A review by shandyt
Hyperion by Dan Simmons

5.0

It's easy for me to give this book a rating—it is a five-star piece of fiction. The prose is arresting, the world fleshed out in rich detail, the stories dark and clever, the mood intensely evocative. Whether or not I enjoyed the book is a more difficult question, and one I suspect I'll have to ruminate on before I'm able to answer it with any confidence. I was never truly bored, even during the stories that weren't my favorites, but neither was I compelled to speed-read so I could learn what happened next. It isn't the darkest book I've read by any margin (that honor goes to David Peace's Red Riding quartet), but there were certain sections I still found myself dreading the inevitable emotional toll of getting through. One factor that certainly doesn't hurt my opinion of the book is the fantastic audio production quality. Not many audiobooks have more than two narrators, but this one has almost as many as there are major characters. With the exception of the female narrator, who I'd consider only "okay," they do a fantastic job—particularly Martin Silenus' narrator. He absolutely nails the voice of the cynical, hedonistic artist. Overall, I feel very glad that I read this book, and look forward to someday moving on to the sequel. I just need to let my brain recharge a little, first.