Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

35 reviews

manatad's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

It's hard for me to say much except that I was surprisingly enraptured by this novel. I wish I could have taken the time to read it more slowly and savor it, but I had borrowed it off Libby and needed to finish it within the span of three weeks.

Hyperion was very different from the other books I have read so far this year. The main plot taking place within the present timeline of the novel takes more of a secondary role compared to the backstories of each of the seven main characters, whose personal vignettes make up the bulk of the novel. Each of these embedded narratives is written in a different style and tone, each one as distinct as the character it is associated with. Gradually, the mysteries of the main characters' motivations, the interstellar society they come from, and the dark entity awaiting their arrival on the planet Hyperion, are revealed to us readers before the narrative cuts off abruptly at the end of the book, making it necessary to read the sequel if one wishes to see the story to its conclusion. 

I wasn't as bothered by the ending as my previous statement may imply because I found the entire book to be thoroughly enjoyable on its own. I think that the prose of the novel, particularly during the "Hyperion Cantos" section, feels consistently inspired, and I appreciate the numerous references to modernist poetry and classical epics. Dan Simmons explains just enough about the science and mechanics of his fictional universe to leave me feeling intrigued and not bored or very stupid. (I'm not even going to pretend I know enough about physics to tell the difference between what's real and what's speculative in these older science fiction novels.) And best of all, his descriptions of the various planets visited throughout the book, from their unique flora and fauna to the color of their skies, inspired so much wonder in me. 

This is definitely a book that I think would benefit from a second reading by me at some point in the future. I'd like to spend more time thinking over what the strongest and weakest aspects of the story are, and to notice if there was anything I missed or glazed over on my brisk first read. Overall, I thought it was a refreshing novel, but I'm not sure precisely what kind of person I would recommend it to. I think there may be a glint of true literary merit to be seen here, but I couldn't recommend this book to anyone who isn't a true sci fi/space opera lover. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Sexual content

Moderate: War, Alcohol, Body horror, and Cursing

Minor: Torture, Death, Drug use, and Medical content

missdanielle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, War, Death, Murder, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Violence

garrettrook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Sexual content

ono_odog's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Cursing

Moderate: Terminal illness

sgrunwald96's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

Enjoyable and a cool classic scifi but a little slow and I was frustrated with the lack of conclusion at the end. World/universe building and creativity was definitely great though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Body horror, Death, War, Blood, Gore, and Violence

dzvenyslava's review

adventurous reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, War, and Gore

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