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Summary: Awe and Humanity
Review: This is not a book for those who only like hard-core science fiction. Simmons will challenge your basic assumptions about the cosmos, will fill your mind with awesome mental images, and grip you with fascinating tales of adventure and sadness. This is a book you will either love or hate -- and you'll know which before you get far into it.
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Summary: Best fiction work yet written in any genre
Review: For those who have already read it, "Hyperion is Cantos". For the rest of you:Hyperion is full of awe-inspiring concepts, brilliantly rich and real characters, flawless historical and technical accuracy cunningly woven together with broad-ranging philosophy... I could go on. Suffice to write, I have read only three books more than once...this I have read four times. Please read this book! In centuries to come it will be seen as one of the literary acheivements of this century.
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Summary: This book rules!
Review: This is the first book in the greatest sci-fi series in the history of the world. If I had time, I would rather read this again and again than shaking hands with the president. And, I would rate this book as better than sinking the titanic, visiting the Oval Office, or supersizing the Big Mac. Thank you, Mister Simmons, for giving me a reason to live.
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Summary: A very well written, thought provoking book-Exceptional!
Review: Hyperion is one of the best science fiction works I have read, yet I think that it transcends genre and would appeal to those who are not fans of science fiction/fantasy. The stories (of the pilgrims) and characters are very well written and blend together well to make a thought provoking story that will tug at your imagination long after you have set the book down. Some readers will have to work to get through the technical aspects and "get it," but it is well worth the effort. This is not a book that anyone should attempt to "coast" through. The older I get, the less I have found appealing in the SF&F genre. If story plot and characters are not all above average, the SF&F elements seem silly and leave me with a tinge of embarrassment to be reading the book. In fact, with the exception of Julian May's Intervention/Galatic Milieu series, I have not been a particular fan of the genre since I was a teenager. This novel is an exception. The! re are some dark elements in this work. Looking at some of the negative reviews of this book (which seem to be few but extreme), I think that if you cannot tolerate questions to your religious or moral beliefs, you may find it lacking. The characters are not all sweetness and light, but shades of grey. The future world as written is not particularly optimistic, but Mr. Simmons' descriptions of this world are filled with such beauty that it balances out the grim outlook and makes it a place you will gladly be immersed in. I would highly recommend this book!
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Summary: Hyperion an excellent read
Review: I read this book on a cross country trip from the midwest to California. I liked it so much, I missed most of the scenery. I simply could NOT put it down! It's interesting to read so many varied critiques of this book. It seems most of the bad reviews have to do with 'unsavory characters' and the fact that the book doesn't finish in one volume. Well, life is full of unsavory characters and this actually lends some realism to the book. This is one of the ways a writer can 'suspend disbelief'. Hyperion is a story about the CHARACTERS - not about the shrike or technology. It is their interaction and relationships which drive the story. As to the book not finishing in one volume, this did not dissuade me at all. Dune, Foundation, Lord of the Rings - they obviously did not end in ONE volume. After reading the first story, it became VERY obvious the novel would require a sequel. And if you don't like this sort of thing, you're not going to like William Faulkner ! either! Stories go on after you finish reading them anyway. Funny how life is the same way. A novel is a slice of time - not the whole pie. I enjoyed Hyperion. It is science fiction/horror/fantasy that entertains. And in the midst of the entertainment, Simmons raises religious and technological issues which stimulate you to consider your own place in the world you inhabit. It may not be for everybody, but almost...
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Summary: A universe which is more real than reality!
Review: Rarely, a writer manages to create a universe and characters which are so completely realized, so intensely involving, and so compelling, that it can be hard, after reading about them, to segue back to reality. Dan Simmons has managed to do just that. While alluding to Keats and Chaucer, among other literary giants, he works on so many levels that the reader becomes lost in the world he creates, a fascinating world which I, for one, found hard to leave. This book works on an intellectual level as a commentary on religion, as well as on a simple adventure level. I have read a lot, and I can easily say this is my favorite book. Read the whole tetralogy - it is amazing!
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Summary: Good Book, but not for me
Review: I tried reading Hyperion, but couldn't make it through the first Chapter. I could tell it was well written, but it wasn't for me. I really like Dan Simmons, but I lean more towards his horror, which easily exceeds Stephen King's in my eye. I would suggest Summer of Night to anyone who feels the same way as I do about his books.
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Summary: Amazing
Review: A wonderfully dense and poetic apocalyptic vision
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Summary: If I had $100 million, I'd use it to make Hyperion a movie
Review: Hyperion and its sequels have no equals. As the founder of the leading Internet VR company putting science fiction properties on the net, I find myself thinking about ideas in the book several times a day. I have hired people based on their comments regarding the book. Every person reading this review is probably on the net, so I'd say BUY THE BOOK RIGHT NOW. Why? I just don't think people will get the vast potential of the net that is under construction without reading the Hyperion series. Also, the Hyperion saga is FILLED WITH BILLION DOLLAR IDEAS that scream to be manifested in this world. At the moment, I am developing a satellite IP company, based in part on the inspiration of the farcaster network, as well as putting together designs for wearable technology inspired in part by the cruciforms. This world has become more wonderful and magical because of Simmon's fabulous articulated imagination, and I look forward to making friends with anyone and everyone who has also been inspired by Hyperion. When I finished the Rise of Endymion, I cried to think that there wasn't another book in the series. Please, Dan Simmons, keep writing. Please, reader of this review, write me and tell me how the Hyperion universe insprire(d) you. Thanks! Alex Lightman
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Summary: A little inside info
Review: I really enjoyed this novel when I read it several years ago. For any big fans I have a little inside info for you. In Hyperion Mr.Simmons mentions a small liberal arts collge on a cornfield planet(the planets name escapes me). This college actually exists, on earth. The place is Wabash College in Indiana.
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