468 pages
English language
Published Sept. 6, 1991 by Headline.
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope--and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
Unputdownable. I'm hooked enough to go on to Endymion. Well written, not easy to guess the outcome, and NOT 800 pages. Yay.
I liked it a lot. Hyperion was essentially devoted to tell the (back)stories of the characters. Fall of Hyperion is the story of what happens on Hyperion (and doesn't stay on Hyperion). War is imminent. Outside of Hyperion, we see how this is managed by the Hegemony government. On Hyperion, the pilgrims have arrived to the Time Tombs and await the confrontation with the Shrike.
This was a very absorbing read. While Hyperion was more interested in the story of the characters, Fall of Hyperion gives a fair amount of universe development. Did I say already that I liked it a lot? I did. I also now have two versions of it. I have a (French edition) paper version that, for some reason, misses 40 pages approximately at 1/3 of the book. When realizing that, I got up from my bed (and cosy duvet), and re-bought it as Kindle version …
I liked it a lot. Hyperion was essentially devoted to tell the (back)stories of the characters. Fall of Hyperion is the story of what happens on Hyperion (and doesn't stay on Hyperion). War is imminent. Outside of Hyperion, we see how this is managed by the Hegemony government. On Hyperion, the pilgrims have arrived to the Time Tombs and await the confrontation with the Shrike.
This was a very absorbing read. While Hyperion was more interested in the story of the characters, Fall of Hyperion gives a fair amount of universe development. Did I say already that I liked it a lot? I did. I also now have two versions of it. I have a (French edition) paper version that, for some reason, misses 40 pages approximately at 1/3 of the book. When realizing that, I got up from my bed (and cosy duvet), and re-bought it as Kindle version to read on my phone and not interrupt my reading. I'm not sure I would have done that for just any book.
This book was well written. I wasn't flabbergasted, but it was good. I was most impressed by two things: first, the wonderful blend between real and fictitious history, and especially between real and fictitious technology that Dan Simmons achieves. Simmons does not stop to explain what everything is, instead only hinting at how new technologies work or what happened in some fictitious historical event. This creates the feeling that this future world is actually a continuation of our own.
Second, I was surprised by the fact that towards the ending, the plot became very exciting and it carried me along with it, even though I was disappointed by many aspects of the book. Again, though, in the aftermath of the resolution of the important plot points, hilarity ensues as what remains of the protagonists spend some time in boring clichés.
Let's face it, folks, this book is at times a …
This book was well written. I wasn't flabbergasted, but it was good. I was most impressed by two things: first, the wonderful blend between real and fictitious history, and especially between real and fictitious technology that Dan Simmons achieves. Simmons does not stop to explain what everything is, instead only hinting at how new technologies work or what happened in some fictitious historical event. This creates the feeling that this future world is actually a continuation of our own.
Second, I was surprised by the fact that towards the ending, the plot became very exciting and it carried me along with it, even though I was disappointed by many aspects of the book. Again, though, in the aftermath of the resolution of the important plot points, hilarity ensues as what remains of the protagonists spend some time in boring clichés.
Let's face it, folks, this book is at times a bit contrived. It tries to meld sci-fi with poetry, but does it naïvely. It is also very attached to its characters, and gives them roles unbefitting their status and power. Finally, I felt that the language, even though it sports many innovative words that evoke a sense of the future, is at the same time not very masterfully used. There were many instances where I didn't quite understand what people and places looked like, and I am not sure all of it was my fault.
All in all, I liked it. However, I am not going to read the next books in the series. That's enough Dan Simmons for me.
This book had the potential to be pretty good, it eeked out at 3 stars because I thought it had some original content and I liked a number of concepts put forward. That being said I would have enjoyed this book a LOT more if the author didn't muddy the waters with his religious beliefs nor did he go for the stereo-typical everyone of the main characters has some pivotal role to play. I cant really say more on that without spoilers, but once you have read this book you will know exactly what I mean. In addition I found his conclusion to neatly wrapped up, and some of the specifics I found hard to believe, as if he decided "you know what, I think I'm done this book, lets just finish this sucker."
