Rating: 
Summary: Fair Ending to an Excellent Saga
Review: This eagerly awaited finale to to the Hyperion Saga provides much closure with a few inconsistancies. Simmons continues with his great descriptions of wonderful worlds--but there seems to be little more left to write about.
The ending is somewhat predictable, as well as somewhat contrived--but every story must have an end, and the better the series gets, the harder it is to close.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellently crafted (if somewhat predictable) SciFi
Review: M. Simmons' finale to the Hyperion saga is
staggering in scope, and I am astounded
with his ability to pull off such an enormously
complicated plot without sacrificing
character development or emotional clarity.
Both the "Fall of Hyperion" and "Endymion"
come close to 'Rise' in complexity, but not since
the landmark "Hyperion" have I read
such beautifully rendered characters, so easy
to identify with. Many writers give you
heroes to cheer, but how many times does your
skin crawl when you realize you're empathizing
with the 'villians?'
The only hesitation I have with rating this effort
a ten is that too many of the pivitol moments
of the plot can be predicted early in the book,
which takes away from the suspense. Specifically,
the baby's father, the identity of the observer,
the template for the Shrike, and Aenea's fate.
Nit-picking aside, this is one of the most
powerful series-concluding novels I have ever read.
I find it difficult to imagine there will be many
novels released this year so deserving
of a Hugo nomination.
Rating:
Summary: A great ending to a wonderful series!
Review: The Rise of Endymion is like a powerful looking glass that reflects back on the entire series and peeks behind the curtain to show the motives and meanings in the characters and plotlines.
With this book Dan Simmons completes a circle that encompasses space and time and love. This is a story that takes you to places beyond wonder, that focuses on ideas bigger than the imagination and journeys to the center of the human heart. Anyone who's had the pleasure of reading the other Hyperion books will certainly get this one, but to anyone else who just stumbled here by mistake:Do yourself a favor and buy this book and don't forget to read the other three first (Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion and Endymion)
Rating:
Summary: Simmons has done it again!
Review: what a book! WHAT a BOOK
Rating:
Summary: An Astoundingly Strong Finish
Review: As great as the three preceding novels in Dan Simmons' Hyperion series were, this final installment makes all of them pale in comparison. Here, at last, all of the loose ends, not just from Endymion, but from the Hyperion Cantos as well, are brought back together to form a conclusion that is riveting, heartbreaking, hopeful, and joyous in turn. And that's just the last half of the book. Throughout the first half, we again are treated to the fruit of Simmons' gifts for beautiful prose, incredible characterization, and well-conceived plot. It also shows us what's at the real heart of the series: Simmons' philosophy of Love, as embodied by Aenea. This last novel's style is, yet again, a fairly sharp departure from that of any of the rest of the series. We don't have the broad, sweeping "Canterbury Tales" feeling of the Hyperion Cantos, nor are we involved in an interstellar game of chase like Endymion. Instead, the book is much more thoughtful and deliberate. Simmons' directly addresses some of the nagging questions from the series, such as the relationship between the evil church and its not-necessarily evil religious roots and the fate of good people deceived into working towards detestable ends. While there is certainly plenty of action and fast paced adventure, Aenea's teachings are the focus, and that reflective tone permeates the novel. However, atop all of this thinking and philosophy, we still have an intricate plot to keep us entertained. We finally see the fruition of the Raul-Aenea romance foretold in Endymion, with all its accompanying emotional bumps, and naturally, the Church, along with its inhuman Core counterparts, is still out hunting for Aenea's head. Don't forget, Raul still has to somehow complete Martin Selinus' Herculean tasks. It all makes for an exciting ride, indeed. If you've read the other Hyperion novels, read this last part immediately. If you haven't, read them, then read this as soon as you can. And whatever you do, take the plot as it comes; there are some enormous twists towards the end, and you will hate yourself if you spoil them beforetime.
Rating: 
Summary: the deux ex machina
Review: In theory, I love Sci-Fi and all of the imagining that must be brought into it and all of the lush worlds and catalysts for future imagination that can be gleaned from it. In practice, though, SciFi is often pretty awful. One of the biggest reasons for this, for me at least, is the tendency for the author of a SciFi story to create a spectacular world that is only partially thought out.
At first viewing, the uniqueness of reading about a new or advanced world is engrossing. But, aside from the coolness of the first visit, most of the excitement for this new world is in learning how it all works. And when you find that the world doesn't 'work', it's all the more disappointing.
Something similar can probably be said for fans of great architecture--the fluttering of the heart resulting from seeing a spectacular building belies an anticipation for an even greater fluttering once they are shown what genious of engineering it is that keeps the building standing.
But, like a tricksy architect, Simmons, in these last two parts to his 'Cantos', takes the spectacular facade of Hyperion 1 and 2 and shows the reader that the whole universe is made up of the existential equivalent of mystic particle board and foam rubber.
And instead of having everything come together, or even instead of leaving some threads still open in a way that things could make sense in their own context, Simmons pulls the old Deux Ex Machina, so loved by the Greeks and screenplay writers of Star Trek, creating some kind of mystical telepathic, transgalactic psychic teleportation, basically solving everything via 12 easy steps using everyone's hidden extradimensional powers.
It's almost a shame he didn't also go on to expound on the healing powers of crystals.
And there's so many instances of this that it's not even worth listing. Of course the biggest is the Shrike, whose purpose seems less mysterious than confused.
I first read this book because I enjoyed Ilium (and I'm still looking forward to Olympos). But, if you want some good, hard SciFi sans cheap supernatural plot-hole fixer uppers (which don't actually fix any holes but do end the story), check out John Wright's sweet "Golden Age" trilogy.
On a side note (and I'm not being original in this last complaint because I've read it elsewhere), what is the deal with lapis lazuli? From what I understand of it, it's a violet-blue rock. Yet, apparently for Simmons, the need to put lapis lazuli, or for those in a rush, lapis, to page is more important to storytelling than the use of some of the more popular linking verbs. Verbs like 'is'. Hell, in reading the teaser first ten pages of 'Olympos' I already caught at least one lapis. Is Simmons on a bet with somebody (kind of like the meow bet in Super Troopers)? I mean, this guy's a great writer. What's the deal with the rock? Does anybody else see this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
Rating: 
Summary: Stick to the First two Books; Stay Clear of This
Review: This book marks the dissappointing conclusion to a series that started with much promise. I recommend the first two books of the series; steer clear of the rest.
'Hyperion's collections of tales were quite good and work up to a nice climax that brought the drama into the next book. The 'Fall of Hyperion', while it left several plot threads hanging, more then made up for that in added drama and emotion. It was even better then its predecessor. But 'Endymion' and, even more, the 'Rise of Endymion' are awful, awful, awful.
The good point first: The author deserves credit for the fact that, in his last book, his messiah's aims are one you might not agree with, i.e. his perspective is thought provoking. An argument can be made that his messiah is actually evil. The bad guys may be using evil means for ends that are potentially worthy. The hero by contrast, uses nobel means and engages in New Testament-evoking suffering to get to ambiguous goals. It's all in your point of view. I thought the authors vision of the future of humanity was interesting in that sense and his perspective on what is the common thread of humanity was worthy of much thought and scratched at the surface about what can be great in science fiction. To bad about the rest of it though...
There are several issues, with this work. First, the plot is plodding and, most damning, often borderline incoherent. Many threads either do not make sense or just are out there. Some threads are never really resolved, such as the motivation of the Shrike.
Second, and related to the first point, the very strange universe the author creates and the belief system he posits is an awful mix of new-agey beliefs mixed with some variant of Catholicism. It is useful to note here that the first of the new 'Star Wars' failed in its mix of hokey religion and psuedo science - when the 'Force' was changed from the life force of the universe into some measurable bacteria reading. The problem here is similar. This book compares negatively to earlier works in this genre, particularly 'A Canticle for Lebowitz' (another work that brings science fiction and Catholicism together).
Third, the books boldly attempt to reinterpret the earlier pieces of the series. Had it worked such a revision would have been compelling. But it failed completely.
Fourth, the writing style. In short, the book is fairly boring. Major pieces of the story are told in boring monologues. The last two books also suffer from the shift in writing style from a focus on a variety of individuals to that of the pawn Raul Endymion.
Fifth, Raul Endymion, the main character, is not very compelling. Indeed, one never feels close to him or, for that matter, any other character in the work.
I've seen some compare this work to 'Dune.' Dune's power lay with the power of the visions it evoked. This wasn't even close.
Rating:
Summary: Ugh. What happened?
Review: The first 2 books the Hyperion Cantos were amazing. Probably some of the best stuff I've ever read. Therefore, I had high expectations for the sequels.
Endymion wasn't half bad. Not anywhere as good as the first two books but still a page turner and interesting enough. Then came Rise of Endymion...
I hate this book. Not only does it ignores key points Simmons made in the original books but it is tedious to an amazing level.
Many times in this book I was dying to grab Aenea and yell "Shut up! Stop talking!". The amount of Aenea drivel (or "dissimination of wisdom") contained in Rise of Endymion is unbearable. It's classic messiah-speak, "You must unlearn to learn, you must sit down to rise, yadda, yadda, yadda." Spare me. Worst of all Simmons apparently thinks he's being profound because he insists on filling chapters with the crap.
Not to mention he forgot how to pace a novel. He deticates pages of wordy prose to charachters doing nothing. Arragh.
I would reccomend skipping the last to books in the Cantos. Simmons lost his touch and the results are painful.
Rating:
Summary: Just....The Sacred aspect of Love.
Review: Ok. I understand some opinions about this book could seems like a boring one. Sometimes, I can be agree with them...some parts of the book are dense, need varied reading. Others, are not well explained.
That's ok, I'm agree with tou... if you only want to take a rest and just enjoy a light reading.
I mean, if you like science fiction like starwars, startrek. It's ok. That's not your book, of course. Don't spend your money. RoE and Hyperion Cantos are not easy to read.
Sometimes, it's need an efort to do it.
But.
If you like to read a real science-fiction book but, instead, a deep and a living reflection about human's matters like religion, power, poetry, some of phylosophy and of course, love, and a love through space and time...a book you need to read maybe twice in order to understand all the ideas showed... if you want to take a confusing but marvellous experience, maybe this sould be your book.
I recomend it for all of you who have an open mind and an open heart. Open just to recognize the SACRED aspect of LOVE in the human experience and not feel any kind of shame for it.
(One Human from Venezuela )
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: As great as the three preceding novels in Dan Simmons' Hyperion series were, this final installment makes all of them pale in comparison. Here, at last, all of the loose ends, not just from Endymion, but from the Hyperion Cantos as well, are brought back together to form a conclusion that is riveting, heartbreaking, hopeful, and joyous in turn. And that's just the last half of the book. Throughout the first half, we again are treated to the fruit of Simmons' gifts for beautiful prose, incredible characterization, and well-conceived plot. It also shows us what's at the real heart of the series: Simmons' philosophy of Love, as embodied by Aenea. This last novel's style is, yet again, a fairly sharp departure from that of any of the rest of the series. We don't have the broad, sweeping "Canterbury Tales" feeling of the Hyperion Cantos, nor are we involved in an interstellar game of chase like Endymion. Instead, the book is much more thoughtful and deliberate. Simmons' directly addresses some of the nagging questions from the series, such as the relationship between the evil church and its not-necessarily evil religious roots and the fate of good people deceived into working towards detestable ends. While there is certainly plenty of action and fast paced adventure, Aenea's teachings are the focus, and that reflective tone permeates the novel. However, atop all of this thinking and philosophy, we still have an intricate plot to keep us entertained. We finally see the fruition of the Raul-Aenea romance foretold in Endymion, with all its accompanying emotional bumps, and naturally, the Church, along with its inhuman Core counterparts, is still out hunting for Aenea's head. Don't forget, Raul still has to somehow complete Martin Selinus' Herculean tasks. It all makes for an exciting ride, indeed. If you've read the other Hyperion novels, read this last part immediately. If you haven't, read them, then read this as soon as you can. And whatever you do, take the plot as it comes; there are some enormous twists towards the end, and you will hate yourself if you spoil them beforetime.
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