Hyperion - Dan Simmons

Look forward to it. Lots of friends tell me it's a wonderful read. I have a copy but yet to invest the time, so many books, so little time GRRR.....
 
I've read three out of four and without saying too much I've enjoyed them alot so far. I'm not always a fan of stories where several characters are introduced and then the story unfolds either forwards or backwards through each character in turn. Its hard to get the balance right so that the reader doesn't want to ignore one character in favour of another.

But I found with the opening Hyperion in particular that as each character begun to tell their story, they were the ones I wanted to know about. That's not to say I didnt have favourites but from memory there was no real sensation of a central character.

In my opinion Hyperion deserves the respect/awards its received, Is the whole cantos as strong and deserving? That's maybe more debatable but like I said I've certainly enjoyed reading it.

I wasn't so sure about Endymion before reading it, novels that revisit a place long after the original tale is told are notoriously hit and miss but again I got into reading it easily, this time it follows two distinct streams and although I'd finish a chapter and not want to switch characters that only ever lasted a few lines before I was happily reading and likely to finish the next chapter in the same way :).

I'll add that my knowledge of some of the literary influences is pretty sketchy, which I imagine might add another layer to reading the cantos.
 
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second all that Hyperion and Endymion i really enjoyed and theres the ones about Troy as well, Ilium and Olympos, which are an enjoyable read too.
 
I read Hyperion earlier this year. I thought the first half of the book was good. Some of the characters and their stories was very well done.

Its is though the only SF i havent finished reading this year. The world was too uninteristing and some of the characters didnt touch me. Some of them i liked. But the lack of story cause you wait for the characters tales and why they are going where they are going was a big minus. It got to be too much about the characters for me.

I could have forced my way through it but i had better SF books to read at that time.

I dont see the fuss about it and the awards and the respect it has. It seems like the way the story is told by the characters was what made it rated high. Cause as a hole book Hyperion isnt that good IMO. To call it a classic as some say it is going way too far and dissing the real SF classics....
 
Ok, maybe somebody in THIS thread can help me. I lost my copy of The Rise of Endymion about 50 pages from the end. Endymion and Aena had just dropped off Fedman on Mars and they were about to head to Pacem to see the pope.

Somebody please summarize quickly what happened! I was almost finished, and I need to know as I can't find this book anywhere locally.
 
If anyone can please do it by PM or put a nice big SPOILER on it, as I said above I haven't read the last book yet :)
 
Gripping Book, though it ends on a cliff hanger, for me - not that that 's bad, I just wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters
 
Only just starting chapter 3 now (although it's already been 180 pages).

I quite like the format where the main characters retell their tales. Reminds me of one of the stories in the Arabian Nights where 3 different groups heading towards a genie meet up along the way, and they each tell their stories on why they are visiting the genie. The shrike does seem like a fanstatical being with supernatural powers so far, a lot like the genies in the Arabian Nights.
 
I have found Dan Simmons to be a superb writer and I read the omnibuses of this last year and found it to be an excellent read. It's not usually the sort of book that i would read and i was surprised that i enjoyed it as much as i did. I would recommend it to anyone.
 
I have read the first 2 books, got it from second hand bookstore, and the seller doesn't know Dan Simmons so I can have good price. I got 2 books with total price around US$1.
I have to admit that I don't like horror stories, but I made exception for Hyperion.

The first book is an acrobatic in storytelling. Then after the reader amazed by the setting and background told on the first book, Simmons fulfilled his promises on the second book with gripping stories.

I tried to find Simmons other stories and found the Illium Duology, but so far I found Ilium and Olympos are lesser than Hyperion Cantos.
 
Absolutely, although i have only read Ilium as yet.
 
I thought Hyperion was awesome. I look forward to reading Ilium in the near future.
 
Hyperion has just got to be the best Science Fiction novel I've read. I've read it thrice, I seem to recall, but you don't have to read it all over again, you can just dip into those parts you like. The Man who cried God was my favourite, along with Remembering Siri. The Fall of Hyperion I've read once, and can't be bothered to pick up again. Tried to read Endymion as well, but gave up. Took away too much of the magic from the first book.
 
Anyone tried some of his other works? I've read Carrion Comfort, Phases of Gravity and Summer of Night and enjoyed them very much too.
 
Connavar said:
I read Hyperion earlier this year. I thought the first half of the book was good. Some of the characters and their stories was very well done.

Its is though the only SF i havent finished reading this year. The world was too uninteristing and some of the characters didnt touch me. Some of them i liked. But the lack of story cause you wait for the characters tales and why they are going where they are going was a big minus. It got to be too much about the characters for me.
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I noticed previously that you didn't really like this book and are one of the few people I know on GoodReads who read it and didn't like it. Now I've read it myself, I'm in a position to comment.

I suppose it's personal whether or not you find the individual character's stories interesting/engaging but I don't think they should be seen as pure back story, needless other than to flesh out the characters. It is through these stories that we find out, not only about the motivations of the characters themselves, but the nature of the various galactic forces behind the impending confrontation. Personally I liked all of the separate stories and found them as good as the meta story itself. Indeed, they improved the meta story by the way they added new levels of depth and complexity to it.
 
Hyperion is O.K. I was a little surprised that this book in particular has such a great reputation, and the prologue alone nearly put me off altogether. Also the priest's tale is so good, that the consequent stories seem a bit pale ( although i liked the teleportation one too). I didn't really feel like I was being told much beyond some fairy stories, or that the characters found much in the way of "Truth".
 
I just read Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion and really enjoyed them, though I thought that Hyperion was far superior.

To me, it tasted like the Canterbury Tales in space.
 
I enjoyed Hyperion when I read it a few years ago, but have not read the sequels. The mood at the end of Hyperion was very reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, as I recall.
 
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