Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1) in Beyond Reality

Mar 26, 2013 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2021-shelf, sci-fi, top-one-hundred, top-ten-w-cheats, fanboy-goes-squee

This is one of my favorite SF novels.

Easily in the top ten. It has just about everything I could want in an SF while also elevating the entire SF conversation at the same time.

And a virtuoso performance is another term I'd use, as if the character of Martin Selinius had popped out of the pages and wrote this very book, wowing the AIs connaisseurs and elevating the very first Literary SF form to do universal justice to the term.

Back when I first read this book, the same year it came out, I was ...more

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Jan 10, 2011 Paul Perry rated it it was amazing

Shelves: male-author, read-in-2011, sf, epic, fiction

Dan Simmons is an author I had not read before, although I've been aware of his thick SF novels. I had expected space opera – possibly due, in part, to the shiny black covers similar to Alastair Reynolds, on whom it turns out Simmons is obviously a big influence. There is much of the space opera about the writing in Hyperion; the universe in which it is set is one of the human Hegemony which, having fled Earth when our home planet is fatally damaged in what is referred to with sublime understate Dan Simmons is an author I had not read before, although I've been aware of his thick SF novels. I had expected space opera – possibly due, in part, to the shiny black covers similar to Alastair Reynolds, on whom it turns out Simmons is obviously a big influence. There is much of the space opera about the writing in Hyperion; the universe in which it is set is one of the human Hegemony which, having fled Earth when our home planet is fatally damaged in what is referred to with sublime understatement as The Big Mistake, and spread out over the following seven centuries by use of faster-than-light space flight and thence a network of 'farcasters', instantaneous transmission wormholes, that are based on all core planets and form the WorldWeb.

Most of the action in this book, however, is told in the form of six tales by a diverse group of travellers on pilgrimage to a mysterious alien artefact known as the Time Tombs. This deliberate mirror of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is not the only literary reference; the planet Hyperion on which the Time Tombs stand is named for the poem by John Keats, and the Romantic poet's work and presence form threads that bind all the stories together.

The travellers' tales achieve several things simultaneously. The different perspectives of Simmons' universe allow us to build a thorough view of the background, the history and societies that form it. It also becomes apparent that these are no random selection of individuals, but each of them has an intimate connection to the planet Hyperion, the mysterious and deadly being known as the Shrike, and is intertwined with the others in a ways that are central to the plot without ever being heavy handed.

The tales also, of course, allow for a nice variety in tone and for Simmons to be playful in his writing. The Soldier's Tale allows for some full-scale space opera warfare. In the Detective's Tale the author uses a properly noir-ish tone to tell a cyberpunk tale with a tough female lead. The Poet's Tale is quite Heinleinian – the foul-mouthed, drunken Martin Silenius, son of a wealthy family from Old Earth who had always striven for poetry but never achieved it until a brain injury left him only capable of uttering half a dozen obscenities. The Priest's Tale, about cultural superiority and arrogance as much as about religion (with shades of Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles as well as Sheri S. Tepper and Orson Scott Card because of the themes). The Scholar's Tale is perhaps the most intense and personal, about the ties of family and god and memory. While it is the penultimate Detective's Tale which provides the 'big reveals' for the plot, it is left to the Consul's Tale at the end to do the same for the themes. The final fifth of the book pulls together threads that had only been noticed peripherally, the threads of plot and theme converging as the pilgrims finally approach their goal.

At which point I realised the pages of the thick volume were dwindling fast. Surely this build up, this complex, inventive, fascinating, profound epic wouldn't be tied up in less than forty pages? Of course not. As the travellers approach their destination a final reference is thrown in, along with the Keats and the Chaucer, the Bradbury and the Heinlein, the Gibson and the Chandler. Another book awaited, beckoned, and I can't wait to see where it leads. ...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Teri Dluznieski rated it it was amazing

I am deeply envious of the creative accomplishments of this book! Dan Simmons combines the best of several genres into something completely unique and appealing. Classic mythology, medieval literature, and science fiction! I wish I had the ability, as a writer, to be that innovative! his knowledge base is deep and solid, and he crafts a flawless story with complex, believable characters. And character driven stories is highly unusual in science fiction- and I say this as an avid reader of the ge ...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Craig Brown rated it really liked it

Well lets see, 1 star, or 5 stars? First the 5 star review. The stories were VERY good. The book is a series of short stories on the pilgrims to the Shrike. They are fantastic and draw you into the story immediately. Soon you are curious as to how the story will tie into the pilgrimage. I found it hard to stop reading and looked forward to the conclusion of the short story and starting the next. The characters were great. Each story was different and equally as interesting. Now the 1 star review ...more

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Feb 27, 2011 Clark rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

This series really sucked me in about a decade ago. The structure of this first book is great with it's head nods to "The Canterbury Tales", "Romeo and Juliet", and Phillip Jose' Farmer's fiction. I loved these characters. The Shrike....(shudder)...the Shrike.
Read it.
...more

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Aug 03, 2011 M rated it it was amazing

Wow, this book was way better than expected. The story and tone may be completely different, but I believe he does JJ R Martian level world building. This book is more than a collection of short stories. Half-way through the book you'll have a deep understanding of the soci-economic and political structure of the human society 1000 years in the future through the life stories of the characters. Each story gives you a look at different aspects of life; i.e. soldier, politician, suburban family ma ...more

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May 05, 2011 Phil rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Dan Simmons knows how to tell a story. Hyperion's plot is very complex but the telling of it is so seamless that each and every page is a joy to read. Any synopsis of the book will make it look like nonsense; the reader just needs to take a leap of faith and plunge into this masterpiece. A story well told, is a story well told, no matter the genre. To me, this book transcends science fiction and would be a worthwhile read for anyone who enjoys literature. ...more

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