Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, Book 1) Kindle Edition

I bought the Kindle edition and addible Audible. Today I had a four hour car drive and listened to it. Four hours delving into the backstory of a single character...and the backstory was not complete when I finished the trip. The overall story is entertaining and fun. If you need more than four hours to cover the history of one of seven protagonists...maybe there's some stuff in there that could get cut...

Dan Simmons invites you to partake of a space opera after the heart of The Canterbury Tales in the first of the Hyperion Cantos, which promises to be an epic adventure with concepts and plot twists fit for a season of Doctor Who.Known space stands on the brink of interstellar war between the human Hegemony and the barbarous Ousters, a nomadic branch of humanity that has lived for generations in a nomadic existence in the dark between the stellar oasis of the stars, and have evolved and mutated into something perhaps other than human. And all the while a third faction – the independent AIs of humanity’s making – keep to their inscrutable plans, offering computing service to all while seeking to manipulate organic life to further the AIs’ own interests.In this pivotal moment, poised at a conflict of unprecedented scale that could well mean the extermination of sentience at worst and the devastation of civilization at best, news comes from the mysterious world of Hyperion: the legendary Time Tombs are opening, and a final pilgrimage is called.Artifacts of an unknown and immeasurably advanced power, the Time Tombs are gateways to eternity, offering enlightenment and puissance to the worthy pilgrim. To the unworthy pilgrim, the reward is death most brutal and terrifying, because first, the sojourners must face the guardian of the Time Tombs: the Shrike.To quote one character: He’s Michael the Archangel and Moroni and Satan and Masked Entropy and the Frankenstein monster all rolled into one package. He hangs around the Time Tombs waiting to come out and wreak havoc when it’s mankind’s time to join the dodo…Personally, I’d add Gort the robot from The Day the Earth Stood Still to that list. The real one, not that godawful remake. Like Gort, the Shrike is terrifying and inscrutable, beyond reason and appeal, and if it’s programming concludes that you die, the Shrike will execute that program, and it’s target, and no force in the universe can stand against it.And the Shrike is on the move.The reader’s introduction to this epic comes in the vector of seven different people from very different walks of life, and even from different times, since many have spent time in stasis or have experienced years or centuries compressed into minutes or days during faster-than-light travel through space. Seven people who under normal circumstances would never have met, now travel together across the world of Hyperion to the Time Tombs, knowing that only one will survive. All the while, Hyperion is on the front lines and will be among the first targets hit by the Ouster attack.As they travel, they agree to take turns sharing their stories, what brought them to Hyperion, what they want and why they are willing to risk everything to get it.And to add an extra layer of complication, one of the pilgrims may well be an Ouster operative.The story takes the form of six novellas as the seven pilgrims take their turn. Each novella is masterful, written in a different style and a different voice, relating the character’s story while serving to explore different aspects of this vast universe and its history.A disgraced Catholic priest discovers a race of beings who may have achieved the immortality his faith has promised, or is it an obscene parody of life?A debauched poet chronicles his rise and fall and his drive to create a poem unlike any other, even if it is humanity’s funeral dirge.A private detective is hired by an AI avatar solve a murder. The victim? The AI himself.A ruthless warrior, hero and butcher, tells the story of his defense of a planet in a pitched campaign to fight off an Ouster incursion, and now seeks the true meaning of war and it’s answer.And more.The framing narrative is fraught with perils as well, since our pilgrims must worry not only about the approaching Ouster invasion, but a murder mystery among their own ranks.And in the end, somehow Simmons manages to wrap up all these threads and leave us on the springboard for the true epic promised in the following three novels of the Hyperion Cantos.All in all, a seamless masterpiece. I not only loved it, but I truly can’t understand how anyone could not be sucked in immediately. I plan to devour the next novels soon, and I only hope they live up to the start in Hyperion.I can only say that the first book is definitely worth re-reading, and the Shrike deserves iconic status.On a side note, readers will also benefit from a familiarity with some of the literary references in the book, particularly Keats’ unfinished Hyperion, from which the tale draws many influences.Also, the narrator of the audiobook, Marc Vietor, is a genius in terms of conveying different characters.

Hyperion tells the story of a vast intergalactic society through the series of seemingly random POVs- Much like the Canterbury Tales. The scope of the book is vast, and each POV incredibly unique.------------------------The book is so varied, with topics that i would never connect to each other, that i like to guess/assume/joke that this book came around as a dare.You see, i bet the author and a buddy were sitting around drinking... and boasting.Author: I can write about anything, and it will sell.Friend: Ha! Keep telling yourself that.Author: Im serious, come on, give me an idea. Anything.Friend: Hmm... Ok. You know how i love the poet Keats? So i want you to write a book about Keats. BUT! It has to be Sci-Fi, and in interstellar space.Author: Well...that's interesting...hmm...Friend: And, you have to include a real life account of the battle of Agincourt. And there has to be immortal androgynous humans. And electric/tesla trees. And an inter-dimensional death entity. AND. AND. DINOSAURS. REAL LIFE DINOSAURS.Author: Hold my beer.------------------------A Catholic Priest, a Jew, a drunk poet, and a military Colonel walk into a bar... sounds like the start of a bad joke- But these characters, along with a detective, a mysterious EcoFriendly-Templar, and a Consul/Planetary-Governor form a expeditionary group to make contact with the Shrike, and investigate time capsules. At best, only one of them will survive, and history shows that none are likely to... and yet all seven go willingly.The story begins with the Consul, abit of a recluse, who is the only living person on a wilderness planet dominated by reptiles. The story beginning/prologue is perfect and not one to rush read. A descriptive painting, it describes an extremely vivid picture that not only sets the tone for the rest of the novel but gives a ton of subtle hints about our POV character.The novel quickly pivots and gives short stories for each character. These stories are interesting in themselves and serve as both characterization and as clues to the mystery of the Shrike. While it is a totally different genre, there are interesting parallels to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None"- and "The Canterbury Tales" both in setup and execution.Positives:+ POV/Characters. Each POV reads completely unique versus the one before it. Not only does each character act different, but the writing in each section changes to perfectly match the current POV character.+ Plots. Each plot is unique, some even floored me. For example, Sol's story? Wow.+ Storyline. The story isn't linear, but more a series of random snapshots. Have you ever seen one of those image mosaic compilations from Mars/Ceres/Pluto etc, where a number of pictures are joined together to show a whole? Think of each of these frames being revealed one by one. That is how this book is structured. While completely unique in there own right, each story also reveals one frame of the whole. As the reader progresses through the book, more and more connections are made, and when finished, the picture/mosaic/storyline is awesome.Negatives:- Bit of a cliffhanger at the end.- The structure of two of the plots. The Catholic Priest's plot is from a series of journals, which makes it distant and hard to connect with. The Consul's jumps around and isn't linear, which is a bit confusing.Neutral:+/- The reader is thrown into the story, and has to learn on the fly, because of this there are alot of terms etc which the reader has to infer.+/- Mature themes. Sex, gratuitous violence, etc.+/- Religious references.

Loved the images that were formed and revealed in my mind by the writing techniques of the author. It was a lovely tale in time jumps; referencing past , present and future…a leap through “entanglement.”

Hyperion is a retelling of The Canterbury Tales, a space opera with extreme nuance, and also a love story (or rather many love stories). It was somewhat challenging to complete but each character's story was compelling and well thought out though apparently all a preamble to the subsequent books in this series. Highly recommend.

The story here is of people who’ve come together to visit an important site on the world of Hyperion. The very first story lays out my problems perfectly. From the start the narrator describes an entire civilisation at length as having no merit. The people are homogeneous, literally impossible to tell apart and all with identical ideology that cannot be shaken.Firstly it annoys me that someone would take so much time describing an entire culture to write it off as worthless and for want of a better term sinful. Derogatory terms are thrown out one after the other until I wanted to put the book down. I only finished this because I’d paid for it.People say now that the writers comments about Greta Thunberg and his prejudice against Islam are a recent trend but reading this book it was clear that he was happy to write off enormous groups of people 30 years ago. The story of the priest amongst the indigenous people reads as if Hitler wrote it. I won’t deny the story was interesting by the end but it’s not worth giving money to this kind of nonsense.

My first concern that this book would be of terrible quality, was the fact the spine reads Hyerion not Hyperion. It doesn't fill one with confidence when the publisher can't spell the name of the book. Upon reaching page 30, my fears were realised when about a third of the pages fell out, like leaves from trees in autumn. Any Peep Show fans out there - this was 100% published by British London.

This book breaks two pretty solid rules for sci-fi/fantasy: don't make up too many unnecessary words and make every book in a series individually satisfying.It just doesn't matter though. Having rolled my eyes at all the sci-fi nonsense in the first chapter, I found myself drawn in and read half the book in one sitting. It follows a Generation X style format where characters take turns to tell their own stories and each story is fascinating. The characters feel very different, their stories really do seem to come from different narrators. Some are pulpy and exciting, others are really touching.The end is a bit disappointing, it is basically put off to be dealt with in the second book. However, this first entry in the series is so well written that reading the next one was necessity for me anyway.

This book gives you a lot to think about, I can see why it is considered a classic. Seven characters are on a pilgrimage (the last one authorised) to the Time Tombs on Hyperion and each take it in turns to tell their story that has led them to this point in the hope of understanding the Shrike/Lord of Pain more and learning something that may be useful when they eventually come across the Shrike/Lord of Pain at the Time Tombs.It is written in the style of The Canterbury Tales, each character's story gives us an insight into that character and introduces us to a different part of the vast world Simmons has created. Think of it as several novellas that are linked together by their pilgrimage which works well.There are plenty of references to various other literary works which I liked, the ending was rather anticlimactic but if I think of this book as the introduction to the world Simmons has created and as several novellas then I'm fine with that.

This book was not what I expected in a good way. I've often thought contemporary science fiction seems to fall somewhere on the spectrum between one man messiah figures and unseen threat from the void. Furthermore the patronising belief that unless there there action every half chapter the reader will abandon his post. Consequently gone is much of the mystery that authors like Clarke introduced. Likewise gone is the political and social complexity of Herbert or Asimov.This book proves me wrong. That there are still authors who care about building complex worlds without resorting to tropes. The book is a complex weaving of narratives in a way that does not feel forced or unnatural. Its marvelous.It is well paced and has sufficient complexity and interesting characters that draw you in for the duration. Simmons has constructed a fascinating world that I wanted to learn more about. Whilst the conclusion is a little underwealming there is sufficient mystery in the whole experience to leave you wanting more.In summary this is excellent science fiction and for sure something that fans of Clarke, Asimov and Herbert will enjoy.