Hyperion

Rating:
Summary: literature to the core
Review: what amazed me the most about this excellent sci-fi novel is the variety of levels at which it could be read: war, spies, political intrigue, religious quest, travel and exploration, adventure .... I was especially awed by all the references to, and the obvious love and passion for, literature.These literary references are found in the very core and structure of the novel, since the main characters are pilgrims that tell their stories (Chaucer anyone?) while they travel in the planet of Hyperion, whose most important city is Keats (Romantics anyone?). It goes without saying that the better you know your literary classics, the more you will enjoy this aspect of the novel--and I think this aspect does not remain in the superficial level of witty names and situations, but goes deeper in the plot and structure to say something about the significance of these literary works. This doesn't mean that Hyperion cannot be read, too , and mainly, as an excellen sci-fi work that explores in a very intelligent way, some of the most important moral issues of our culture. Mind you, the story does not finish in this book.

Rating:
Summary: This is it
Review: The last great sci-fi novel? Could be, I have never read anything approaching it since. I also recomend you pick up a book of greek and roman mythology. The series gets its character names from there.

Rating:
Summary: Good beginning
Review: This is a good beginning to this series. Basically 6 flashbacks to set the stage for the next book. Obviously some stories are better then others. Some ideas in the book were just way too unrealistic but then the next story would recapture my attention.
The last 100 pages is captivating and will force you to purchase the next segment. Overall a good entertaining book.

Rating:
Summary: Worth the price just for "Remembering Siri"
Review: "Hyperion" is patterned after the incomplete epic poems by John Keats,"Hyperion" and "The Fall of Hyperion" which center on the struggle between the Titans such as Saturn, Uranus and Hyperion and the gods of Greek mythology, Apollo, Zeus et al. Simmons uses this theme of struggle to great effect in the interplay between human-kind, a race of AI's known as the Techno Core, the ruling Hegemony and the Ousters (essentially genetically enhanced humans). It's truly grand space opera.

Despite my fascination of the space operatic interplay between the large scale elements of novel, I invariably turn first to The Consul's Tale (also published as "Remembering Siri"), a story of lost love and youthful rebellion against empire. While such a plot might not seem adequate to distinguish this particular story from many other ostensibly similar such stories, it is the telling that makes the difference. Likewise, it is the telling of and weaving of the stories of the other pilgrims into the space opera that make this one of the most memorable science fiction works I've ever read and I've read it several times.

In addition to the Consul, another favorite character is Ummon, an AI from the Techno Core, one of the Titans to be toppled. The scenes with Ummon are spectacular, the following excerpts (which are not spoilers) are among my favorite:

Ummon of the Core AI: [And have you learned/taken to your spirit/unlearned anything from this]

Johnny, the First Keats Cybrid: -- It is hard to die. Harder to live.

Ummon: [Are you/ Brawne Lamia/ the layers of self-replicating/ self-deprecating/ self-amusing proteins between the layers of clay]
...
Ummon: [Yes/ I am Ummon of the Core/AI\\ Your fellow slow-time creature here knows/ remembers/takes me unto his heart this\\ Time is short\\ One of you must die here now\\ One of you must learn here now\\ Ask your questions]

Johnny: -- Why was I murdered? Why was my cybrid destroyed, my Core persona attacked?

Ummon: [When you meet a swordsman/ meet him with a sword\\ Do not offer a poem to anyone but a poet]

With this Gibson meets his master!

Rating:
Summary: A superlative effort of science fiction originality.
Review: Hyperion is a book that needs to be experienced to be appreciated fully. Trying to explain the different layers folded on top of each other and how the various stories within the story relate to each other would require as many pages as there are in the book.

Dan Simmons creates a novel so original and captivating that it doesn't matter that you don't get most of the answers to the book's puzzles by the end. Simmons story is mysterious and imaginative and passionate. As questions get answered more questions develop from those answers. Hyperion makes you realize why people referred to things that they could not understand as magic. When Simmons reveals his tricks though, you aren't disappointed, instead you are even more fascinated.

Characters are vibrant, you feel their pain and loss. The way Simmons intertwines their stories together and links their past, present and future is masterful. The sum of their remarkable individual stories adds up to an incredible whole.

The sequel The Fall Of Hyperion is almost a required read after you finish this book.

Rating:
Summary: Last of the GREAT SF Novels.
Review: Dan Simmons is just like a precious few other writers capable of writing superb all-round fiction. That is Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction. Well, maybe not Fantasy. If you like a mix of Horror and SF you are about to make one of your best purchases.
Buy this book. Tastes/reads like some horrific cocktail.
As you probably know, many modern novels suffer from a particular nasty syndrome: long and boring. This one is immune to that disease.
_Borrows_ concept of The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales; seperate shorter stories creating one whole story {sketchy summary}. Within boundaries of SF: Tuf Voyaging of GRRM. Latter is going to be reprinted, don't you worry.
All stories feature a different style. You might be tempted to think that some stories are not to your liking. Don't.
Of course, I have my favorites, but some other reviewer said that this whole novel is worth the purchase for one particular story. He/she is right. If it would have been published in Asimov's or some other genre magazine it would have walked away with a Hugo and/or Nebula. Find out which one it is. Keep it as a surprise for yourself. It's that good. Others are fine too. That's an understatement.
What more to say? It's Space Opera. Second in the series is in my opinion even better. You don't have to read the whole series of course, but trust me, at the end of this book you'll be craving for more. It delivers by means of sequels. Best to have the option, isn't it?
It has the Shrike. That says it all.
One more thing: You ought to read it if you haven't yet done so already.
Another versatile writer is GRRM. {that's George R.R. Martin}
Please start with Simmons. Martin is a better writer though. That's why you should start here.
OK, all the above mentioned is my opinion only.
Happy reading! I'm not tricking you in some pile of...._insert bad word_
Oh, in case you're wondering about the title of this review: The nineties are real short on good SF novels. The new century too. They win Hugo's, they are probably worth it too, but they do not come close to this.

Rating:
Summary: Well-Planned and Beautifully Blended
Review: There is a little of everything in Hyperion. You can tell this from the inside cover, whereby it is revealed that characters representing their respective groups (i.e. priest, scholar, etc.) are all thrown together. The core of the book is made up by each character telling his or her story. The beauty comes from how Simmons relates everything to this planet called Hyperion. Know that you will have to buy the next book to finish the tale, because this book seems to end right where the present story is about to start.

There are a only a few things that I didn't like about the novel. First of all, you must understand that a lot of the world is thrown at you early. You are thrown in the deep end of this universe and expected to learn to swim quickly. However, the lack of a proper introduction to this universe is compensated for by the drastic amount of characterization. Simmons makes you care dearly for every single character, even the least likeable of the bunch. The other thing that I didn't like was that it seemed to borrow some of the basic space and transportation ideas from other science fiction books. There are some sci-fi cliches that can get tiresome if you're not a huge fan of the genre, but they don't take away too much.

Those things being said, I must confess that I am amazed by the style. Simmons impresses me with his different tone and style for every story and the overall flow of the novel. I will say that my favorite story is the one about the poet, and I think it is because it is the one inspired by Simmons the most. It is the anthem for any writer. Sometimes it seems like Simmons is showing off about how much he knows of writers and history, but I must admit it works. His knowledge is there and his intelligence brings the book together. I recommend the novel to any science fiction fans or even fans of literature that don't mind getting their hands dirty with a little genre fiction.

Rating:
Summary: It doesn't get any better than this.
Review: Recently, as I was looking across my bookshelves, I noticed four dominant themes. In descending order: non-fiction, science fiction, metaphysical, classic literature. I pulled books randomly off the shelves and looking at the covers tried to remember what was in them. Almost all pulled a blank, even critically acclaimed Clarke, Asimov, and Bear books that I remember from the covers as being a good read, but now I can't recall a single detail. Niven, Le Guin, Haldeman and Pynchon, somewhat better. Homer's Odyssey fairly well. But most of us who read the Dune sagas and/or the Lord of the Rings trilogy + one find we have very vivid memories of them, even after 25 years, or more. The Hyperion - Endymion series by Dan Simmons is better than these two, even more inventive (and convincing) than either. It beats Herbert's creation of a multi-world civilization, and also Tolkien's fantastic array of creatures. It is more than wheels within wheels of political intrigue, and it goes far beyond one simple-but-nobly-heroic pilgrim's quest to save a world. It is many pilgrim's inter-related quests to save a space-wide civilization so vast, yet so intricately entwined, seeming so strange, but built upon the brilliantly-extended familiar. And the technology that glues the whole thing (The All-Thing) together is a concept so.... seductive. Christianity revitalized, mobilizing an army of a new definition of Born-Again Christians (guaranteed to be unlike anything you think of by that term) vies with The Church of the Final Atonement, worshippers of the Lord of Pain for the position of dominant faith. Space travel, Time travel and the Lord of Pain Itself, a terrifying creature that moves through both as one dimension making a Guild Navigator seem as inefficient as sending an Orc to do a Balrog's job, silently but certainly determining and molding the fate of a civilzation one person at a time(frame) that cannot even conceive of what It is, though that civilization's very existence is only possible through the (apparent) benificence of It's creators. This destroyer/creator's actions are not pre-determined, but instead are reactive to the free-will choices and actions of the central cast of characters, who are often at odds with each other. And this stochastic dance on the knife's edge between existence and never-having-occurred only happens because one faction within The All-Thing trinity (which exists in no space or time) won out over the other two, giving the creatures of space and time the chance of saving their reality, but only by hazarding the existence of The All-Thing itself.

A major motion picture could never capture the detail, and even five or six would probably fail, as they would lack the time-continuity necessary. But if the Sci-Fi Channel would do a mini-series on it lasting at least four weeks (20 episodes or more) it would be a stunning thing in the memories of multitudes, instead of the relatively few who read.

Rating:
Summary: Captivating, Original
Review: Hyperion has to be one of the most original and entertaining science fiction works of the past 50 years. It contains enough unique concepts and plots to fill five books. I liked the way the book adopts the structure and premise of the Canterbury Tales, and this is one aspect of the story has led me to recommend it to professors and other literary-minded types. The Shrike is an unforgettable villain, and all the characters are interesting and well fleshed out. I will definetely be reading the other books in the series. I didn't even mind the cliffhanger ending, which seems to be one of the major complaints about Hyperion. My only real problem stems from the fact that the book seems to be technologically inconsistent. It seems to me that if in the future we have developed such things as thought translators, "farcasters" (instant planet-to-planet travel), drugs which can send your mind back in time through your memory, reincarnation, food synthesizers, human clones, and fully human cyborgs, we would not be living in the same types of structures, using the same languages, or have civilizations as recognizable as the ones in this book. Similarly, there are too many references to "Old Earth" which is a trap that a lot of science fiction authors fall in to which tends to detract from the illusion that we are reading about the future. I still think Hyperion is well worth reading and my complaints are more or less just nitpicks. If you are looking for a one of a kind sci fi work which is almost up to par with Dune on the originality scale, check out Hyperion.

Rating:
Summary: simply the best science fiction novel I've ever read
Review: And I've read many. It may be the best of any genre. I couldn't stop reading until i reached the end of the 4th book, i wanted to know what the answers to the questions set up in this first book so badly. And this complex first book is still my favorite, ive never read anything so ORIGINAL, it cannot be catergorized, it is a genre in itself. actually it blends many genres and subgenres of scifi. Unlike the following volumes its set up like a book of short stories that each tell the story of one pilgrim(like canterbury tales, im told). I was so mystified by the Shrike, what is it? ive never seen a like character in any book before. What are the labyrinths? Where do the Bakura come from? What happpen to Earth? Simmons is a master of creating a sense of MYSTERY. You may have alittle trouble at first since simmons makes up alot of the language himself but getting to know the lingo of the 27th century is part of the fun. Read this book if its the last book you ever read , its a masterpiece and im a very critical person.