Series
Description
A stunning tour de force filled with transcendent awe and wonder, Hyperion is a masterwork of science fiction that resonates with excitement and invention, the first volume in a remarkable epic by the multiple-award-winning author of The Hollow Man. On the world called Hyperion, beyond the reach of galactic law, waits a 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. Praise for Dan Simmons and Hyperion "Dan Simmons has brilliantly conceptualized a future 700 years distant. In sheer scope and complexity it matches, and perhaps even surpasses, those of Isaac Asimov and James Blish."--The Washington Post Book World "An unfailingly inventive narrative . . . generously conceived and stylistically sure-handed."--The New York Times Book Review "Simmons's own genius transforms space opera into a new kind of poetry."--The Denver Post "An essential part of any science fiction collection."--Booklist… (more)
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1989-06
Publication
New York : Bantam Books, cop. 1990
Pages
481
ISBN
0553283685 / 9780553283686
Library's review
Seven very different people are recruited for a journey to a mysterious planet, but have no idea why. They start sharing each other's stories in an effort to figure this out.The individual stories are very different in topic, style and themes, and while I liked them to very differing degrees on
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their own, as a whole this was a very particular experience and I really enjoyed the book. - Lucky Show Less
Similar in this library
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 1990)
Locus Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 1990)
British Science Fiction Association Award (Shortlist — Novel — 1990)
Seiun Award (Nominee — 1995)
Gigamesh Award (1992)
Chesley Award (Nominee — 2013)
Nagroda SFinks (1995)
Ignotus Award (Winner — 1991)
Prix Cosmos 2000 (1992)
Locus All-Time Best (Science Fiction Novel — 10 — 1998)
The Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read (Science Fiction and Fantasy)
User reviews
LibraryThing member arouse77
This book is a trap. Don't start reading it until you have the sequel lined up next to it on your table; madness that way lies.
Hyperion is also the finest piece of science fiction I have read in a good long time. I haven't had sufficient time to let it sink in and work on me, but I would say it
This book appeared twice in the last few weeks on the side tables and library shelves of two people the opinions of I respect. It was a funny little coincidence, but I take that seriously, so I picked it up off the library shelf and I took it with me to Hawaii. That in itself was a but of a coincidence too, in that one of the locations of import in the book is a place called Maui-Covenant (true, I wasn't on Maui, but I'll call it close enough for Science Fiction). Synchronicity is important to me, and I felt like this book came along at just the right moment. It is about travelling, and the essence of humanity, how we tell each other our stories, and how doing so binds us together.
It is also a very classic post-Earth space epoch. All the standard science fiction structures are there; the seemingly benevolent interstellar empire trying to recreate the best about Old Earth and move past the mistakes seemed to spring from her soil. The fantastic but feasible technology that allows the diaspora of mankind to spread past all human reckoning. The pervasive and piebald mysticism that arises in the face of phenomenon beyond human experience and understanding. Each of these is deftly executed and remarkably robust. In fact that is what makes this novel so extremely satisfying; while it contains each of these standard elements, it treats each as its own critical part not to be neglected in favor of anything else.
Rare indeed is the author who can manage to generate a palpable fear and an equally compelling eroticism. To pair a moving sense of the mystic and a convincing technical vernacular. To give each character a distinct and evocative voice while maintaining a gripping continuity. Not only are these seldom found together in pairs, I have never encountered each and all together in such measure and balance as in this book. Dan Simmon has created nothing less than a masterpiece in this novel by his ability to do so with such grace and artistry.
Hyperion is a planet at the center of a mystery the known universe have been unable to fathom. Phenomenon that defy all of man's learning and the best of its efforts to unfold persist on this far flung world that has resisted all efforts to bring it into the fold of the Hegemony. Time works in ways that cannot be explained and a creature known as the Shrike, a four armed creature covered in metal spikes with glowing red eyes roams the outlands leaving death in his wake. Now on the verge on an intergalactic war, seven pilgrims are selected to make a final pilgrimage to the Shrike who, legend says, will grant either a final wish or death.
Each pilgrim seems an unlikely choice in their way, and with no discernible connection either to each other or the Shrike. As the journey begins and their tales unfold, we begin to see the ways in which a priest, a warrior, a scholar, a ship captain, a poet, a mercenary, and a diplomat are all deeply bound to both Hyperion and each other. Each character speaks in a distinct and wholly convincing voice. Simmons switches effortlessly between the male and female characters and persuades entirely with both.
To give away more would spoil the pleasure of letting the reader sink into this excellent tale unhampered by expectation. Suffice it to say I found it utterly engrossing and totally satisfying. Funny, moving, horrifying and sexy. It is the best of all that literature has to offer, if you will allow yourself to submit to the Shrike's dangerous embrace.
Highly Recommended
Hyperion is also the finest piece of science fiction I have read in a good long time. I haven't had sufficient time to let it sink in and work on me, but I would say it
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certainly ranks in the top 20 books I have ever read, and given time to travel around my head a few more times, it seems likely to rise yet higher.This book appeared twice in the last few weeks on the side tables and library shelves of two people the opinions of I respect. It was a funny little coincidence, but I take that seriously, so I picked it up off the library shelf and I took it with me to Hawaii. That in itself was a but of a coincidence too, in that one of the locations of import in the book is a place called Maui-Covenant (true, I wasn't on Maui, but I'll call it close enough for Science Fiction). Synchronicity is important to me, and I felt like this book came along at just the right moment. It is about travelling, and the essence of humanity, how we tell each other our stories, and how doing so binds us together.
It is also a very classic post-Earth space epoch. All the standard science fiction structures are there; the seemingly benevolent interstellar empire trying to recreate the best about Old Earth and move past the mistakes seemed to spring from her soil. The fantastic but feasible technology that allows the diaspora of mankind to spread past all human reckoning. The pervasive and piebald mysticism that arises in the face of phenomenon beyond human experience and understanding. Each of these is deftly executed and remarkably robust. In fact that is what makes this novel so extremely satisfying; while it contains each of these standard elements, it treats each as its own critical part not to be neglected in favor of anything else.
Rare indeed is the author who can manage to generate a palpable fear and an equally compelling eroticism. To pair a moving sense of the mystic and a convincing technical vernacular. To give each character a distinct and evocative voice while maintaining a gripping continuity. Not only are these seldom found together in pairs, I have never encountered each and all together in such measure and balance as in this book. Dan Simmon has created nothing less than a masterpiece in this novel by his ability to do so with such grace and artistry.
Hyperion is a planet at the center of a mystery the known universe have been unable to fathom. Phenomenon that defy all of man's learning and the best of its efforts to unfold persist on this far flung world that has resisted all efforts to bring it into the fold of the Hegemony. Time works in ways that cannot be explained and a creature known as the Shrike, a four armed creature covered in metal spikes with glowing red eyes roams the outlands leaving death in his wake. Now on the verge on an intergalactic war, seven pilgrims are selected to make a final pilgrimage to the Shrike who, legend says, will grant either a final wish or death.
Each pilgrim seems an unlikely choice in their way, and with no discernible connection either to each other or the Shrike. As the journey begins and their tales unfold, we begin to see the ways in which a priest, a warrior, a scholar, a ship captain, a poet, a mercenary, and a diplomat are all deeply bound to both Hyperion and each other. Each character speaks in a distinct and wholly convincing voice. Simmons switches effortlessly between the male and female characters and persuades entirely with both.
To give away more would spoil the pleasure of letting the reader sink into this excellent tale unhampered by expectation. Suffice it to say I found it utterly engrossing and totally satisfying. Funny, moving, horrifying and sexy. It is the best of all that literature has to offer, if you will allow yourself to submit to the Shrike's dangerous embrace.
Highly Recommended
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LibraryThing member michaeldwebb
Sci-Fi. Not exactly cool is it? Not something you'd admit to reading. I used to love it when I was a kid, but lost the taste for it years ago. I can make it through the odd 'literary' sci-fi book (eg Atwood) but that's about it. Every now and then I give it try though, just really to recapture some
I picked this up for £1 as a random purchase from Bookends in Hay-on-Wye in a big pile of other random books - maybe a throwaway title for a summers day that never came.
Opening sentences: 'The Hegemony Consul sat on the balcony... Bruise-black clouds silhouetted a forest gynosperms..."
Utter gibberish, yes? I great reminded of why sci-fi was no longer for me. But I persevered (after all, it had cost a pound...) and how I was rewarded. Seriously. This book is probably actually a masterpiece of sorts, hugely imaginative, vaguely emotional, set in a perfectly believable universe.
It's actually six different stories (or rather, six people telling there stories), all which add more to the overall picture, and I really did find my self suspending all disbelief and getting totally involved.
Be warned though. It's a pretty big book, and ends with things unresolved. There's a follow up. I'll be reading it.
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sort of youth I guess, and usually give up very quickly..I picked this up for £1 as a random purchase from Bookends in Hay-on-Wye in a big pile of other random books - maybe a throwaway title for a summers day that never came.
Opening sentences: 'The Hegemony Consul sat on the balcony... Bruise-black clouds silhouetted a forest gynosperms..."
Utter gibberish, yes? I great reminded of why sci-fi was no longer for me. But I persevered (after all, it had cost a pound...) and how I was rewarded. Seriously. This book is probably actually a masterpiece of sorts, hugely imaginative, vaguely emotional, set in a perfectly believable universe.
It's actually six different stories (or rather, six people telling there stories), all which add more to the overall picture, and I really did find my self suspending all disbelief and getting totally involved.
Be warned though. It's a pretty big book, and ends with things unresolved. There's a follow up. I'll be reading it.
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LibraryThing member Radaghast
Hyperion is a very difficult novel to review, mostly because it isn't just one story. Like the Canterbury Tales, which serve as the novel's template, Hyperion is actually a series of stories told by travelers on their way to the mysterious world of Hyperion. There is an overarching story which
This doesn't hurt the novel in the least. In fact, as I read Hyperion, I realized very quickly Dan Simmons is a master of language. Hyperion is literary without being indecipherable. Simmons creates a balance between story and significance that few other critically lauded sci-fi/fantasy authors have managed (I'm looking at you China Mieville). This is what is supposed to make science fiction so unique. Important and meaningful themes combined with accessibility.
Hyperion is also ambitious. Simmons takes you deep into the minds of a variety of characters, while trying to keep the overall story moving. Few authors would be willing to attempt what Simmons is doing here and even fewer would succeed. It is the equivalent of conducting six different orchestras while playing the violin. There's no doubt Hyperion is at least as good as anything Asimov, Clarke or Heinlein wrote if not better.
That said, because Hyperion is so ambitious, there are inevitably a few mistakes. Simmons tries hard to balance the tales of each traveler with mixed results. The Poet's Tale is easily the best in the novel. Irreverent and yet also meaningful, the story feels as if you are truly listening to one of the greatest poets in history. Since Simmons himself is not on par with Keats, it shows the quality of writing you will get with Hyperion. It takes a special author to write a character like that so completely believably. This is in stark contrast to the Detective's Tale, which starts off as a tongue-in-cheek cliche. Thankfully Simmons drops this gimmick quickly. The rest of the story fares better, but leaves you feeling much emptier than any of the other stories. More discerning readers may be better at predicting the outcomes of these tales than I am, but for me the Detective's Tale was the only one whose ending I saw coming. The rest of the tales are interesting to varying degrees but all are effective in their own way.
The universe itself, a Hegemony of worlds is one of the greatest examples of world creation I've seen in quite a while. Simmons extrapolates on our world, giving us a vision of the future that is thorough and comprehensible. We see glimpses of science, military, literature (what little is left) , even fashion. Simmons pulls back the curtain in a way most authors would not be comfortable doing.
Because Simmons has created such a large and complex universe, I have of course found something to complain about. In Hyperion, we meet the Priest, one of the few adherents of the dying religion called Christianity. For reasons I won't go into, this was certainly necessary to understanding the plot of the Priest's Tale. I felt though it was inconsistent with the rest of the novel. The Hegemony and Outback worlds are a collection of disparate cultures. Yes, many of those worlds have been connected to each other through the "farcaster portals." I just find it hard to believe Christianity would die out, while Islam, Judaism, and presumably every other unmentioned religion, among several new ones, seem to be flourishing. Why shouldn't they? If humanity ever reaches out to the stars, you can be assured every obscure culture and religion that exists will find a home to ensure its existence for years to come. As in Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead, you will see entire worlds dominated by Catholicism or Buddhism, or anything else you can imagine. The diaspora of humanity will ensure the survival of almost every human idea. Most of Hyperion supports this as the most logical result of settling the stars. But with no justification, Simmons throws in the idea that Christianity is dying and barely mentions it again the rest of the novel. This is an extremely small complaint, but it was puzzling.
Overall, I feel more than comfortable granting Hyperion status as one of the finest science fiction novels ever written. So why only four stars? The problem with Hyperion is that Simmons has spent so much energy creating mysterious events and enigmatic characters, that he forgets to answer the questions he raises (or I fear, may be unable to answer them). Fall of Hyperion, the novel's sequel, is supposed to grant readers the relief they are craving by the end of the book. Hopefully that's true, and Simmons hasn't written a check he cannot cash. But even if Fall of Hyperion solves every riddle, part of me felt this cheapened the story of Hyperion. Hyperion was so excellent I would have liked to see at least a hint of resolution, something I could grab onto and call this a complete novel. Instead the book cuts off before the characters have even reached their final goal, and I at least expected to have the journey end before the story. Then again, Chaucer never finished the Canterbury Tales.
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connects the package neatly, but this is still as much a group of separate stories as it is one story.This doesn't hurt the novel in the least. In fact, as I read Hyperion, I realized very quickly Dan Simmons is a master of language. Hyperion is literary without being indecipherable. Simmons creates a balance between story and significance that few other critically lauded sci-fi/fantasy authors have managed (I'm looking at you China Mieville). This is what is supposed to make science fiction so unique. Important and meaningful themes combined with accessibility.
Hyperion is also ambitious. Simmons takes you deep into the minds of a variety of characters, while trying to keep the overall story moving. Few authors would be willing to attempt what Simmons is doing here and even fewer would succeed. It is the equivalent of conducting six different orchestras while playing the violin. There's no doubt Hyperion is at least as good as anything Asimov, Clarke or Heinlein wrote if not better.
That said, because Hyperion is so ambitious, there are inevitably a few mistakes. Simmons tries hard to balance the tales of each traveler with mixed results. The Poet's Tale is easily the best in the novel. Irreverent and yet also meaningful, the story feels as if you are truly listening to one of the greatest poets in history. Since Simmons himself is not on par with Keats, it shows the quality of writing you will get with Hyperion. It takes a special author to write a character like that so completely believably. This is in stark contrast to the Detective's Tale, which starts off as a tongue-in-cheek cliche. Thankfully Simmons drops this gimmick quickly. The rest of the story fares better, but leaves you feeling much emptier than any of the other stories. More discerning readers may be better at predicting the outcomes of these tales than I am, but for me the Detective's Tale was the only one whose ending I saw coming. The rest of the tales are interesting to varying degrees but all are effective in their own way.
The universe itself, a Hegemony of worlds is one of the greatest examples of world creation I've seen in quite a while. Simmons extrapolates on our world, giving us a vision of the future that is thorough and comprehensible. We see glimpses of science, military, literature (what little is left) , even fashion. Simmons pulls back the curtain in a way most authors would not be comfortable doing.
Because Simmons has created such a large and complex universe, I have of course found something to complain about. In Hyperion, we meet the Priest, one of the few adherents of the dying religion called Christianity. For reasons I won't go into, this was certainly necessary to understanding the plot of the Priest's Tale. I felt though it was inconsistent with the rest of the novel. The Hegemony and Outback worlds are a collection of disparate cultures. Yes, many of those worlds have been connected to each other through the "farcaster portals." I just find it hard to believe Christianity would die out, while Islam, Judaism, and presumably every other unmentioned religion, among several new ones, seem to be flourishing. Why shouldn't they? If humanity ever reaches out to the stars, you can be assured every obscure culture and religion that exists will find a home to ensure its existence for years to come. As in Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead, you will see entire worlds dominated by Catholicism or Buddhism, or anything else you can imagine. The diaspora of humanity will ensure the survival of almost every human idea. Most of Hyperion supports this as the most logical result of settling the stars. But with no justification, Simmons throws in the idea that Christianity is dying and barely mentions it again the rest of the novel. This is an extremely small complaint, but it was puzzling.
Overall, I feel more than comfortable granting Hyperion status as one of the finest science fiction novels ever written. So why only four stars? The problem with Hyperion is that Simmons has spent so much energy creating mysterious events and enigmatic characters, that he forgets to answer the questions he raises (or I fear, may be unable to answer them). Fall of Hyperion, the novel's sequel, is supposed to grant readers the relief they are craving by the end of the book. Hopefully that's true, and Simmons hasn't written a check he cannot cash. But even if Fall of Hyperion solves every riddle, part of me felt this cheapened the story of Hyperion. Hyperion was so excellent I would have liked to see at least a hint of resolution, something I could grab onto and call this a complete novel. Instead the book cuts off before the characters have even reached their final goal, and I at least expected to have the journey end before the story. Then again, Chaucer never finished the Canterbury Tales.
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LibraryThing member edgeworth
I love reading good science fiction. It’s a shame that with genre fiction Sturgeon’s Law is closer to 99% than 90%, because I know I’ll have to read about twenty mediocre sci-fi books and five awful ones before reading another one I enjoyed as much as this. Hyperion is an excellent piece of
The novel revolves around the world of Hyperion, a planet at the edge of mankind’s interstellar empire, where there dwells a creature called the Shrike: a three-metre tall bladed killing machine who is nigh-invincible. Fortunately it never ventures beyond a small series of structures called the “Time Tombs,” a tiny slice of the planet’s territory, and so the rest of the world has been settled.
The book opens on the eve of a war between the Hegemony of Man and the post-human Ousters who live beyond their reach. The Church of the Shrike (for there are those who worship it) has selected seven apparently unrelated non-believers to make a final pilgrimage to the Time Tombs and meet the Shrike, apparently in the hope of stopping the war. Ordered by the Hegemony government to obey, apparently as a last-ditch “what have we got to lose” effort, the reluctant pilgrims set off on their journey. Along the way they agree to tell each other their stories in order to learn more about why they have been sent and how they might survive meeting the Shrike.
And so the novel is modelled after Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: we have the Priest’s Tale, a creepy journal-style story of mystery and horror that had me hooked on the novel in the first 50 pages; the Soldier’s Tale, of epic sci-fi space battles; the Poet’s Tale, a disturbing story of the first settlement on Hyperion which made the mistake of establishing their first city too close to the Shrike’s territory; the Scholar’s Tale, a heartbreaking story about a father who loses his daughter Benjamin Button-style; the Starship Captain’s Tale, which doesn’t actually get told and left me quite annoyed; the Detective’s Tale, a hardboiled private eye story where the client is an AI; and the Consul’s Tale, a romance.
Nearly all of these stories are excellent on their own terms, but the story in between is fascinating too, even though it’s mostly journeying. The party lands in the largest city on Hyperion to find it swamped by refugees desperate to escape, because “the Shrike has begun ranging as far south as the Bridle Range…. at least twenty thousand dead or missing.” There is a sense not just of impending war, but impending Armageddon. As the pilgrims travel overland to reach the Time Tombs, they find chaos and disorder, ruined towns and deserted villages, and while they don’t actually encounter the Shrike itself (though some of them do in the stories they tell) it builds up a great amount of suspense.
And so, with all the tales told, as the pilgrims finally climb the last sand dune and see the Time Tombs laid out in the valley before them, bathed in the light of an orbital battle above their heads as the first Ousters reach the system, they descend into the valley to meet their fate… and the book ends.
I felt like throwing it in the fucking lake. It’s the equivalent of ending Star Wars just as they make the final run on the Death Star, or ending Watchmen just as they arrive in Antarctica. I know this is the first book in a series, but what I don’t know is whether the next book will deal with the same plots and characters or simply be set in the same universe. I really hope Simmons wraps this story up properly, because apart from the lack of an ending this book is great.
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writing, the only flaw being the shitty, frustrating non-ending.The novel revolves around the world of Hyperion, a planet at the edge of mankind’s interstellar empire, where there dwells a creature called the Shrike: a three-metre tall bladed killing machine who is nigh-invincible. Fortunately it never ventures beyond a small series of structures called the “Time Tombs,” a tiny slice of the planet’s territory, and so the rest of the world has been settled.
The book opens on the eve of a war between the Hegemony of Man and the post-human Ousters who live beyond their reach. The Church of the Shrike (for there are those who worship it) has selected seven apparently unrelated non-believers to make a final pilgrimage to the Time Tombs and meet the Shrike, apparently in the hope of stopping the war. Ordered by the Hegemony government to obey, apparently as a last-ditch “what have we got to lose” effort, the reluctant pilgrims set off on their journey. Along the way they agree to tell each other their stories in order to learn more about why they have been sent and how they might survive meeting the Shrike.
And so the novel is modelled after Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: we have the Priest’s Tale, a creepy journal-style story of mystery and horror that had me hooked on the novel in the first 50 pages; the Soldier’s Tale, of epic sci-fi space battles; the Poet’s Tale, a disturbing story of the first settlement on Hyperion which made the mistake of establishing their first city too close to the Shrike’s territory; the Scholar’s Tale, a heartbreaking story about a father who loses his daughter Benjamin Button-style; the Starship Captain’s Tale, which doesn’t actually get told and left me quite annoyed; the Detective’s Tale, a hardboiled private eye story where the client is an AI; and the Consul’s Tale, a romance.
Nearly all of these stories are excellent on their own terms, but the story in between is fascinating too, even though it’s mostly journeying. The party lands in the largest city on Hyperion to find it swamped by refugees desperate to escape, because “the Shrike has begun ranging as far south as the Bridle Range…. at least twenty thousand dead or missing.” There is a sense not just of impending war, but impending Armageddon. As the pilgrims travel overland to reach the Time Tombs, they find chaos and disorder, ruined towns and deserted villages, and while they don’t actually encounter the Shrike itself (though some of them do in the stories they tell) it builds up a great amount of suspense.
And so, with all the tales told, as the pilgrims finally climb the last sand dune and see the Time Tombs laid out in the valley before them, bathed in the light of an orbital battle above their heads as the first Ousters reach the system, they descend into the valley to meet their fate… and the book ends.
I felt like throwing it in the fucking lake. It’s the equivalent of ending Star Wars just as they make the final run on the Death Star, or ending Watchmen just as they arrive in Antarctica. I know this is the first book in a series, but what I don’t know is whether the next book will deal with the same plots and characters or simply be set in the same universe. I really hope Simmons wraps this story up properly, because apart from the lack of an ending this book is great.
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LibraryThing member mrtall
For years, I had Dan Simmons’s Hyperion lurking on the edge of my awareness. I knew it was sci-fi, I suspected it might be good, but I had never looked it up.
Big mistake.
Hyperion is not good; it’s fantastic. And since it’s now been around for over 20 years, it’s certainly my loss for not
Briefly, this is a quest story based on a quest story that’s based on some other quest stories. Simmons assembles an excellent cast of characters from different walks of life – a warrior, a cleric, a scholar, a poet, and so on – and sets them off on a pilgrimage, a la the Canterbury Tales, and along the way each tells his or her story. All of the constituent stories are good, but I was particularly taken with the very first one, the Priest’s tale. Throughout the novel, other literary and historical references and allusions abound – including the eponymous planet, to take one obvious example.
Where are the pilgrims heading? In search of the Shrike, an immediately compelling and enigmatic monster who somehow holds the fate of humanity in his hands – uh, pincers.
The novel’s episodic structure and real-historical call-outs are clever orientating moves that many other sci-fi writers have tried, but few have pulled off as well as Simmons does here. He writes extremely well, and he’s got a firm and realistic grip on the murky essences of human nature, which are not likely to change even as technology advances.
One minor caution to prospective readers: this is the first installment in a four-book series. I knew that going in, and was glad of it. Hyperion comes to an end, but you’re really meant to go right on and continue the series. And that’s precisely what I shall do.
Highly recommended.
Big mistake.
Hyperion is not good; it’s fantastic. And since it’s now been around for over 20 years, it’s certainly my loss for not
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having read it sooner.Briefly, this is a quest story based on a quest story that’s based on some other quest stories. Simmons assembles an excellent cast of characters from different walks of life – a warrior, a cleric, a scholar, a poet, and so on – and sets them off on a pilgrimage, a la the Canterbury Tales, and along the way each tells his or her story. All of the constituent stories are good, but I was particularly taken with the very first one, the Priest’s tale. Throughout the novel, other literary and historical references and allusions abound – including the eponymous planet, to take one obvious example.
Where are the pilgrims heading? In search of the Shrike, an immediately compelling and enigmatic monster who somehow holds the fate of humanity in his hands – uh, pincers.
The novel’s episodic structure and real-historical call-outs are clever orientating moves that many other sci-fi writers have tried, but few have pulled off as well as Simmons does here. He writes extremely well, and he’s got a firm and realistic grip on the murky essences of human nature, which are not likely to change even as technology advances.
One minor caution to prospective readers: this is the first installment in a four-book series. I knew that going in, and was glad of it. Hyperion comes to an end, but you’re really meant to go right on and continue the series. And that’s precisely what I shall do.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member figre
I am reminded of leaving the first Lord of the Rings movie and overhearing (and I am not making this up), “It’s almost like they planned on making a sequel.” I walked away from this book thinking, “It’s almost like he planned on making a sequel.” Yes, I approached the book thinking it
I was not impressed at the way the story started – it felt the premise and, more importantly, the approach was clichéd. A prologue where someone gets pulled from retirement (someone with a secret) to return to the source of his troubles; a voyage that brings a band together; an initial description of each person as they gather at a table; then the drawing of numbers to determine the order for each person to tell their story. Sure, as everyone points out, it is a riff on The Canterbury Tales – but the set up just doesn’t ring with originality.
Nonetheless, the stories each voyager tells becomes engrossing, and the intertwining of the stories (both the way the plots come together and the way they eventually show the overall universe of the novel) began to win me over. The result - by the end of the story, when it was time for the climax, I was genuinely upset that the book had come to a close. And that means I will have to read the next book in the series because the writing is good, the story is engrossing, and I just want to know what’s gonna happen next.
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was a stand alone and, I guess, if you really stretch the idea, such could be the truth. But let’s not kid ourselves; it is only the first part of the story. (Which raises the question, how does a Hugo award go to a partial story – oh well, neither here nor there.) I will try to set my prejudices about being sucked into a series aside.I was not impressed at the way the story started – it felt the premise and, more importantly, the approach was clichéd. A prologue where someone gets pulled from retirement (someone with a secret) to return to the source of his troubles; a voyage that brings a band together; an initial description of each person as they gather at a table; then the drawing of numbers to determine the order for each person to tell their story. Sure, as everyone points out, it is a riff on The Canterbury Tales – but the set up just doesn’t ring with originality.
Nonetheless, the stories each voyager tells becomes engrossing, and the intertwining of the stories (both the way the plots come together and the way they eventually show the overall universe of the novel) began to win me over. The result - by the end of the story, when it was time for the climax, I was genuinely upset that the book had come to a close. And that means I will have to read the next book in the series because the writing is good, the story is engrossing, and I just want to know what’s gonna happen next.
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LibraryThing member jonfaith
Come gather for a framing story, we are but pilgrims on the road, seeking refuge from the plague or finding ancient truth in meteor showers or acid rain. We should cite the Eternal, Herr Friedrich would approve and not the one from Manchester.
Hyperion aims for the lofty. Stories are spun. If
It is our fortune that Dan Simmons gave a tale to the Franklin Expedition. I’m listening to Vaughan Williams honor the lost souls now. Yet here with Hyperion I feel cheated. If each page is going to be larded with literary references shouldn’t such enhance the narrative through allegory or other means? If MichaelFassbender is going to read Ozymandias it has to relate to the narrative; otherwise it is simply wanking. I appreciate the reference to Gass as the chief writer of the 20C but all sorts of Romantic nonsense about the Lord of Pain led to what exactly? You know what? Fuck the Shrike. There's also a suspicious thread regarding Islam at play. This is exacerbated if someone reads of Simmons and that Abrahamic faith.
I’m likely not in the proper trajectory for this novel. I grew impatient. This review betrays that irritation. I think a proper space opera should frame itself within a tradition and utilize a oblique representation. It should also be inexact, misshapen by time and legacy. Peter Ackroyd was successful with this, but not Dan Simmons—even ecological endeavors have to be termed Muir. It feels as if I could rant all day about Hyperion’s missteps. There are better uses of one’s time.
Hyperion aims for the lofty. Stories are spun. If
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Scheherazade was fluent in Upper Space Opera there’d be a chance. Just. It is our fortune that Dan Simmons gave a tale to the Franklin Expedition. I’m listening to Vaughan Williams honor the lost souls now. Yet here with Hyperion I feel cheated. If each page is going to be larded with literary references shouldn’t such enhance the narrative through allegory or other means? If MichaelFassbender is going to read Ozymandias it has to relate to the narrative; otherwise it is simply wanking. I appreciate the reference to Gass as the chief writer of the 20C but all sorts of Romantic nonsense about the Lord of Pain led to what exactly? You know what? Fuck the Shrike. There's also a suspicious thread regarding Islam at play. This is exacerbated if someone reads of Simmons and that Abrahamic faith.
I’m likely not in the proper trajectory for this novel. I grew impatient. This review betrays that irritation. I think a proper space opera should frame itself within a tradition and utilize a oblique representation. It should also be inexact, misshapen by time and legacy. Peter Ackroyd was successful with this, but not Dan Simmons—even ecological endeavors have to be termed Muir. It feels as if I could rant all day about Hyperion’s missteps. There are better uses of one’s time.
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LibraryThing member sinalco
The Canterbury Tales of science fiction; beatifully written yet, very dull. Word on the street: you need to read the sequel, "The Fall of Hyperion" to appreciate "Hyperion." Probably not going to happen, since it took me so long to get through this book.
LibraryThing member BruderBane
Centered on the last chance pilgrimage of seven people and their personal stories, “Hyperion” by Dan Simmons is a cerebral wonder colored with beautiful vistas on foreign worlds, far future science fiction and significant insight into the human condition. Each character’s reason for being on
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this final pilgrimage is annotated and presented by Mr. Simmons in turn, giving the reader a feeling of separate stories within an overall thematic arc. And while the entertaining dénouement left me a bit saddened with not having resolved key issues and story-lines, the overall sense was extremely pleasing. Show Less
LibraryThing member betula.alba
Complex space opera with literary (read: poetry of John Keats) & religious overtones. Unlike most novels, there is no main protagonist; the storyline is developed through several different characters, focusing on or around the pilgrims (Canterbury Tales!). The first book ("Hyperion")consists of the
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individual stories of the pilgrims, and their journey to the Time Tombs. The second book ("Fall of Hyperion") starts off where the first one ends, continues the story of the pilgrimage and further develops the story on a grander scale, with the invasion of Hyperion and the Web as a backdrop. Although satisfying, the end leaves many questions unanswered (the story _is_ complex). Good writer. Blend of themes and writing styles. Show Less
LibraryThing member ThePortPorts
Yes, I know it's a classic. And yes, I know tons of people loved it.
And that, my friends, is why I was disappointed in this novel. I expected something more.
There is a lot to like in this novel. The separate stories are individually fascinating (except the poet; he's just... irritating beyond
What I didn't like is the ending. I get the sense that the pilgrims' solidarity at the end (but: We're off to see the wizard? Oh, come on.....) is some sort of ending that I'm supposed to appreciate, but basically this book stopped in the middle of the story.
And here's my beef: if this is presented as a stand-alone novel, it should BE a stand-alone novel. This is not that. To read the arc of the characters, and of the world, the Shrike, all of the stuff I just spent 10 days reading, I have to read book two. Which was not clear to me. I should get to CHOOSE to read a series, not get drug into it by clever marketing omissions.
(Yes, I knew The Fall of Hyperion existed when I started this book. But I thought it was a continuation of a broader, universe-type story, not a novel that tells the second half of the plot of the first book. And I shouldn't have to research a novel's "series status" before I read it.)
So, that's my beef. Not sure if I'll read The Fall of Hyperion. We'll see. I liked Hyperion enough to read it, if I can decide to trust that Simmons actually wraps it all up in the next book.
At least a little. I don't need nice pretty bows. But at least a little tape would be nice.
And that, my friends, is why I was disappointed in this novel. I expected something more.
There is a lot to like in this novel. The separate stories are individually fascinating (except the poet; he's just... irritating beyond
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belief....). They combine to give a varied picture of what life in this world is like. Most of the stories are powerful, with heart-wrenching endings. The Consul's story is overly convenient, though, with a lot of the "meat" of the universe tripping off his tongue. But, overall, I enjoyed the structure.What I didn't like is the ending. I get the sense that the pilgrims' solidarity at the end (but: We're off to see the wizard? Oh, come on.....) is some sort of ending that I'm supposed to appreciate, but basically this book stopped in the middle of the story.
And here's my beef: if this is presented as a stand-alone novel, it should BE a stand-alone novel. This is not that. To read the arc of the characters, and of the world, the Shrike, all of the stuff I just spent 10 days reading, I have to read book two. Which was not clear to me. I should get to CHOOSE to read a series, not get drug into it by clever marketing omissions.
(Yes, I knew The Fall of Hyperion existed when I started this book. But I thought it was a continuation of a broader, universe-type story, not a novel that tells the second half of the plot of the first book. And I shouldn't have to research a novel's "series status" before I read it.)
So, that's my beef. Not sure if I'll read The Fall of Hyperion. We'll see. I liked Hyperion enough to read it, if I can decide to trust that Simmons actually wraps it all up in the next book.
At least a little. I don't need nice pretty bows. But at least a little tape would be nice.
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
It's a story that schoes the Decameron and The Canterbury Tales, seven people tell the stories behind their going to Hyperion. Home to the Shrike and some tombs that no-one understands. Shrike will give one of them their wish but the others will die.
It's interesting and while the story continues
It's interesting and while the story continues
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into other books it doesn't induce me to continue reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member mpho3
Hyperion is a book I intended to read many years ago now, and I suspect I would have been somewhat wowed by it in my young adulthood. Reading now, I find some aspects of it impressive and some vexing.
The priest's tale and the scholar's tale are the two standouts by far, equally riveting but in very
Hyperion has a lot of complexity and worldbuilding with some long-winded confessionals though the characters are pretty well developed. Simmons works with the themes subtly and more overtly, and presents a lot of symbolism and philosophy that I found engaging. His prose is excellent; probably the poetry is too, though I am not very learned in Keats. On the whole, Simmons is able to create quite a bit of tension throughout the entire story by successfully drawing from a variety of emotions. Of course, the Shrike is fearsome.
On the other hand, I found much of Hyperion too jargon-y and/or hinging on concepts I didn't quite understand. And frankly, there's just a lot going on in this book. I found myself losing patience at times and just wanting to get through it, which added to my disappointment about the way it ends. Ultimately Simmons has depicted a future that I don't think I would want to live in, and an evil that is truly terrifying.
The priest's tale and the scholar's tale are the two standouts by far, equally riveting but in very
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different ways. I found the poet's tale rather silly. The hard-boiled detective's tale has an early cyberpunk feel to it. The soldier's tale is military porn, the consul's tale is alright except by that point I think the entire thing had worn out its welcome for me, especially given that it all ends on a cliffhanger.Hyperion has a lot of complexity and worldbuilding with some long-winded confessionals though the characters are pretty well developed. Simmons works with the themes subtly and more overtly, and presents a lot of symbolism and philosophy that I found engaging. His prose is excellent; probably the poetry is too, though I am not very learned in Keats. On the whole, Simmons is able to create quite a bit of tension throughout the entire story by successfully drawing from a variety of emotions. Of course, the Shrike is fearsome.
On the other hand, I found much of Hyperion too jargon-y and/or hinging on concepts I didn't quite understand. And frankly, there's just a lot going on in this book. I found myself losing patience at times and just wanting to get through it, which added to my disappointment about the way it ends. Ultimately Simmons has depicted a future that I don't think I would want to live in, and an evil that is truly terrifying.
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LibraryThing member gregstark
I really enjoyed MOST of this book. The idea of the pilgrimage and the various pilgrims stories worked well. I loved the idea behind the shrike, the 'farcaster' portals and interstellar travel time delays and so many other things. But I can't remember a sci fi book I've read with such a lame
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ending. Yes, it leads into the rest of the series but, for me, it ended about 50 pages too soon. Show Less
LibraryThing member threadnsong
I've heard that this book is the best of the series, I've heard that its successors are better, and this one came highly recommended from a friend whose judgment i trust. So here's my take on it: the concept of travelers telling their tales is a remarkable one, and pulled off well by Dan Simmons.
But the storylines themselves are marvelous. A Jewish intellectual and professor whose daughter becomes an unwitting victim of the Shrike's backwards-living. How do you answer the questions of a 21-year old woman when she used to be 25? And her friends have aged? Or a poet who settles the world of Hyperion in part to help Sad King Billy with creating a world for artists and poets. But the poet sees himself as washed-up and his Muse has departed, or is it the Shrike? What about a famous general who meets a woman in the simulated Battle of Agincourt, only to find her as a later incarnation of the Shrike, and the Shrike are deadly and bent on destruction.
In some ways, the descriptions of the Shrike are similar to those described as The Terror in another Simmons book, [The Terror] about the ill-fated Franklin expedition in the 1840's. Both malevolent forces exist outside of the realm of the protagonists' understanding, and both wreck incredible destruction on humanity.
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But the tales get bogged down in the oftentimes differing descriptions of this reality: the Hegemony, the methods and perils of space travel, and the world of Hyperion. Each story is unique, as are each of the characters: a consul, a private detective, a poet. Yet each is filled with a multitude of details that almost fit together, but not quite. Those details may have been dissimilar in part because of the need to keep the different travelers' lives and experiences within the larger Hegemony different. Which is a good literary strategy but not necessarily easily read and understood, at least the first time through.But the storylines themselves are marvelous. A Jewish intellectual and professor whose daughter becomes an unwitting victim of the Shrike's backwards-living. How do you answer the questions of a 21-year old woman when she used to be 25? And her friends have aged? Or a poet who settles the world of Hyperion in part to help Sad King Billy with creating a world for artists and poets. But the poet sees himself as washed-up and his Muse has departed, or is it the Shrike? What about a famous general who meets a woman in the simulated Battle of Agincourt, only to find her as a later incarnation of the Shrike, and the Shrike are deadly and bent on destruction.
In some ways, the descriptions of the Shrike are similar to those described as The Terror in another Simmons book, [The Terror] about the ill-fated Franklin expedition in the 1840's. Both malevolent forces exist outside of the realm of the protagonists' understanding, and both wreck incredible destruction on humanity.
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LibraryThing member dalai-lt
This was one of those I have a hard time putting down. It is true that the book ended abruptly at the point when I was anxious about the coming encounter with the mysterious "antagonist", the Shrike. I can't say I am disappointed though because this book is about the journey and it is quite a
The characters are all memorable with unique, very different histories and reasons for visiting Hyperion and by the end of the book there are things about them that are still shrouded in mystery. Even the way they tell their stories is different and based on their backgrounds and traits. In the end, there is no clear good guy or bad guy, they are what they are and they all have their darker sides.
The technology and culture of the Hyperion universe is amazing. The technology is believable yet unique and inspired. There are many mysteries in this universe like the Shrike and the labyrinth worlds to name two and I liked that these mysteries were presented as something very advanced from another time, rather than resorting to the supernatural. The role of the churches is also something I can believe in, big, old, slow-moving, influential, but not all-powerful.
Recommended to any science-fiction fan.
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journey!The characters are all memorable with unique, very different histories and reasons for visiting Hyperion and by the end of the book there are things about them that are still shrouded in mystery. Even the way they tell their stories is different and based on their backgrounds and traits. In the end, there is no clear good guy or bad guy, they are what they are and they all have their darker sides.
The technology and culture of the Hyperion universe is amazing. The technology is believable yet unique and inspired. There are many mysteries in this universe like the Shrike and the labyrinth worlds to name two and I liked that these mysteries were presented as something very advanced from another time, rather than resorting to the supernatural. The role of the churches is also something I can believe in, big, old, slow-moving, influential, but not all-powerful.
Recommended to any science-fiction fan.
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LibraryThing member TheCrow2
Simply one of THE gratest SF novel I've ever read. In he form of the Canterbury Tales we read about an amazingly detailed and original world and several most original concepts, the Shrike and the Time Tombs.... Instant masterpiece, a classic of the genre!
LibraryThing member cynrwiecko
This book is in my top 5 list of sci-fi books. I've read this book three times - at 17, 26, and 36 years of age. Each time I found something new. At 17 I was enchanted by the avatar and the tree...at 26 by the poet and the cruciforms...and at 36, the consul and ideas of hegemony. Simmons created a
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world in this book...fantastic yet familiar. I wonder what I'll find the next time I turn the pages. Show Less
LibraryThing member Rob.Thompson
First published in 1989, Hyperion has a similar structure to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron. Very simplistically the story revolves around a diverse group of pilgrims who have been sent by the Church of the Final Atonement and the Hegemony (the government of
After reading around half of this book, I have to admit that I just couldn't finish it (I actually skimmed through the last half of the book); I’ll briefly explore why.
The first issue I had surrounded the way it is arranged; it’s basically a number of short stories merged together with some loose linkage and sadly, this just wasn't the sort of framework that generated an enormous amount of excitement for me. However as I had read so many reviews saying how awesome the book actually was I thought I’d give it a go. I’d also listened to a concept album by Manticora called Hyperion based on the first book which sparked my interest too.
Another problem I had was that Simmons delights in describing situations, people, places, and things in general. Fantastic world building and background for sure, but in my view it adds little to the overall plot. I’m sure that the vast majority of readers will appreciate this and be drawn into the richly described world thereby bonding in some way with the events that unfold. For me these descriptions just slowed the story down. Rather than making each scene thrilling I felt that this, in conjunction with its wide-ranging use of ideas from the likes of Keats (the title "Hyperion", is taken from a Keats's poem), Chardin and Wiener (to name but a few), hugely decelerated the whole narrative.
The other concern I had was with the characters themselves. Every nuance, every minor mannerism and characteristic of every person was examined and explained. Were these critical to moving the story forward? Probably not. While the tales they told were all different I lost a sense of who was actually delivering the story at times and found there were several plot holes which were all covered by blaming previous characters who had apparently narrated the story incorrectly.
Throughout the book we get lengthy plot explaining speeches and the output of the research conducted by Simmons, for example, on Keats which is infodumps onto the reader.
Even reaching the halfway point in the book took some effort and in summary, I felt that if the word count had been halved then it would have made for an eminently more enjoyable read.
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the human star systems) to the Time Tombs on the planet of Hyperion.After reading around half of this book, I have to admit that I just couldn't finish it (I actually skimmed through the last half of the book); I’ll briefly explore why.
The first issue I had surrounded the way it is arranged; it’s basically a number of short stories merged together with some loose linkage and sadly, this just wasn't the sort of framework that generated an enormous amount of excitement for me. However as I had read so many reviews saying how awesome the book actually was I thought I’d give it a go. I’d also listened to a concept album by Manticora called Hyperion based on the first book which sparked my interest too.
Another problem I had was that Simmons delights in describing situations, people, places, and things in general. Fantastic world building and background for sure, but in my view it adds little to the overall plot. I’m sure that the vast majority of readers will appreciate this and be drawn into the richly described world thereby bonding in some way with the events that unfold. For me these descriptions just slowed the story down. Rather than making each scene thrilling I felt that this, in conjunction with its wide-ranging use of ideas from the likes of Keats (the title "Hyperion", is taken from a Keats's poem), Chardin and Wiener (to name but a few), hugely decelerated the whole narrative.
The other concern I had was with the characters themselves. Every nuance, every minor mannerism and characteristic of every person was examined and explained. Were these critical to moving the story forward? Probably not. While the tales they told were all different I lost a sense of who was actually delivering the story at times and found there were several plot holes which were all covered by blaming previous characters who had apparently narrated the story incorrectly.
Throughout the book we get lengthy plot explaining speeches and the output of the research conducted by Simmons, for example, on Keats which is infodumps onto the reader.
Even reaching the halfway point in the book took some effort and in summary, I felt that if the word count had been halved then it would have made for an eminently more enjoyable read.
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LibraryThing member queencersei
Seven pilgrims make their way to the outlying world of Hyperion to find answers to the mystery of their lives. Along the way each pilgrim shares their startling tale with their fellow travelers. What unfolds is a story of seven very different individuals who are in some way linked to the mysterious
The pilgrims’ tales are enthralling, but readers should be warned, Hyperion ends on a major cliffhanger. Fortunately the overall story is so compelling that reading the follow-up novel, Fall of Hyperion should be no chore. Hyperion is science fiction at its best.
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and often deadly world of Hyperion. Once they reach Hyperion the travelers know they will have to face The Shrike, which is the embodiment of destruction and the Time Tombs, which seem empty, but which hold their own terrifying secrets. The pilgrims also face danger from outside of Hyperion as the Hegemony to which they all are citizens and The Others are gearing up for a battle to control Hyperion. The pilgrims’ tales are enthralling, but readers should be warned, Hyperion ends on a major cliffhanger. Fortunately the overall story is so compelling that reading the follow-up novel, Fall of Hyperion should be no chore. Hyperion is science fiction at its best.
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LibraryThing member mikemillertime
This epic sci-fi reimagining of the Canterbury Tales offers a little something for everyone, as the episodic tales of each of the main characters generally revert into familiar genres of comedy, action, coming-of-age drama, romance, mystery, etc. It is an ambitious sprawl, but falters occasionally
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trying to keep so many different elements going. It was certainly too easy to forget important details in some of the stories when they were last relevant sometimes hundreds of pages ago. However, Simmons is a gifted writer that still balances pace and style well for a rousing tale that spans time, emotion and the cosmos. Show Less
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
Is Hyperion a novel? These are the kind of questions I irritated my Modern Novel class with. There are two potential objections you can make, I think. The first is that it's actually a series of short stories. The second is that the story doesn't actually end: Hyperion is really only the first half
Yet, I would argue, Hyperion stands on its own. Fall is a vastly different book with a different focus; it picks up what was begun here, but the focus on character and genre that motivates Hyperion is gone. And Hyperion comes to a perfectly satisfying conclusion in its own way. But I'm getting ahead of myself there.
Like so many of the stories I like, Hyperion is a story about stories. Its format is self-consciously literary from the moment someone in the book actually points out that you're reading The Canterbury Tales in space (p. 25). This is brought to the forefront in chapter 3, the Poet's Tale: "Hyperion Cantos." Martin Silenus asks, "Haven’t you ever harbored the secret thought that somewhere Huck and Jim are—at this instant—poling their raft down some river just beyond our reach, so much more real are they than the shoe clerk who fitted us just a forgotten day ago?" (180-81). I suspect this is an Adam Bede reference; in that novel, the narrator complains that people identify too much with fictional characters: "It is more needful that I should have a fibre of sympathy connecting me with that vulgar citizen who weighs out my sugar in a vilely assorted cravat and waistcoat, than with the handsomest rascal in red scarf and green feathers—more needful that my heart should swell with loving admiration at some trait of gentle goodness in the faulty people who sit at the same hearth with me, or in the clergyman of my own parish [...], than at the deeds of heroes whom I shall never know except by hearsay." You'll note that for George Eliot, having more sympathy for fictional characters than for real salesmen is a negative, whereas Silenus seems to revel in it. But then, Silenus is an ass.
I doubt he would have been into Hyperion, but I think there's a sense in which Henry James agreed more with Dan Simmons than George Eliot when he wrote "The Art of the Novel." According to James, "It is still expected, though perhaps people are ashamed to say it, that a production which is after all only a 'make believe' [...] shall be in some degree apologetic—shall renounce the pretension of attempting really to compete with life. This, of course, any sensible wide-awake story declines to do, for it quickly perceives that the tolerance granted to it on such a condition is only an attempt to stifle it, disguised in the form of generosity. [...] The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does compete with life." Now, Hyperion does make that confession that James says fiction should not, but I think it does so in order to compete with life. James wanted literature to compete with history by pretending to be history: "if it [fiction] will not give itself away, [...] it must speak with assurance, with the tone of the historian." But for Simmons, literature wins by unabashedly being literature.
This Hyperion does. It has a profound sense of history, yet at the same time, it is conscious of its fiction. Hyperion is okay with competing with reality-- and possibly even beating reality-- because Simmons, like James, knows that we need stories to make sense of the universe: "history viewed from the inside is always a dark, digestive mess, far different from the easily recognizable cow viewed from afar by historians" (Hyperion 190). Without stories, we won't know we're in a cow, we'll only perceive a dark, digestive mess. But, on the other hand, perhaps the cow is lie, for Silenus says that words "are also pitfalls of deceit and misperception. Words bend our thinking to infinite paths of self-delusion, and the fact that we spend most of our mental lives in brain mansions built of words means that we lack the objectivity necessary to see the terrible distortion of reality which language brings" (191). This is what's happened to all the characters in Hyperion: they are all locked in the prisons of the stories they have told about themselves.
But that's the reason Hyperion spans seven different genres: because each genre supplies a different truth about the world, building up our composite picture. When the Hyperion pilgrims tell each other their tales, they are set free because they are able to see all the other possible stories. They have gone from having a cow to having seven possible explanations for the dark, digestive mass that is life.
And this is why Hyperion actually is a novel. It may be made up of seven different stories, and it may continue into a second book, but it does have a conclusion and a resolution: having told their own stories, and having heard those of the others, the Hyperion pilgrims achieve a measure of self-acceptance, and walk off into the unknown, singing "We're Off to See the Wizard." Reading it, I got the shivers. A group of broken people has achieved peace at last.
Hyperion lets us step outside of our stories and histories, remove ourselves from our prisons, by showing them to us in a new context: it lets us reevaluate faith by imagining we live in a world where faith can literally be proved, or lets us imagine what it means to be a parent sacrificing a child by imagining a world where God literally contacts someone to get him to do this, or lets us contemplate how we build God by showing us computers literally trying to build God, or lets us explore the relationship between sex and violence by giving us a being that is literally sex and violence.
At the same time, these people hear the disparate stories, and step outside their own prisons. No matter what happens in Fall, they've escaped their prisons and so have we, through the art of the novel.
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of a novel that ends in The Fall of Hyperion. (These are, I guess, mutually exclusive objections.)Yet, I would argue, Hyperion stands on its own. Fall is a vastly different book with a different focus; it picks up what was begun here, but the focus on character and genre that motivates Hyperion is gone. And Hyperion comes to a perfectly satisfying conclusion in its own way. But I'm getting ahead of myself there.
Like so many of the stories I like, Hyperion is a story about stories. Its format is self-consciously literary from the moment someone in the book actually points out that you're reading The Canterbury Tales in space (p. 25). This is brought to the forefront in chapter 3, the Poet's Tale: "Hyperion Cantos." Martin Silenus asks, "Haven’t you ever harbored the secret thought that somewhere Huck and Jim are—at this instant—poling their raft down some river just beyond our reach, so much more real are they than the shoe clerk who fitted us just a forgotten day ago?" (180-81). I suspect this is an Adam Bede reference; in that novel, the narrator complains that people identify too much with fictional characters: "It is more needful that I should have a fibre of sympathy connecting me with that vulgar citizen who weighs out my sugar in a vilely assorted cravat and waistcoat, than with the handsomest rascal in red scarf and green feathers—more needful that my heart should swell with loving admiration at some trait of gentle goodness in the faulty people who sit at the same hearth with me, or in the clergyman of my own parish [...], than at the deeds of heroes whom I shall never know except by hearsay." You'll note that for George Eliot, having more sympathy for fictional characters than for real salesmen is a negative, whereas Silenus seems to revel in it. But then, Silenus is an ass.
I doubt he would have been into Hyperion, but I think there's a sense in which Henry James agreed more with Dan Simmons than George Eliot when he wrote "The Art of the Novel." According to James, "It is still expected, though perhaps people are ashamed to say it, that a production which is after all only a 'make believe' [...] shall be in some degree apologetic—shall renounce the pretension of attempting really to compete with life. This, of course, any sensible wide-awake story declines to do, for it quickly perceives that the tolerance granted to it on such a condition is only an attempt to stifle it, disguised in the form of generosity. [...] The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does compete with life." Now, Hyperion does make that confession that James says fiction should not, but I think it does so in order to compete with life. James wanted literature to compete with history by pretending to be history: "if it [fiction] will not give itself away, [...] it must speak with assurance, with the tone of the historian." But for Simmons, literature wins by unabashedly being literature.
This Hyperion does. It has a profound sense of history, yet at the same time, it is conscious of its fiction. Hyperion is okay with competing with reality-- and possibly even beating reality-- because Simmons, like James, knows that we need stories to make sense of the universe: "history viewed from the inside is always a dark, digestive mess, far different from the easily recognizable cow viewed from afar by historians" (Hyperion 190). Without stories, we won't know we're in a cow, we'll only perceive a dark, digestive mess. But, on the other hand, perhaps the cow is lie, for Silenus says that words "are also pitfalls of deceit and misperception. Words bend our thinking to infinite paths of self-delusion, and the fact that we spend most of our mental lives in brain mansions built of words means that we lack the objectivity necessary to see the terrible distortion of reality which language brings" (191). This is what's happened to all the characters in Hyperion: they are all locked in the prisons of the stories they have told about themselves.
But that's the reason Hyperion spans seven different genres: because each genre supplies a different truth about the world, building up our composite picture. When the Hyperion pilgrims tell each other their tales, they are set free because they are able to see all the other possible stories. They have gone from having a cow to having seven possible explanations for the dark, digestive mass that is life.
And this is why Hyperion actually is a novel. It may be made up of seven different stories, and it may continue into a second book, but it does have a conclusion and a resolution: having told their own stories, and having heard those of the others, the Hyperion pilgrims achieve a measure of self-acceptance, and walk off into the unknown, singing "We're Off to See the Wizard." Reading it, I got the shivers. A group of broken people has achieved peace at last.
Hyperion lets us step outside of our stories and histories, remove ourselves from our prisons, by showing them to us in a new context: it lets us reevaluate faith by imagining we live in a world where faith can literally be proved, or lets us imagine what it means to be a parent sacrificing a child by imagining a world where God literally contacts someone to get him to do this, or lets us contemplate how we build God by showing us computers literally trying to build God, or lets us explore the relationship between sex and violence by giving us a being that is literally sex and violence.
At the same time, these people hear the disparate stories, and step outside their own prisons. No matter what happens in Fall, they've escaped their prisons and so have we, through the art of the novel.
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LibraryThing member cypher2048
Really enjoyed the book, but the ending was a bit silly and didn't resolve any of the build up that rest of the book created. I'm guessing the story continues in "The Fall of Hyperion" which I'll probably read next.
LibraryThing member Kristelh
The first book of a series. Published in 1989 and a Hugo winner that year. It is a frame story, that is like The Canterbury Tales where a group of pilgrims are traveling on a pilgrimage and tell their stories on the way. The setting is the 28th century and man has populated the galaxy traveling by
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"Hawking drive" and then through "farcasters". The story occurs on multiple time levels. The pilgrimage is to the Time Tombs and guarded by the Shrike and the cult, the Church of the Final Atonement. The legend is that only one person on the pilgrimage will die and the remaining pilgrim will be granted a wish. There is also a war about to occur with the Ousters and one of the pilgrims is an Ouster agent. The pilgrims are The Consul (a former govenor of Hyperion) Lenar Hoyt (A Roman Catholic Priest), Fedmahn Kassad, A colonel in the Hegemony Of Man's FORCE military, he is from Mars, Brawne Lamia, she is a private detective, Het Masteen a Templar, Martin Silenus, incredibly old foul mouthed poet and Sol Weintraub a Jewish Scholar. The story really is quite complicated. I listened to the audio. It was well done but really, a person must read more to really have any resolution in this story. I read this because it was on NPR-Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books. I thought the characters were interesting and would like to know what happens to them. Its why I don't like series. Show Less
LibraryThing member briandarvell
Read: March 10-22 '08
Rating: 4.5/5
What a grand book Hyperion turned out to be. The storytelling was superb and I am very impressed with how the author was able to tell the separate stories of each main character with such believability. I found all the stories to be great but the one involving the
The novel also surprised me with all of the poetry referencing. John Keats is now an interest to me and I should like to read some of his work. Even the reference to the tree ship Yggdrasil is from Norse mythology and I look forward to what the final dealings between poetry and Hyperion will be.
I found some of the segments involving the Technocore and the All Thing to be confusing. Although I know basically what they are I couldn't quite place their effect on the story plot. This probably helped constitute as to why Lamia's story was my least favorite.
This is definitely one of those novels that I will need to read again at a later time to get more out of. It boggles my mind that some authors have the ability to write so think and involved a story. It leads me to question to myself whether stories like these just work themselves out through the author's pen or are they planned in detail for a long time beforehand; truly masterful work.
If I had to critic one thing however it would be in regard to the constant referencing of Old Earth. I found this to be a bit irritating as the story was told.
Rating: 4.5/5
What a grand book Hyperion turned out to be. The storytelling was superb and I am very impressed with how the author was able to tell the separate stories of each main character with such believability. I found all the stories to be great but the one involving the
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father and daughter tragedy to be most emotional.The novel also surprised me with all of the poetry referencing. John Keats is now an interest to me and I should like to read some of his work. Even the reference to the tree ship Yggdrasil is from Norse mythology and I look forward to what the final dealings between poetry and Hyperion will be.
I found some of the segments involving the Technocore and the All Thing to be confusing. Although I know basically what they are I couldn't quite place their effect on the story plot. This probably helped constitute as to why Lamia's story was my least favorite.
This is definitely one of those novels that I will need to read again at a later time to get more out of. It boggles my mind that some authors have the ability to write so think and involved a story. It leads me to question to myself whether stories like these just work themselves out through the author's pen or are they planned in detail for a long time beforehand; truly masterful work.
If I had to critic one thing however it would be in regard to the constant referencing of Old Earth. I found this to be a bit irritating as the story was told.
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