Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

9 reviews

benji_dw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Hyperion is a classic my friends and family evoke. So I read it. It hasn’t aged gracefully and frankly modern sci-fi’s sensibilities lead to better fiction. 

The book is broken up to tell the stories of seven people on a journey to the ‘time tombs’. Of the seven there is only one woman, and that attitude to gender pervades the entire narrative.

It is interesting and different. I thought of totally new things. Full points for novelty. 

I am docking points because when it was good it was good (albeit problematic), but when it was bad, it was actually unforgivable. I didn’t find the manic pixie dream girl list quest or self insert sad-boi poet whining compelling at all. The racist language around Indigenous people is extremely gross. 

Maybe this book was good for its time. But modern sci fi is better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Violence, Racism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, and Colonisation

arl949's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, Death, and Colonisation

mheath31's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's the best sci-fi I've ever read. BUT do not go out and start reading this book right away. If you're seeing this review, you've probably read some things about being in the right mindset for this book. You've probably seen words like "disturbing" or maybe even "horrifying." 
It's pretty much all true, but I think I might've made it worse in my head? It's hard to tell now that I'm on the other side, living this post-Hyperion life. If you've read anything about this book, you know it's a collection of short stories within the same universe revolving around the world of Hyperion and the mystical Shrike creature that promises to bring pain to humanity. 
The first two stories, are probably the most graphic / grotesque. I learned my lesson about reading it at night. I'd say, if the Shrike shows up, just put the book down and go to bed. 
The other thing about this book is that it's hard sci fi. I'll admit that I got a little confused by some of the players and concepts at the end. I'm actually excited to loan it out so that I can get insight from another reader. I'll also probably read it again. There's a ton of focus on time and a few theories within the book that aren't cleared up in the end, but I suspect to resolve in the second book.
In summary, walk, don't run, to pick up Hyperion. And by walk, I mean, walk slowly whilst preparing yourself for some intensity and some very violent scenes. But, ultimately, get ready for some great writing and amazing storytelling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, War, Grief, Cursing, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Alcohol, Violence, Animal death, Gore, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Torture, Murder, and Medical trauma

Minor: Car accident and Pregnancy

singalana's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Murder, Terminal illness, Torture, and War

Minor: Alcohol and Animal death

tofutofutofu's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

2.0

For the first few tales, I really couldn't tell if we were supposed to sympathize with these characters. I thought, maybe this is horror told from the perspective of the monster, and each of these characters is terrorizing the people of hyperion and then being punished for their sins of misogyny, homophobia, colonialism, racism, greed... but then we got to the scholar's tale, which was beautiful and sad and sympathetic. It got me to wonder if we're actually supposed to relate to the priest who treats the people he meets as subhuman and the soldier who doesn't even ask the woman he's having sex with her name. Maybe she conveniently never speaks not because she is inside a parody but because the author is vile. I was expecting them to all die at the end, but unfortunately we are given no such satisfaction, only a cliffhanger. Without a resolution, it really seems that all of the specific 20th century bigotry that the characters have somehow preserved in the far distant future is just... 20th century bigotry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Torture, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Cursing, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Islamophobia and Homophobia

mar's review against another edition

hm! bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Sexual content, Gore, Body horror, and Racism

Moderate: War, Blood, Colonisation, Death, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia

babudarabu's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Animal death, Colonisation, Grief, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Genocide, and War

sequelmage's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective 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? No

5.0

Wow…I was impressed with this book. Fantastic world-building and a very interesting story that unfolds through what I would describe as 6 novelettes told within a overarching story. 

Just be prepared to jump right into the sequel, Fall of Hyperion. This book focuses a lot on the world building and ends kind of abruptly without much of a resolution in the overarching story. I suspect much of that resolution comes in the second book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Sexual content, and War

Minor: Torture and Alcoholism

srilekha's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Racial slurs, Colonisation, and Ableism