Rating: 
Summary: Sequel to confronting a monster
Review: Dan Simmons continues the story of the 7 pilgrims sent to confront a monster. The story broadens from the perspective of the pilgrims to humanity as a whole, and does it well. Although "Fall of" does not shine like the "Hyperion" precursor in sheer writing genius, the storyline carries the novel with more points of view, surprising nuances and technological deception. It also brings faith and religion into the story, giving a hope for the salvation of humanity against incredible forces and a surprising enemy.Again, the reader is left yearning for the conclusion, and running to purchase the next book in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than Hyperion
Review: This book is not for those with short attention spans. It has multiple, complex plots which fold in upon one another. The book takes effort to understand but the effort is worth it. The author, Dan Simmons, has a clean writing style that lends itself to helping the reader along.
Rating: 
Summary: Too hyped
Review: Boring,pretentious,absolutely devoid of humour,another heavy tome on the topic "when A.I. shall take over mankind". A shriking crucimorph. If you want good Science Fiction read The Pliocene/Galactic Milieu series of Julian May, the Otherland Saga
of Tad Williams or the Night Dawn Trilogy of Peter F. Hamilton.
Rating: 
Summary: A Little Bit of a Letdown
Review: I have already praised Dan Simmons in my review of Hyperion. It is clear that he is intelligent and has a knack for blending things together. I wanted to say this to remind the reader that though the majority of my comments are negative, it is only because I had such high expectations after Hyperion. Hyperion was incredibly original and well-constructed. There is a hint of innovation in the Fall of Hyperion, but this seems primarily a shallow mask for the necessary linearity of the novel. This is basically the conclusion to Hyperion, where Simmons has to explain everything that was introduced in the other book. And if you read Hyperion, you have to read this book, no matter what. I should not be able to convince you otherwise and will not attempt to do so. I guess what annoyed me most about this book was the amazing complexity. It must have taken a lot of effort to put this together, but you wonder if maybe Simmons added too many layers. Things brushed over in one chapter could be the subject of entire books. Explanations were hasty and fairly uncreative. Typically, an author reveals elements about the universe through the story without flat out telling it to the reader, making the reader become aware of things without him/her knowing that it was the author's intent. However, in Simmons' rush to cram so much information into this one novel, I felt like he was talking to me and not telling a story. Furthermore, it was very strange at some points. You expect a science fiction novel to be weird, but some of the stuff in here was really weird. My advice is to accept it and move on, even if it seems absurd to the point of stupidity. Overall, I would say that the pace at the beginning is normal, but towards the end is just a blur. Revelations and curveballs come from leftfield to reach the conclusion. Still, the story is solid, and any reader of Hyperion will not be more than mildly disappointed, if disappointed at all.
Rating:
Summary: A real let-down...
Review: I really liked the first book. I thought it was extremely original, literate, and well-written, with good atmosphere and a great aura of mystery. The second book, "The Fall of Hyperion", just seems so *ordinary* in contrast. I've read a hundred other books just like it, all equally forgettable. By the time I reached the last third of the book, I was already completely disinterested. Threw it in the trash when I was done. I won't be reading the next one, cause I just don't care. I'm not saying it's a terrible book... just terribly average.
Rating:
Summary: Very good, but not as good as _Hyperion_
Review: Although the pilgrims' stories are wrapped up, in some cases a little too neatly, the book remains largely unsatisfying. Simmons had a lot to live up to based on _Hyperion_, and some measure of disappointment is to be expected. Besides that, though, this book was way too wordy for my tastes. The book simply ran on too long and went into too much detail. Simmons could have saved about 100 pages and managed his readers' interest level better with some judicious editing. Also, infuriatingly, Simmons again misused the word "penultimate" (see page 419) -- this *has* to be an inside joke or something he's doing for a reason! All in all, though, _The Fall of Hyperion_ is still head and shoulders above most science fiction and I'd recommend this installation as well.
Rating:
Summary: A Sequel That Is Much Different, Yet As Good
Review: The Fall of Hyperion takes the pilgrims, last seen in Dan Simmon's Hyperion telling their Canterbury type tales on their way to a demented Oz, and opens up their stories and lives, in much the way the Time Tombs opens up in the novel. This novel is structered in a more traditional narrative manner but soars on its layers of complexity and riveting characters, particularly the CEO Gladstone fleshed out fully and wonderfully in this novel, among the many fascinating characters. Occasionally the story veers slightly into a new age viewpoint but an edge is added with humour to keep any of these moments from becoming mushy. These two books together form a wonderfully rich science fiction classic that moves from religion to politics to science to fantasy to noir fiction to poetry and back again. A worthwhile journey.
Rating:
Summary: What a let down
Review: After reading Hyperion, I was so excited and eager that I picked up the sequel as soon as I could find it and prepared for an all-night session. Well, needless to say, I was sorely let down. The characters that were so well developed in Hyperion became exagerated and unrealistic. The style of writing also seemed to lack the same quality as it had previously. I found myself skimming through many of the pages because the descriptions were redundant. I also think that Simmons wasted a lot of time recapping what happened in Hyperion. Also (and this has been a pet peeve of mine) I just want to know why, oh WHY do they keep drawing the Shrike that way?? Every description of him says that he has FOUR arms. Not two. I know that has nothing to do with the story itself, but I had to vent my annoyance somewhere. :-) Though I have much criticism for the book, I do also have praise. Simmons reveals a plot so orginal and intricate that he has to get three stars for orginality alone. I do wish he explained it more however. I had to re-read some passages just to understand what was going on. In fact, I'm not quite sure I figured it out yet.
Rating:
Summary: Hurry up with the explaining and...
Review: I have no real complaints about the end to the first half of the Hyperion series. Well, one. The author cannot handle sad endings, it seems. I should not get too much into that, as it will spoil things for too many people. The story picks up where it left off, but this time told specifically through the eyes of a new character: another ressurected John Keats who is somehow linked to the pilgrims on Hyperion. He himself has been summoned to the seat of power in the Hegemony to create the portorait of the hegemony CEO, but winds up being her advisor as well. Having our vantage cast across a huge space and involving characters from almost every aspect of the Hyperion universe, we get a great deal of information about what is happening before the end. Save, of course, for the Shrike. But this is no doubt being saved for later. The story itself is engaging and is good at pulling the reader along. If you want to discover the fate of the seven (and more) from Hyperion, read on.
Rating:
Summary: A solid sequel
Review: The Fall of Hyperion is the sequel to Hyperion. Hyperion, which you should read before diving into Fall, is a wonderful novel containing six independent and fantastic novelettes. After finishing it I knew that it would be difficult for the sequel to even match it and in my opinion Simmons doesn't quite make it. It's close though. Fall answers many of the questions you surely had at the end of Hyperion. You know, all the confusion you felt about the Shrike, the Ousters, the Time Tombs, Rachel and her Merlin's sickness, the Keats cybrid persona, the Templar's erg, etc. Most of it is explained, though you may find some of the explanations unsatisfactory because they're wacky! The quality of Fall's narrative isn't quite as exquisite as that of some of the stories in Hyperion, but it largely makes up for that by providing the big picture that Hyperion lacked. Although Hyperion hinted at important political forces such as the three factions within the Technocore or the impact of the Consul's treachery on the Ousters, the novel focused mostly on the planet Hyperion and its enigmas. In contrast, Fall takes a much wider view of events and about half the novel takes place in other parts of the Web (and even beyond). Fall's main asset is the riveting story told in the context of this wider setting. Events on the planet Hyperion itself are often disjointed and unclear; it's the offworld action that saves this book and nearly elevates it to the prequel's level. At the end I still had a few major plot questions (and I'm currently reading the sequel Endymion to hopefully resolve those), but nothing compared to the number of unanswered riddles the first book ends with. This series would provide great material for lively debate with your sci-fi and fantasy friends, similar to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Simmons really impressed me with Fall and I hope that Endymion continues the trend of providing a great alternate reality to explore. Highly recommended!
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