Rating: 
Summary: The pause before the finalle?
Review: This third installment of the four part Hyperion series turned out to be a fairly large side-step in terms of storytelling.Much of the first two books was spent mixed up in intellectual gymnastics: plots within plots, lies proved true proved lies again. Here, with the 11 year old daughter (with all the annoying qualities we have come to expect from prepubesents) of a John Keats clone and Madam Lamia from the first two books is out to fulfill a fate we can only guess at. At her side are a familiar face, the android Bettik, and a new arrival: Raul Endymion. The book is a continual adventure across the cosmos using the supposedly defunct farcaster portals, fleeing forces they can only begin to reccon with. This is probably the biggest feature of the plot: a chase, fight scenes in between, a little intrigue besides... it is also the book's biggest let-down. Having been deligted with the multi-layered, multi-faceted universe put forth earlier, this volume is a bit on the bland, but action-packed end. In the end, the action is its saving grace. It keeps one reading until the end. Taken in a good light, this shows Simmons' ability to write in a variety of styles. Still, a little more Hyperion-like storytelling would not have hurt at all.
Rating: 
Summary: Extraordinary.
Review: .
Whereas typical writers introduce, fill in, and conclude their stories, Simmons' Hyperion books just start and then slowly end. This, to me, is the most natural and welcoming way any story can be written. Nevermind all that self-conscious structuring; you'll see none of that here. That's not to say that there isn't structure in Simmons' books. He structures, alright, but he does it for a reason.
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In the Hyperion series (for the record, the order of the series is: Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and The Rise of Endymion) you'll find many of the elements that make any literary work spectacular - parallels, symbolism, empathy, historical references, foreshadowing (as much as there is unpredictability), openmindedness, etc..
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You'll come across countless instances where Simmons' biases as a writer shine through in bold statements - and then you'll watch him approach and unravel these statements from opposing perspectives. Few of the underlying statements Simmons makes are not thoroughly analyzed and criticized. If any. The only possible exception I can think of is Simmons' recurring usage of the concept of love. And I must say, he does some marvelous things with it...
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You won't see just one lengthy, drawn-out climax in this book - rather, the entire book is a series of delightful encounters, some profound and some delicate. You'll be shocked at a tragic or wondrous turn of event, or you'll be in awe at the clarity of a particular description, or you'll find yourself nodding, smiling, and murmering crude names to the conniving Simmons as loose ends tie themselves up before your unsuspecting eyes.
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Don't expect to fly through this book (why is that deemed a good thing anyway?). Expect to savor every last detail, re-reading entire chapters if you must. Are you a wine-drinker with an imagination? The Hyperion series is the perfect read for you. Simmons' mastery of language, understanding of human nature, and confidence as a writer place him far, far ahead of nearly all (if not all) of today's other authors.
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Dan Simmons is now my favorite writer. Orson Scott Card takes second.
Rating: 
Summary: The low point of a brilliant series
Review: What a mess. The first two books told a great, and complete, story. To begin this one, however, is to open a new can of worms, and invest yourself in a new set of characters -- with only a few attachments to the ones you already grew to know. That's fine -- lord knows the Dune series batted me around for a few thousand years before letting it end. But this book is little more than a chase. Two ships, chasing each other. Two VERY SLOW SHIPS chasing each other. It's like watching glaciers play tag. And, in the end, all its done is set you up for book number four. This all comes with a caveat.... the fourth book is fabulous. So -- if you want to read the fourth book, which I encourage, you'll want to swallow this one beforehand, just for the plot details, or you'll be well lost. It's quite a penalty, really... but, I swear, the last book will make it worthwhile. Really.
Rating:
Summary: Your average three star review...
Review: Naturally, I loved the first two instalments in the series as everyone who is bad mouthing this book seems to have. I almost feel as though I'm not adding new information as I agree with alot of the other reviewers; five stars as well as one. The truth is that this book, stylisticly, is much like "Fall..." in that every other chapter deals with the traveling party (in this case Raul et al) where as the others center on political/diplomatic issues as observed by a military priest/captain on a mission to capture the party. Although, this is far from bad as a premise I would suggest that, in this case, it doesn't hold together as well as it could have. Simply, the entire book devolved into one drawn out chase scene one might see in a bad horror movie. Still, what is confusing to me even now is how little interest I had in the Father Captain chasing the main gang. Simply put, the Father Captain is singular in this story as to having some measure of depth. He is continually struggling with conscience and other issues, which I would have thought would make for very interesting developments. Yet I found myself skimming through these chapters in favor of the heros. This is also confusing, because Aenea, Raul, and A. Bettik are all fairly cookie cutter, and there exploits extremely formulaic. My best guess as to what could be the cause of this is that since the actual story line is uninteresting (relatively) I must be like a fish floating along side their raft waiting for Aenea to drop some morsels of information about why I should care about this journey. Which I must say are just sparce enough to pull me along I'm about a third of the way through Rise of Endymion right now, and I'm still looking for an answer to this...the only difference is that in "Rise..." I think that this answer might actually be explained. In fact, as this story is being told by Raul at some time in the future, and his whole mission is to remember all of the events in such a way that he makes sence of the story I could argue that the reason that we as readers don't know what's going on is that we're not supposed to until Raul himself does...The only problem with that is it's a little hard to keep up one's interest for ~1500 pages (including Rise...) when the actual story line is only marginal. Regardless, I would recommend reading this if for nothing else to figure out more about the "lions and tigers and bears" I would also recommend highly the following novels: A song of Ice and fire -- by George martin
Simply amazing...beautifully done...great characters! very political as fantacy novels go. Check it out! A mote in god's eye -- Larry niven (I think)
wizards first rule (and maybe the first sequal, but stop there)-- terry goodkin
a door into summer -- heinlein (sp?)
Stainless steel rat series (if you can find them)
Rating:
Summary: disapointing book, comparing to the hyperion books !
Review: this book is very dissapointing to me, as one who read the previous hyprion books in the serious - i guess maybee he should have stopped there. why the need in this sequel, and change all the things that were explained in the "fall of hyperion". this sound to me very artificial, like the writer wanted to give more length to the trilogy, and in addition earn more extra bucks. the story if i compare it to previews books is flat, and dull, nothing is solved at the end, and what we understand is "wait for the sequels folks" - but we have no reason to wait for it, cause we weren't intrigued by the book, or fascinated from the new charcters. simons invent a character nemes that fight the shreik, and this reminded me very much the "terminator 2" movie when a much improve shreik terminator fights the old terminator, that changes is skin, and help the humans - that shows how luck of inginuaty was simons when he wrote the book.
conclusions : a. for those who read hyperion books : don't waste your time and money here.
b. for those who didn't : buy the first hyperion books, and if you like it maybee the second "fall of hyperion".
Rating: 
Summary: Diminishing returns from a great series
Review: I waited a long time to read this sequel and was hugely disappointed by it. After the brillance of Hyperion and Fall.. I expected a lot and unfortunately this just didn't live up to my expectations.
Rating: 
Summary: Not really a sequel, a whole new beginning
Review: With Endymion we essentially start a new story 274 years after The Fall of Hyperion. New characters. Weird new plotline. The only commonality is the TechnoCore (the villian) and some tenuous links to the past. Oh yea, and like the original Hyperion, really really boring. Endymion did end with a flourish and the last 100 pages or so would make anyone forget the long car ride it took to get there. And like Hyperion, it ended with the promise of something better in the next (and hopefully final) chapter.
Rating:
Summary: A Long and Winding Road
Review: Simmons' Hyperion series owes a lot to both 19th century poets and authors. The length, word mastery, and character development remind me of Dickens. Unfortunately, Simmons' novels are serialized the modern way by cutting one long and superb book in two. The result is that the reader is left at the end of ENDYMION with a real feeling of incompleteness. Standing alone, the book comes across as the SF equivalent of a car chase film, and about as satisfying. However if one reads this and RISE of ENDYMION as a single novel, this "novel" adds immeasurably to the sequel. Read together ENDYMION and RISE OF ENDYMION, are spectacular singular achievements that propel the whole series to the highest levels of SF. Read alone, this novel leaves much to be desired.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good for one of a series.
Review: The original novel in this series, 'Hyperion', is the only 5 star book in the series (heck, even 5 1/2 stars), but this one is the second best of the series. Oh, did I mention that this book it part of a series, by the way? I can't say that this one stands out in a particular way but the entire series (there's that word again) is worth your while. But if you only read one of the series, make sure that you read the first one. It's a GREAT book. OK, not very helpful.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best book of the series!
Review: After I finished the first two books, I expect the third one to be just as good. Indeed it was. The central characters in this story are very well developed and brings in a lot of humor. The plot is not as grand or mystical as the first two books, but the action is very gripping. The book is fast and compelling. I was a little disappointed that the story is not a continuation of the prequels, but that did not ruin this great tale.
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