Take a photo of a barcode or cover
I was so happy that this got chosen for my Hugo/Nebula winners bookclub, since I've had a physical copy of this for ages, and just couldn't find the motivation to read it on my own. (And actually, I ended up reading this on my Kindle, as this paperback had such tiny text that I couldn't fathom reading it.) It was...well, not entirely my cup of tea, but not bad. It's basically a scifi take on the Canterbury Tales, so a bunch of pilgrims are traveling to the world of Hyperion, each telling his or her story. In that sense, it reads more like a set of interconnected novellas than a novel, though there is an overarching storyline as well.
The stories were hit or miss for me. The first featured Catholics in space, with an anthropological bent and a bit of a horror twist, and was one of my favorites. The second was military scifi with some weird sex stuff, and wasn't my cup of tea. (I was honestly pretty bored, which is not the effect that space battles should have.) The third was an artist's tale of coming of age, and was my least favorite, mostly because I hated that character. The fourth was about the parents of a woman who catches a strange disease that causes her to age backward, and was good. The fifth was about a private investigator who falls in love with the AI incarnation of John Keats, and was odd, but also enjoyable for me. And the final was a huge spoiler, so I'll say nothing more. ;)
Anyway, I enjoyed reading this, but never really found myself too drawn in. The characters, even when I liked them, just weren't my favorites, and I felt kind of disconnected from the whole Shrike thing. I have also admittedly been having concentration issues, so there's that. I do intend to read the second book because the first two books of the series really compose one complete story, but not sure if I'll go beyond that. We'll see, I guess.
The stories were hit or miss for me. The first featured Catholics in space, with an anthropological bent and a bit of a horror twist, and was one of my favorites. The second was military scifi with some weird sex stuff, and wasn't my cup of tea. (I was honestly pretty bored, which is not the effect that space battles should have.) The third was an artist's tale of coming of age, and was my least favorite, mostly because I hated that character. The fourth was about the parents of a woman who catches a strange disease that causes her to age backward, and was good. The fifth was about a private investigator who falls in love with the AI incarnation of John Keats, and was odd, but also enjoyable for me. And the final was a huge spoiler, so I'll say nothing more. ;)
Anyway, I enjoyed reading this, but never really found myself too drawn in. The characters, even when I liked them, just weren't my favorites, and I felt kind of disconnected from the whole Shrike thing. I have also admittedly been having concentration issues, so there's that. I do intend to read the second book because the first two books of the series really compose one complete story, but not sure if I'll go beyond that. We'll see, I guess.