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babudarabu's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, and Cursing
Minor: Gore and War
deimosremus's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Hyperion is a title within sci-fi that I’ve been very much aware of for a decade, and I didn’t read the first one until late last year. I liked it a lot, though I had some criticisms of it, one of which being the decision to leave off on one of the most massive of cliffhangers. I decided to finally read The Fall of Hyperion, and similarly to Gene Wolfe’s The Urth of the New Sun enhancing its preceding tetralogy, I feel that the ‘sum of its parts’ convention can be used here— I think that both novels in the Cantos are very strong, even if flawed, but together, make for something more satisfying than they are on an individual basis… and it has made a Dan Simmons fan out of me.
Simmons develops the pilgrim characters very well, and in doing so, has made the suffering they endure to be really hard-hitting and emotional. He has also crafted a world that’s bizarre and unique, but nuanced and fully-formed. I tend to not love world-building-heavy SFF, but when it’s this well done and it doesn’t browbeat you with exposition, it really works (same reason I enjoy Dune or Left Hand of Darkness). It’s written very well and tows the line between more conventional writing and a style that’s more allusive and challenging. Very solid.
I think if there was a criticism I have about FoH, it’s that the Pilgrims and their plight at the time-tombs is much more fascinating to me than the Ouster invasion. The first book had this conflict materialize in the background in favor of fleshing out the characters and the reasons behind their pilgrimage to Hyperion. I’ve never been very interested in novels where the main conflict is that of warfare, and with the Ouster conflict coming to a head, I found the first half of the novel to be much more exciting than that of the second (sans the wonderfully-disorienting segments involving the A.I. Ummon, that take place in the web).
This all said, It was nice to have another ‘series’ to sink my teeth into, other than Dune and New Sun, even if it’s only a duology. I don’t know if I’ll read any more novels set in this universe or not— I’ve heard VERY mixed things about subsequent titles, but Simmons has created something very memorable here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
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