*Spoilers* I was spoiled for the Hyperion Cantos and wanted to know if I should still read it.

[Rodger]

I was recently spoiled that in the Hyperion series the Hegemony of Man falls. I am very upset because it seems every time I want to read a series it always gets spoiled for me. Thankfully, I don't know when or how the Hegemony falls. So my main question is will this ruin the experience for me or should I still read it, and on a scale of 1-10 how bad is the spoiler? Please do not mention any other details or spoilers, thank you.

[Brendan]

If you're the sort of reader that is upset about a spoiler of that type then it is unlikely you'd enjoy Hyperion anyways. It's more of a "journey not the destination" book.

So, no it won't ruin the experience, and also you probably shouldn't read it.

[Roger]

Put this post in a spoiler tag so you don't ruin it for other people!

[Bryan]

I don't think knowing that particular spoiler detracts anything from the books. They are amazing and full of ideas, and are not just about "will the hegemony fall?"; I mean it's not like a procedural crime show where you don't need to watch an episode if you know who the killer is because there's not much else.

[Armand]

How far have you gotten into the Hyperion Cantos? Honestly, I would not read past book 2. Rise of/Endymion offer little in terms of resolution, and I found the quality of the writing to go downhill. Also, Simmons really shoehorns a particular mystical philosophy as underlying the whole universe in a very unfair, deus ex machina sort of way. If the ending to Fall of Hyperion makes you uneasy, go no further.

However, the fall of the hegemony is foreseen throughout the second book, it's more of a question of how and when, rather than if.

[Hillary]

On a scale of 1-10, I'd say maybe 4?

I read the Cantos not too long ago & enjoyed them. Although I'm a spoiler-hater, I don't think that spoiler would have really affected my enjoyment/appreciation. I agree w/Brendan on the "more the journey than the destination description," and add that I found the prose/style slow at times (and the plot payoffs not always as high as I thought they could have been), but I definitely thought them worth the read.