Rating: 
Summary: A great start of the series
Review: This book has it all: religious horror, Asimov-style pschohistory, military science fiction, publishing satire, a cyberpunk detective story, and quite a few other ingredients. The story is about seven people who embark upon a pilgrimage on the planet Hyperion while the "good" Hegemony and the "evil" Ousters are on the verge of fighting a catastrophic battle. Each of the pilgrims has a link to not only Hyperion, but also to a mysterious godlike being called The Shrike. Everything about this book - I haven't read the others in the series yet - is brilliant. The characters, love them or hate them, are very colorful and brilliant. You can feel the pain and frustration of the scholar as his daughter ages in reverse. Or the fear and anger that the soldier endures as the hospital ship is ambushed. And you don't know whether to laugh or cry when a stroke renders the poet unable to speak except for profanity. I don't think I even scratched the surface, but those are my favorite examples. The manner in which the Hegemony is developed is thought-provoking. It is an empire that bases all its cultures on what existed on Earth hundreds of years earlier without creating anything new or worthwhile by itself. Also, The Hegemony destroys alien cultures that pose the threat of being competitive. But perhaps the most fatal flaw that the Hegemony suffers is its blind faith toward the artificial intelligence elements that could decide that humanity is useless. Definite food for thought. Anyone that tries to describe this book completely will only fall short, including me. HYPERION has to be read several times to fully appreciate its complexity. One last thing before I submit my review. I read too many reviews that had a complaint about the ending. Some reviewers only gave this book one star because of the ending alone. If the destination is what you want to gripe about, then you didn't take time to enjoy the trip.
Rating:
Summary: Tremendous SCIFI
Review: One of the great species of SCI FI takes a single technological advance (eg nanotech in Diamond Age) and follows it through all of its myrid effects on society. In this case, the inovation is instant transport across vast distances, so easy that one home can have every room on a different world. The cultural impact is momentous and facinating. That said, it takes more than such an inovation to make a great novel. Simmons' sucess is owed to his tremendous talent in crafting compeling characters and telling each of their stories in their voice. The varrious stories within the novel run the gambit from 19th century gothic to dime store detective. Each is well done and would stand alone as an excellent story. I suppose in many ways, this novel (the first and second are the best in the series) are all that this genre aspires to be -- readable, compeling, and intellectually evocative.
Rating:
Summary: If you dismiss Sci-Fi as minor genre, this will change you
Review: Even if Hyperion has all the in and outs of a classical Sci-Fi novel, is much more than that. Is the story of seven pilgrims trying to arrive to a particular shrine in a journey full of dangers, but at the same time is the life story of each of them. These personal recounts dig deep into essential human questions. Religious faith and on what basis is sustained is indagated. One from a Catholic priest view point, in the verge of loosing his faith, one from a Jew intellectual confronted with God commandment to sacrifice his daughter. Just these two stories will be enough to recommend the book, but there is a lot more, much more to enjoy. The life of a decadent poet and his struggle to find his muse at whatever cost. A detective's story mixed with John Keats restored to life. All this elements skillfully mixed in a page-turner Sci-Fi adventure. One of the best novels I ever read.
Rating:
Summary: A Sci Fi Classic
Review: The first in a series of four books (you must read all of them for full plot resolution), Hyperion is a crisply written, masterful beginning to a tour-de-force of the best new hard science fiction universe since Dune. While elements of it will remind you of many other works, the whole is a fresh and imaginative universe, developed in intricate detail. Some of the topics go so far beyond typical sci fi they approach the philosophical, but some of the early mysteries (such as the nature of the Shrike) are later (mostly) explained. And some of the Blake references will be of interest to the more literary. When I finally finished the fourth book, I wanted to start all over again; it was the same sort of regret felt when the Lord of the Rings was finished (alas there's no more?). This series will be a sci fi classic, indeed it already is. If you are a fan of hard science fiction, Hyperion and its sequels are required reading.
Rating:
Summary: Great Sci-fi
Review: Many of the less-than-flattering reviews of this book are centered around the ending (or lack there of). Certainly, not much is resolved in this book. But the six stories told by the main characters (blended with a "current" plot-line) are such superb sci-fi and such superb writing that it hardly matters that one needs to read another volume for some resolution. In fact I'm looking forward to it. This is one of the best sci-fi works I've ever read (in 30 years of reading sci-fi). Do yourself a favor... read this one.
Rating: 
Summary: An anti-climax to an otherwise engaging story.
Review: This book is mainly comprised of the tales told by each of the characters as they travel to the enigmatic planet of Hyperion, home of the fearsome Shrike, a god/demon who can manipulate time. Each of the tales is engrossing and very moving, however the larger tale of the pilgrimage to Hyperion in quest of the Shrike is unsatisfying because of the ambiguous non-ending which is an obvious ploy to get you to read the sequel. I believe that Hyperion should have had enough story to make it a stand alone novel, if that meant another 100 pages, then so be it. Because of the ending I deduct not one, but two stars since I feel it's a grave offense to the reader. Even so, I do recommend the novel for the original story and epic scale as well as the memorable characters.
Rating: 
Summary: The first and the last book from this author I will read
Review: The book started quite ok. But the end is just a terrible disaster that was probably caused by the fact, that the author was starving and he had to give just "SOMETHING" to his agent so he would get some money for some food... It is obvoius that the book starts with a nice idea in authors mind. It is divided into 6 stories and the first few are excelently written. But when you get to about 2/3 of the book, one of the main characters dies (quite probably because the book is getting to thick for 7 stories). The last story looks like the author was in such a hurry, that instead of working on the story, he just substitued his "preliminary version of the text with his own comments". The last story is written in simple words the way a first grade kid would do it. My comment: he really must have been hungry to release that book... The worst thing (this made me to rate it with 1 star instead of 2 stars) is that the book does not end. It is not even open end book. It simply does not end - as if you bought the book with last 20 pages missing. Is this an attempt to make the buyer also buy the sequel? Well then I am not going to buy the sequel, because there is quite a high probability the part II will end or better to say fail to end the same way. I still have to give the author some credit (that is the reason for at least one star) for giving us some insight in the way people look at the world: "whatever can place us as humanity on its menu (even potentialy) has to die - and that applies for tigers and lions as well as for any extraterestrials".
Rating:
Summary: Sci-Fi as literature
Review: Hyperion is a first rate sci-fi extravaganza as well as a tribute to the poet, John Keats. Throughout this novel (and also in The Fall of Hyperion, the sequel), homage is paid to this great (and tragically short-lived) english poet. From overt references such as the name of the planet Hyperion and the names of it's cities, there are also many characters in this novel based on acquaintances of the real life Keats (e.g. Joseph Severn, an artist friend of Keats & Leigh Hunt (based on James Henry Leigh Hunt, a poet friend of Keats and Byron). Even Brawne Lamia, one of the pilgrims in this novel is, in a way, also a Keats creation (Lamia being the name of a book of poems Keats composed). An obviously well read and intelligent Dan Simmons has, IMHO, created literature with this work. I won't go into plot details as this has already been done very well by previous reviewers, but I will say that this novel is one of the most interesting & moving I have read in the last 20 years (having recently become a proud father of a beautiful baby girl, I became misty-eyed on more than one occasion as the story of Sol & Rachel unfolded). The only consolation I had when I (sadly) finished this novel was that I had The Fall of Hyperion (an excellent continuation of the tale started in Hyperion) right next to me.
Rating:
Summary: Rich imagery -- but ultimately not gratifying
Review: I enjoyed this novel (at least until the end), and found that I had to finish it in a single sitting. But I won't read the rest in the series. On the good side: -Great opportunities for reader's visual imagination -Interesting nexus of science and religion -Varied stories - though they do tend to emphasize loss On the bad side: -The book's ending. I'm really tired of books that can't tell a story in a volume. This book has no climax; essentially we're left with clues about what it's all been about. And, of course, we receive an invitation to read the next volume. I don't mind multi-volume epics, but I want gratification from each volume, not just a promise that there might be some in the next volume. I won't read the next volumes in the hope that they will deliver on that promise.
Rating: 
Summary: One long story in four parts.
Review: Before you start reading, be known that this story is complete only when all four volumes are read. In rebuttal to the reader from brookside: Yes, the central theme is about loss, but all of human life is about loss. Joy is only found as a counterpoint to pain. When fall in love, you risk your lover leaving you. When you love your child, you risk them outgrowing you. When you love your dog, you do so knowing it won't live more that ten or so years. The first volume brings together a varied group of pilgrims each seeking to either regain the lost component of their lives or find new purpose; One way or another, they have all sunk so low as to think nothing of facing the supernatural killing machine known as the Shrike. The story is told with vivid imagery, a well constructed universe, and elements to please all. The characters are believable, while still feeling like the archtyes from The Canterbury Tales. And finally, noting can beat the finale at the end of the Rise of Endymion.
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