Hyperion (Hyperion Series #1)

A reviewer

Great book, really well written, interesting characters. However, don't be fooled into thinking this book stands on it own, it doesn't. At page 560 you'll realize that nothing will be resolved and apparently you'll need to read the sequel to get some semblance of a complete story.

8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

Riveting

What a truly fun book to read. Dan Simmons captures the imagination with the 7 pilgrim's tales and keep it riveted to the page the entire time - you'll love and hate each of the pilgrims. Which will get their wish granted by the Shrike?

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Great Book

I went into reading this book with high expectations, and I came out of it with those expectations shattered. THIS IS AN NCREDIBLE BOOK. The plot is highly original, and all of the character's stories(except Kassad's, I didn't enjoy it that much) were very interesting. Overall this is a great read. I can't wait to read the Fall of Hyperion!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Great Scifi

Hyperion is more than the interaction of the 7 pilgrims. It builds a universe of incredible depth and complexity, while also focusing on characters who have had tremendously varied and intense life experiences. Hyperion sets it up, and Fall of delivers.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

While enjoyable, I was able to "put it down" frequently.

The story seems to me to be a repeat of some parts of several classic science fiction and/or fantasy tales, an exercise in showing how great the author's vocabulary is, and how much he knows about so very many areas of science.

I also include the second half of the story, The Fall of Hyperion, in the comment above. Smart guy, what?

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

How can it be any better?

I began to read this book not because it won an award or anything like that but because it was shown in an anime. So I picked it up and soon I was sucked into the world of Hyperion. When I finished the book, I immediately bought the other three books in the series. This is a must read for anybody and everybody.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

How Could All The Reviews Be Wrong?

I am a long time SF reader who has always held Hugo award authors with the highest esteem. With this in mind I druged through the story line of Hyperion expecting that with the very next page I would be hooked. Unfortunately I completed the entire book with the thought that how could my taste be that differnt from the multitude of other SF readers?.. Up to now I have never been disappointed by those books that have been bestowed the winner of the Hugo Award. Sadly, I now view the Hugo Award in a slightly different light.

2 out of 11 people found this review helpful.

now this is just fantabulous

i read this book and immediately had to purchase the other three books in the series. the plot has all the depth and backstory every sci fi nerd craves to make the entire world seem real. essentially, if you dislike this book, there's something wrong with you.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Oh my god

Wow! I was scanning the booksheleves for actually a good fantasy...when I found Hyperion. I took a look, and I decided to buy it only because it won a Hugo. Then when I brought it home I was so surprised at the depth and greatness of this book. I loove this story so much because it is soooo creative and it never lags. It is completely flawless!! This will go down in the list of science fiction classics. It is an important voice in sci-fi, and it really screams.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

An accomplishment of science, speculative fiction, and literature.

When Dan Simmons struck out to create the world that is contained in Hyperion, he must have had a grand vision of the future: man spread across the reaches of known space and a symbiosis of man and machine. What the reader takes away from this grand vision is a sense of awe and wonder. Each of the characters, in their own way, contributes to the fluidity of the story and to the environment around them. Simmons gracefully sets up each of the many looming conflicts, and resolves most of them with an ending that is extremely satisfying but leaves the reader ready for the sequel (which is also very, very good). All in all, it is more than just a book. It is a concept which was crafted together masterfully by Simmons and his wonderful writing, plot, characters, and most of all, universe.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Pilgrimage

Most of the what needs to be said about this sensational epic has been said by other reviewers, so I will just add two comments: 1)Was I the only one to notice the parallel, no doubt intentional, to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales? Companions on a pilgrimage tell their stories one by one. 2)Anyone debating whether or not to read this series should read the preface. If you can read the preface to Hyperion and not be instantly hooked, you are not a discerning fan of science fiction.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Have a copy of the sequel ready!

Hyperion is an enticingly original sci-fi story with parallels to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and to the life of John Keats. Allusions to the passion-indeed to the life force-of John Keats are seeded throughout the story in the most intricate manner. However, setting aside Simmons' background in English literature, Hyperion is a book that every science fiction lover should read. Enthrall your imagination while 7 pilgrims on a mission to visit the deadly Shrike relate their stories one-by-one. Simmons displays amazing creative talents as he endears each character (even the most annoying of them) to the fascinated readers. The turn of events is completely unexpected. Simmons keeps you guessing until the very end. Unfortunately, he doesn't end the story here, though. In order to find out what happens to the new found friends, the reader must buy the next book in the series: The Fall of Hyperion (which DOES finish the story). Despite the disappointment and frustration I felt at the end when I had to get my boyfriend to fly a copy of the sequel to me from half-way across the country, I understand the reason for Simmons' unsatisfying conclusion-the ending of the story IS another story.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Amazing!! Can't put it down!

Hyperion from Dan Simmons is a wonderful read. Written in form similar to the Canterbury Tales, Hyperion weaves the story of 7 pilgrims on their fateful journey.

Simmons does a fantastic job of explaining just enough so that you know what is going on, but leave quite a bit to the imagination and leaves you wondering, until he wants to fill you in on those particular details. Amazing job of storytelling.

The main antagonist is a mythial Shrike, which is about as scary a creature as in any book you will every read. About 9 foot tall, made of metal, has 4 arms, and spikes and blades coming out all over his body. No one knows what the Shrike is or what it does, but each year, 7 pilgrims go to Hyperion to beseech the Skrike. All 7 are able to ask him 1 single request, and the Shrike will grant 1 of the 7 their wish, and the others it kills horribly.

Without trying to much to make it sound like a horror novel, it is anything but. Of course, there are elements of horror in the book, but it is a scifi classic in which the consequences are large and far reaching for each and everyone of the characters.

As the 7 stories by the Pilgrims are being told, you begin to think, "well, I'm not going to like the next pilgrim's story as much as this one." And yet you do. The empathy that you begin to feel for all of the characters is amazing, and a majority of the story is centered around their tales, which then gives more and more context to what is happening in the book between the stories told by the pilgrims.

Without trying to spoil anything, the book ends on quite a cliffhanger which I probably would have been furious had I read the book when it was first published, knowing that I would have to wait a couple year for a conclusion to the story. But it is well worth it, let me tell you. I purchased the sequel "The Fall of Hyperion" before I had even finished the first one!

Hyperion is deserving of all the awards it won, and all of those it didn't win as well. It is one of the best books I have read in quite some time, scifi or not. It is a well crafted piece of storytelling at its finest.

You will NOT be disappointed in it!

Another good one.

Dan Simmons always writes a a good yarn. Just buy the book, and enjoy.

Unique and interesting

I really enjoyed the style of this book. The characters are explained by telling their own stories like "The Canterbury Tales". The story develops and the mystery of the problems to solve are gradually exposed.

Well paced plot, characters with depth, at times very moving as it pulls you in.

Excellent

Hyperion is a brilliant compilation of ideas, arranged into a frame story in the style of Chaucer. The novel paints a vivid picture of a realistic society, a mystical world, and the lives that both shape.

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Good si fi

I love this series !!!

So addictive! So imaginative !!! Dan Simmons rocks ! Buy the whole series. I will be painting the Shrike on canvas before much longer. I disagree with the artwork already contracted. I will be painting the Shrike on canvas before the end of 2012.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Perfection of scfii

Great!

Great book but it doesn't have an ending.

I loved this book even though the author changes who is narrating the story many times during the course of the book. Usually I find this disconcerting in a novel, but the author did a great job in employing different narrative styles to give each character their own voice when telling their respective stories. My main complaint with this book is that it doesn't end. I can only assume it is continued in the sequel. This is most annoying. I don't like spending time and money on a novel only to be put off at the denouement.