Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1) in The Alternative Worlds

Mar 26, 2008 Brad rated it really liked it

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

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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Dec 24, 2008 Kara Babcock rated it really liked it

Shelves: own, space-opera, 2009-read, science-fiction, artificial-intelligence, hugo-winner

I can best summarize my feelings about Hyperion like so: why did someone let me read the terror that is The Terror when I could have read a good book by Dan Simmons?!

Frame stories are not my favourite way to conduct business with a novel. In general, Hyperion's greatest flaws lie within its structure, frame story included. That and the abrupt ending devoid of any real conclusion are probably the two chief sources of criticism, from myself and from other reviewers. Like many other readers, I was ...more

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Jan 10, 2011 Kevin Xu rated it it was ok

I love the other three books in the series just fine, but I cannot stand books with the format of separate stories set in the same universe that never connects with each other. Its one of the major reasons I dislike World War Z. The only one that worked is Wild Cards. For Wild Cards it felt more like reading history.

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Sep 02, 2009 Wealhtheow rated it it was ok

I read this at least ten years ago. What I remember: an archaelogist somehow disturbs an alien artifact, and from then on ages backward instead of forward. Her family is desperate to find a cure before she de-ages out of existence. Then I remember getting really bored and barely managing to finish it.

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Jul 01, 2010 Taueret rated it it was amazing

Shelves: have, speculative-fiction, sci-fi, audiobook

I am about 25% of the way into this audiobook- I am REALLY enjoying it. I hope it stays as good as it started.

ok, finished! Wow, what a great book. Dan Simmons scared the living crap out of me about 20 years ago when I read "Carrion Comfort" so I knew he could write- I keep seeing Hyperion listed amongst various lists of essential or classic scifi- not sure what put me off, maybe the title sounded kind of fantasy-ish- I really don't know. But I will probably now list Hyperion amongst my favourit I am about 25% of the way into this audiobook- I am REALLY enjoying it. I hope it stays as good as it started.

ok, finished! Wow, what a great book. Dan Simmons scared the living crap out of me about 20 years ago when I read "Carrion Comfort" so I knew he could write- I keep seeing Hyperion listed amongst various lists of essential or classic scifi- not sure what put me off, maybe the title sounded kind of fantasy-ish- I really don't know. But I will probably now list Hyperion amongst my favourite novels of all time (not just sci-fi genre either).

The unabridged audio I listened to was not the best adaptation I have heard, but it wasn't distractingly bad. As is the way with me and audiobooks, during passages that could have been edited a bit more harshly, I could mentally multitask, rather than skimming, which is what would have happened in print.

You have to love a far-future sci-fi novel in which the poet John Keats is a major character- I'm waiting to find out what time-trickery in the story allows fictional Keats not to remember or mention that (in OUR world) he wrote a poem called Lamia, when he has an affair with a character by that name in the book! Make sense? It does to me. Anyone who knows (our) Keats a bit will get what I'm getting at.

Anywhoo, the series of connected stories that make up the bulk of Hyperion are dark, spooky, horrifying, sad, mysterious by turns. Simmons' vision of far-future humanity isn't as utopian as many authors'- his future humanity is environmentally irresponsible, politically motivated- probably like we would really be if we ever get off poor old Earth.

Also, Simmons' world building is amazing- when you read a lot of sci-fi you do start to see familiar tropes, conventions etc. There's little of that in the Hyperion universe, I loved the originality of the worlds he describes- the motile islands (until humans ruin their feeding grounds); the Tesla trees, the tree-ships and of course Hyperion and the Shrike.

I went straight into 'Fall of Hyperion' because I can't wait to find out what happens next. ...more

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May 04, 2008 This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, hugo-award, science-fiction, space-opera, locus-award

I probably would rate this more like 2 1/2 stars than 3. Parts of it were fascinating, parts were infuriating. It's a collection of six loosely related tales (Canterbury Tales style), tied together by a broader story. Some of the stories are interesting, some were merely irritating. Given that each character got to tell their own story, I still found them remarkably underdeveloped; of course, in at least half of the cases they were actually telling someone else's tale, rather than their own, whi ...more

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Aug 02, 2007 Suz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: kindle, award-winner, science-fiction, re-read, favorites

This book is just as amazing today as it was the first time I read it in high school.

It is my favorite book in the Hyperion Cantos and it is one of my favorite sci-fi/fantasy books of all time. Simmons uses a framing story of a journey to set up not just the backstories for the pilgrims to the Time Tombs, but the planets/governments/societies of this distant future. It's a beautifully written story, helped, immensely by Simmons's brilliant use of Keats and his works throughout the book. ...more

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