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tylerhollon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Didn’t particularly like it at first. Nothing really happens in the book, it’s more of a prelude to set up the next book.
The universe and stories are great though. It’s a pretty dense read near the beginning, but it is extremely worth it. Easily the best sci-fi I’ve read.
The universe and stories are great though. It’s a pretty dense read near the beginning, but it is extremely worth it. Easily the best sci-fi I’ve read.
cottonwood's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
selenajean's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sage_owl's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
mercurio40's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ldillaway's review against another edition
5.0
I’m trying to read more classic Sci-fi this year, starting with Hyperion. I loved this. The Canterbury Tale-esque structure worked really well for me and I found each tale to be fascinating.
megane's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
infi85's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
ag11's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
bigteo's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I went into this book blind except for the knowledge that this is supposedly one of the greatest sci-fi novels of all time. It had a lot to live up to and almost lost me in the first couple of pages.
It suffers at first from the classic sci-fi jargon nonsense. This is a problem a lot of sci-fi (and fantasy) novels encounter by using bits of terminology that only exist in that world and that readers have to try and be patient for a couple thousand words to even begin to understand what’s going on. Nevertheless, we get to the premise: 7 pilgrims embark on a journey to Hyperion, a planet that isn’t in control of the main government body of humans, and is being terrorised by some creature called the Shrike that lives in an area called the Time Tombs, which is going backwards in time.
The pilgrims decide to tell each-other why they’re there and what relation they have to going to Hyperion. So the book is sort of like a bunch of short stories in the context of a wider universe. Each story has different genres and pacing to the others, so it’s probably fair to judge this book based on each tale themselves. I’ll try to be brief with the tales and not put major spoilers.
The first tale is of the priest character. It’s an instant hook. It’s so interesting and the world building is amazing. From the flame forests to the fact that abrahamic religions have survived Earth’s destruction, every bit is extremely well thought out. I know this is a lot of people’s favourite story, and for good reason. It has twists, tension and unanswered mysteries. It reads as diary entries from a character the priest is directly involved with.
The second tale is the soldier’s tale. It’s definitely not as good as the priest’s, but it provides interesting concepts like using virtual reality to train in combat. I wasn’t too interested in the romance, if you can call it that. This tale also actually moves the plot forwards because we get information about the Shrike, so even though it’s not the best one it’s certainly important.
The third is the poet’s tale. Again, it’s not my favourite, but it answers questions directly about Hyperion itself. Saying anything more would probably count as a spoiler, so I’ll move on.
The fourth is the scholar’s tale. It starts off slow but once you get to the main premise it’s so interesting and gripping. It reads as a tale of familial grief and puts an interesting twist on the “terminal illness” aspect. Again I’m being careful on what to say but I really liked it. It kinda drags on towards the end and has an inconclusive ending (which a lot of these tales do) that isn’t resolved by the end of the book. Which is a bit disappointing, but I’ll talk about the ending soon.
The fifth tale is the detective’s. Contrary to what other reviewers say, I quite liked it. I wasn’t really invested in the romance either, and I didn’t fully understand the nature of the robot character. If I reread this book I’ll probably read this section more carefully. This part is a classic mystery detective “who did the murder” story, but it kind of derails at the end to reveal incredibly important details about the universe the characters live in. I was very interested in the ending but getting there could be slow at times.
The last tale is from, arguably, the actual main character of the book, the Consul. I hated it. It wasn’t even about him at all. It was pages upon pages of two character’s romance on a distant planet and I didn’t care about any of it. It took me out of the story and began to make me frustrated especially because I could see I was so close to the ending and didn’t know how the book could resolve itself with so little left. It’s by far the worst in the book.
Now we reach the ending. It’s not really a proper ending, it’s more this book is setting up a sequel (which it is, but which I haven’t come around to reading yet) and that’s quite disappointing because I wanted at least something out of it rather than ending in a state where it’s obvious I’ll have to get the next book and read on. It’s not a real ending. Despite that, I really liked this book and I do recommend it. Its pacing is all over the place because, as I said, it’s a bunch of short stories between the characters going on a journey together. It’s probably something better read in multiple sittings. It’s very slow-paced overall, but packed with excellent and clever ideas and bits of imaginative world building with a vast scope.
It suffers at first from the classic sci-fi jargon nonsense. This is a problem a lot of sci-fi (and fantasy) novels encounter by using bits of terminology that only exist in that world and that readers have to try and be patient for a couple thousand words to even begin to understand what’s going on. Nevertheless, we get to the premise: 7 pilgrims embark on a journey to Hyperion, a planet that isn’t in control of the main government body of humans, and is being terrorised by some creature called the Shrike that lives in an area called the Time Tombs, which is going backwards in time.
The pilgrims decide to tell each-other why they’re there and what relation they have to going to Hyperion. So the book is sort of like a bunch of short stories in the context of a wider universe. Each story has different genres and pacing to the others, so it’s probably fair to judge this book based on each tale themselves. I’ll try to be brief with the tales and not put major spoilers.
The first tale is of the priest character. It’s an instant hook. It’s so interesting and the world building is amazing. From the flame forests to the fact that abrahamic religions have survived Earth’s destruction, every bit is extremely well thought out. I know this is a lot of people’s favourite story, and for good reason. It has twists, tension and unanswered mysteries. It reads as diary entries from a character the priest is directly involved with.
The second tale is the soldier’s tale. It’s definitely not as good as the priest’s, but it provides interesting concepts like using virtual reality to train in combat. I wasn’t too interested in the romance, if you can call it that. This tale also actually moves the plot forwards because we get information about the Shrike, so even though it’s not the best one it’s certainly important.
The third is the poet’s tale. Again, it’s not my favourite, but it answers questions directly about Hyperion itself. Saying anything more would probably count as a spoiler, so I’ll move on.
The fourth is the scholar’s tale. It starts off slow but once you get to the main premise it’s so interesting and gripping. It reads as a tale of familial grief and puts an interesting twist on the “terminal illness” aspect. Again I’m being careful on what to say but I really liked it. It kinda drags on towards the end and has an inconclusive ending (which a lot of these tales do) that isn’t resolved by the end of the book. Which is a bit disappointing, but I’ll talk about the ending soon.
The fifth tale is the detective’s. Contrary to what other reviewers say, I quite liked it. I wasn’t really invested in the romance either, and I didn’t fully understand the nature of the robot character. If I reread this book I’ll probably read this section more carefully. This part is a classic mystery detective “who did the murder” story, but it kind of derails at the end to reveal incredibly important details about the universe the characters live in. I was very interested in the ending but getting there could be slow at times.
The last tale is from, arguably, the actual main character of the book, the Consul. I hated it. It wasn’t even about him at all. It was pages upon pages of two character’s romance on a distant planet and I didn’t care about any of it. It took me out of the story and began to make me frustrated especially because I could see I was so close to the ending and didn’t know how the book could resolve itself with so little left. It’s by far the worst in the book.
Now we reach the ending. It’s not really a proper ending, it’s more this book is setting up a sequel (which it is, but which I haven’t come around to reading yet) and that’s quite disappointing because I wanted at least something out of it rather than ending in a state where it’s obvious I’ll have to get the next book and read on. It’s not a real ending. Despite that, I really liked this book and I do recommend it. Its pacing is all over the place because, as I said, it’s a bunch of short stories between the characters going on a journey together. It’s probably something better read in multiple sittings. It’s very slow-paced overall, but packed with excellent and clever ideas and bits of imaginative world building with a vast scope.