I really liked this book. With so much of the books attention going to events in the past and a very unsure future, your imagination really kicks into overdrive. It's hard to explain: I've read prose more to my liking but my mind keeps wandering back to the story and the ideas posed within. I don't even mind the treeship idea anymore ;)

Prologue

Bruise-black clouds silhouetted a forest of giant gymnosperms while stratocumulus towered nine kilometers high in a violent sky.

I hit a low point after that sentence, but I made myself believe the Consul is just a bit of a pompous ass and it gets better - and it really does!

Chapter One: Intense!

I just finished chapter one and it was an electrifying read (pun semi-intended)! Even without the religious themes being discussed in a different thread, it's a very intense tale.

My initial skepticism ("Oh really? Heart of Darkness in space?") was quickly washed away by the intensity of the narration. I adore stories with an anthropology feel that explore the logic of mysterious and unknown peoples, so the Bikura were of great interest to me.

The descriptions of his fever, the thunderstorms and the basicila were very vivid and intense. So much so that I'd forgotten all about the Shrike and gasped when I realised just in time what could possibly come out of the Labyrinth.

The end was great and very shocking (again, no pun intended) - this is turning into a horror book!

Chapter Two: sex & violence

I found this chapter to be somewhat of a letdown. I enjoyed the first surprises in chapter two. For one, I thought he was actually at Agincourt and those age-treatment drugs were just that awesome. Also: most unexpected sex scene!

I enjoyed how his obsession with Moneta got him promoted (because he wasn't womanizing in his off-time) and guided him later on. I felt he was a dark hero in Bressia, the only person who could keep going after all honor and humanity falls away. The final twist confused me more than excited me.

All in all, this chapter didn't have the punch and the intensity of the first one. Sex and violence gets a little boring after a while.

Chapter Three: Fucking poetry

I'll put in capitals to highlight my unique position ;)
I F*CKING LOVE THE POET!

During the (to me) pretentious prologue, at every piece of dialogue from the poet I heaved a sigh of relief. His skeptical profanity was what got me through the chapter! He has some choice lines there as well: "As if we f*cking humans were ever motivated by human logic"

I enjoyed the Poet's tale. The description of his decadent house was a highlight, the interactions with his publisher another.

I liked that Silenus is (so far) the only one who reflects on society instead of just living in it. In particular I enjoyed his monologue about the stagnation of society 'where institutions change but little, and that by gradual evolution rather than revolution' (something I've heard said about our times as well).

I disliked his frequent mention of 20th century writers, but he threw some futuristic ones in for good measure. I loved his monologue about the Hyperion Cantos, which seems straight-up Dan Simmons’ monologue, and isn’t the Shrike muse to them both? The casualness with which he accepted deaths around him seemed to me the writer’s casualness to create characters with joys and wants and needs only to kill them off again when the story demands it.

Chapter four: Old Testament

The Scholar’s tale didn’t really do it for me. I have no kids, so maybe that’s the problem ;) The reverse living thing I’d already seen in Benjamin Button and Merlin stories, so the whole tragedy of that kind of got lost in a sense of not reading anything new. Not being much of an old testament type, the Isaac and diaspora themes also didn’t appeal much.

I did like Sarai’s revelation which I felt was a great kick in the nuts, realigning the story subject from fatherhood to parenthood with an air of ‘what, you think you’re so special?’. You go, Sarai!

Chapter five: Technobabble

Very much liked how the normal roles are reversed: the hard-boiled detective is a small woman, and the cold dame in trouble is a male robot. I liked her sarcasm, and didn't mind that the tough as nails attitude stayed with her all through her story. I disliked her pregnancy: Really, a smart and capable woman like Brawne doesn't consider contraception? (cue: 'just because it's a plot only women can have, doesn't mean every woman needs to have it'). On the upside, this chapter's conversation between CEO Gladstone and Brawne makes the book pass the Bechdel test. ;)

The story itself fell a bit flat for me - Though I liked learning more about the AI's, the techno babble and 'in the core' sequences didn't really draw me in.

The end

The book has an open ending, but I do feel it's a complete story. Specifically the 'Ego te absolvo' scene with its emphasis on touching worked wonderfully to round of the story, I thought.

The sense I applied to this book is that what happens at the Tomb isn't the real story, it's what brings our pilgrims there and why. So I felt very well satisfied.

I do intend to pick up Fall of Hyperion eventually, but since I don't have a real cliffhanger feeling, I'm not in a hurry!



Sword & Laser episode for Hyperion
Sword & Laser video for Hyperion