the word “sequel”. Adored by Hollywood producers and publishing moguls alike for its low-risk, high profit profile, this extension of plot and character guarantees your presence for at least another act. Uber-Intellectuals, however, shun The Sequel for those same reasons; often rightfully so. If you can tell a story in one book, don’t tell it in two. More...

4 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 07, 2010

Keith rated it:

After a slow read of Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion begins equally slow and disappointing. The first 150 pages or so essentially recap the preceding book and develop a couple of additional characters. Although the Canterbury-style format has been mercifully abandoned, the same issues with pacing, exposition, and plot advancement crop up and you are tempted to just stop reading.

Don't. All of a sudden, Simmons actually begins to advance the story and tie together the threads he began. More...

0 comments like

Oct 01, 2009

BSH rated it:

After talking with Ward I picked it back up - finding that I had left off with just 200 pages - and remembered why I like Dan Simmons. He's a non-sci fi writer masquerading as a writer of the high-brow masquerading as a sci-fi writer. Based on the path of his career and things he's said, he's contemptuous of being labeled as writer of science fiction, but the Hyperion Cantos elevates the genre - or at least expands its contours. Cool ideas here: emergent behavior that becomes a deity and conscio More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 13, 2009

Marc rated it:

Thought this was a little better than the first one. The structure has changed in regard to the first one. It is now a straight-forward story without any flash-backs, which serves the story well.
Still suffers one of the same problems of the first book, it is a lot longer than it needed to be. I'm all for a little introduction and the writer warming up, but during the first 250-300 not much is happening at all.
The story is now written in first person and the narrator is another John More...

0 comments like

May 17, 2009

Tim rated it:

Yes, I gave it 3 stars, but I confess to being a little disappointed by this sequel. I have enormous respect for Dan Simmons (I would count him among my favorite authors on the strength of "The Terror" alone) but frankly -- and I seldom make this complaint of an author -- I think in his science fiction-based works he occasionally demands too much of readers, explains too little, tries to prove how smart he is by including as many literary references and complex ideas as possible, and t More...

0 comments like

Aug 17, 2011

Brian rated it:

This review is for both Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion.

As best I can recall, my first exposure to Dan Simmons was the short story Orphans of the Helix. I enjoyed the story, thus deciding to add the rest of the Hyperion Cantos to my reading list. It took me a while to get around to it, but somehow, I think it was worth the wait!

Hyperion takes a little getting used to. It's set as a frame story (like the Canterbury Tales), which makes for an awkward plot line. You glimp More...

0 comments like

Feb 06, 2011

Rafal rated it:

"Upadek Hyperiona" zaczyna się nieomal dokładnie w tym samym momencie, w którym kończy się pierwszy tom dylogii. Chociaż mamy do czynienia z ciągiem dalszym opowieści, to jednak kontynuacja owa różni się znacząco od tomu uprzedniego, przy jednoczesnym zachowaniu jego walorów. Mimo, że nie pogniewałbym się na autora, gdyby po raz kolejny "sprzedał" mi kilka odrębnych, acz łączących się ze sobą opowieści, to "Upadek Hyperiona" w formie space opery - trzeba dodać spac More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 28, 2011

Ala rated it:

Been a bit since I finished this book. I've even read some others in the interim. But I just for the life of me can't come to consensus in my own mind about it.

Was it a good book?

After finishing it, I rated it four stars and left it at that. That must mean it's good, right?

Maybe, maybe not.

Don't get me wrong, it was well written. The pace and flow was great and made for a real page turner. The story was good, too. Watching as each character is gi More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 26, 2008

Brittany rated it:

I sort of understand how this all ended up. But not really. Of course, that could always be my fault. I kept getting characters confused. Which, in my defense, is pretty easy to do when people are popping backward and forward in time and other people die (several times) but still stick around. To me, it felt like Simmons was trying so hard to work in all these erudite themes that the story suffered. It was still entertaining, but not his best work.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 03, 2009

Sayward rated it:

"In order for mankind to change, we must abandon the story we have told ourselves for so long, of war and hate and domination. We must embrace a life of awareness, abandon our material gloating, treat each other as if each person was ourselves, with the highest respect, love and empathy.

Who will be the first to step across this void? There have been perhaps a few, joined with God. God is love. And "love" is the cohesion, the glue that binds this universe together, More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 30, 2011

John rated it:

I was much more taken with this book than its predecessor, and start of the series. The tales of the main characters were compelling in their attraction, amazingly pulling the reader into rooting for each person, despite often negative first impressions. The plot foundations were laid, but apart from rich characters, the book felt like an assembly of parts, waiting to be activated into a working machine.

This book was the activation. The plot kicked into gear with these compelling ch More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 19, 2011

Jeff rated it:

This is the 2nd book of a 4 book series.

In the 1st book a group of semi-pilgrims are headed to the planet of Hyperion which had previously affected their lives in some way. Hyperion is a planet containing alien artifacts of a group of truly nightmare aliens that seem to be locked up or contained for the moment. The human race is spread around the universe using Farcasters to instantly travel around the worlds after these devices have been sent by ships. The Farcasters are run by the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 06, 2011

Adrienne rated it:

Like Hyperion, this was a solid novel that doesn't stand out very much for me. Overall I preferred its predecessor, in which we got glimpses into each of the main characters' pasts. This book dropped that format to move forward with the plot: a war (seemingly) between the Ousters and the Hegemony. (For the most part, we're on the side of the Hegemony, by the way.)

However, it did solidify in my mind why I typically don't like science fiction as much as fantasy novels. I find it hard to More...

0 comments like

Sep 01, 2011

Taueret rated it:

LOVED this. Not as in love with Simmon's writing as some other reviewers but its' ok because it's such an amazing story. Seriously, how can you not love a long, juicy sci-fi saga starring the ghost (kind of) of John Keats, a scary monster, as well as a bunch of other well defined characters- in a future that is a bit like the evil twin of the future in Iain M Banks' Culture novels. or maybe like the love child of the Matrix and the Culture. Or something totally, to me, original. I just loved More...

0 comments like

reviews