Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos)
A stunning tour de force filled with transcendent awe and wonder, Hyperion is a masterwork of science fiction that resonates with excitement and invention, the first volume in a remarkable epic by the multiple-award-winning author of The Hollow Man.
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the reach of galactic law, waits a creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
Praise for Dan Simmons and Hyperion
“Dan Simmons has brilliantly conceptualized a future 700 years distant. In sheer scope and complexity it matches, and perhaps even surpasses, those of Isaac Asimov and James Blish.”—The Washington Post Book World
“An unfailingly inventive narrative . . . generously conceived and stylistically sure-handed.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Simmons’s own genius transforms space opera into a new kind of poetry.”—The Denver Post
“An essential part of any science fiction collection.”—Booklist
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the reach of galactic law, waits a creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
Praise for Dan Simmons and Hyperion
“Dan Simmons has brilliantly conceptualized a future 700 years distant. In sheer scope and complexity it matches, and perhaps even surpasses, those of Isaac Asimov and James Blish.”—The Washington Post Book World
“An unfailingly inventive narrative . . . generously conceived and stylistically sure-handed.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Simmons’s own genius transforms space opera into a new kind of poetry.”—The Denver Post
“An essential part of any science fiction collection.”—Booklist
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Community Reviews
Just finished this book as a part of my book club, and I have to say, it's a page-turner. Some classic sci-fi novels tend to get bogged down in the malaise of the premise and struggle to tell an engaging story as a result. This book is not one of those novels.
Every one of the seven pilgrims traveling together has a unique and personal story to share connecting them to the main plot, and each of those stories shed further light on the mystery of the planet Hyperion and its resident boogeyman, the Shrike.
Hyperion is not your ordinary, sci-fi novel, yet it also embodies everything great about science fiction in every little story it tells. There's spaceships, time distortion, artificial intelligence, intergalactic warfare, teleportation, laser weapons, and all the usual things to expect in a sci-fi book. But there's also tragic love stories, devastating losses, witty banter, mind-bending twists, and truly poignant moments that will make you laugh, cry, and gasp in shock within the span of a hundred pages. It's sci-fi at its best.
I think what separates Hyperion from other sci-fi fiction I've seen or read is how grounded the story is in our own world history. Without giving too much away, the book references classic literature quite a bit throughout the novel, and each of its characters' backgrounds come from a history as familiar to the reader as it is to themselves. The cultural and religious elements of the story are rooted in conflicts that we to contend with today in the present, and I think that made each of the characters more relatable and human as we learned more about their individual pasts. Though the novel is technically science fiction, it carries the air and spirit of a true literary classic that transcends the boundaries of the genre.
The reason this book isn't five stars for me is that there were a couple of things that irked me a bit, one of which was the lack of representation for women throughout the book. This book has got a few excerpts that would fit right in with other poor examples of "men writing women." There are a few characters' backstories that feature a female love interest whose main descriptors are their skin or their breasts. The only woman among the seven pilgrims (besides the baby) is a hard-as-nails, badass detective in her own right, but I wish there was a little more representation of women's experiences in the novel that went beyond a hardened badass and an object of attraction. I chalk it up to dated gender norms that have been prevalent in sci-fi for decades.
Another small, more personal issue I had with the book was the ending: it was a cliffhanger! I should have known when I started the book that there was no way the author would be able to tell all these stories and still resolve all the mysteries left hanging by the end. I know there's a sequel, though, which I plan on reading next as soon as possible. It just kind of irks me when writers leave some questions unanswered to justify the need for a sequel. I feel like it all could have gotten wrapped up in another fifty pages or so.
Other than that, it was a great read. I recommend it for any sci-fi fan out there, and even if you're not a fan of sci-fi, this book would make a good start for anyone looking to get into the genre. That's why my book club selected it for us to read first. Highly recommend reading it with others! I told my girlfriend about what happened after each chapter, and she was as invested in the story as I was without even reading it.
I would have to call this one of the greatest scifi books ever written--once i got about halfway through it i couldn't put it down and once i did finish it i had to start on The Fall of Hyperion immediately.
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