Finally got around to reading this story of seven pilgrims travelling to see a strange being on a distant world, and it's quite something. For all that this didn't look like an especially long book, it felt like a very, very long read. There were times I struggled to pick it up at all to continue, mostly because I felt I needed to complete an individual pilgrim's story in a single sitting (the book is divided into six of these stories).

The world in which Hyperion takes place is fascinating and sometimes strange; the worldbuilding is excellent and enticing, definitely the main strength in my eyes and the thing that kept me going. There's an independent but parallel AI civilization called the TechnoCore, a strange mythic reaper called the Shrike, semi-alien Ousters who live in migrant fleets and terrorize colony worlds, and more, and they all interact in increasingly interesting ways as the story is revealed.

The individual tales, though, are somewhat uneven. Two of them I really liked overall; one was well-done but depressing; one was mostly interesting but a little too reliant on old-fashioned tropes for my taste; and two more mostly left me cold. The writing is quite skillful, though there are brief occasions where something too melodramatic or too convenient happens that made me laugh when I perhaps wasn't meant to, and a few narrative choices occasionally feel quite dated.

I'm interested enough in the world these stories are built into, and some of the characters, that I plan to read Fall of Hyperion. The mythic edge to the story, the vivid descriptions, and the strange far-future politics and high stakes really get to me. I think I could have dealt better with the occasionally less-compelling personal stories if I had allowed myself to take breaks within a chapter rather than forcing myself to read each one in a sitting, so that's on me. Definitely a solid book.