Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Hyperion

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

5 reviews

bandolyre's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Depressing Canterbury Tales in Space, what more could you ask for?

The story is told in a series of vignettes, one from each character's point of view. Some are very serious, some lighthearted, but ultimately all are tragic in their own ways and help develop the world of the Hegemony and the story of Hyperion and The Shrike.

The book is absolutely magnificent in its story telling: each character feels totally unique in their storytelling style, so that the book feels like it has 6 authors instead of one, but the cohesion of these stories' intersections is something special.

There is one particular vignette that has haunted me for days since I finished the book:

the story of Rachel and Sol Weintraub absolutely destroyed me as a parent to a young child.

I can't think of the last time I was moved by a book so much.

Read Hyperion; don't not read Hyperion. You'll enjoy it if you like:

- space travel time dilation hijinks
- razorblades the space monster
- Persian space marines
- star ships made out of trees
- drunken poetry
- creepy crucifixion imagery

It's a wild ride and I really enjoyed it.

Content Warnings

jcooper221's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Really interesting story, the world building was incredible. It’s a story about 7 pilgrims in the vein of Canterbury Tales but with a huge sci-fi universe that feels like I only got a glimpse of. Horror elements featured strongly.

It took me three months to read, however. I’m not a fan of the short-story/anthology format, I kept losing interest after finishing one tale knowing the next would be completely different. The overarching story was pretty static too, not a lot going on, just journeying from one place to the next. Worse,

there’s no resolution to the main plot by the end of the book, so we never get to see the Shrike beyond flashes in a few of the tales.

A few of the tales were interesting, but several were just the author’s barely concealed sexual fantasies.

Content Warnings