Written in 1989, Hyperion predicts a universe where human culture flattens into an incomprehensible yet static whole, where technological progress is incremental at best, and where people and information can be moved from one end of the galaxy to the other in mere moments — or over several years.

This story is told through the narrative style of the Canterbury Tales, the struggles with prescience and time of Dune, and a dash of cyberpunk futurism for good measure — all interspersed with references to Muir and Keats.