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keiusify's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Gore, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Xenophobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Pregnancy
Hyperion, the first book of the Hyperion Cantos, introduces 7 pilgrims that have their own unique backstories. The book contains many SF elements, although it is more leaning towards fantasy on most parts. The stories of the 7 pilgrims contributed to building a vast universe and left a heavy impression.josiah17's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.5
Dan Simmons has good prose, but the execution of his writing ultimately lacked something that couldn't allow me to feel immersed enough throughout portions of the book. Part of that is his lack of description when it comes to the super futuristic technology and terminology he's created.
The book is also structured in a way that I didn't expect. It's essentially broken into 6 different tales with an overarching narrative that sorta pulls them together.
In order, The Priest's Tale kicked things off in a fascinating manner. The beginning of the tal added to my sense of confusion from the beginning of the novel where the overarching plot is introduced. But the end of the story left me wanting to explore more of this intriguing religion and the world of Hyperion.
The second tale was The Soldier's Tale. This one followed a military soldier of Palestinian descent (awesome!!!) who falls in love with a mysterious woman he meats during a training simulation. A lot of the futuristic technology and weaponry is present in this tale, so I unfortunately the tale suffered from a lack of imagery and detail to me. But it has a really solid twist at the end which had me quite shocked.
Next was The Poet's Tale, which was somewhat interesting and presented more intrigue regarding Hyperion and the Shrike. Just solid altogether, with a good ending especially.
Now, the following tale was truly exceptional. The Scholar's Tale was such a a brilliant stretch of writing. Completely emotionally gut-wrenching. I thought it was perfect, and almost makes this book reading just to experience that story.
The fifth story was The Detective's Story. Nothing outstanding. And actually pretty weird. A woman falling in love with an AI inhabiting the body of a human. Or at least I think that's what was going on. Pretty forgettable.
The final story was The Consul's Tale. A decent look at some of the oppression by the Hegemony, and another love story in a sense. The story ultimately provided a better look at the working factions of this fictional universe and the motivations and intentions of said factions. Or at least that's my perception. If you can't tell already, this book was definitely confusing and overwhelming.
I'm still glad I read this book even if it didn't live up to the hype. Perhaps I could've set better expectations for myself had I know the structure of the book. Anyways, decent read. I can see why people like it, but I won't be reading more of the Hyperion series.
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror
mice_are_nice's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug use, Grief, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Child death
powellki's review against another edition
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
mheath31's review against another edition
- 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 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.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Car accident and Pregnancy
alica2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
One thing that did feel kind of clunky to me was the general structure and pacing, since the story is basically just all of the main characters sharing their backstories while traveling on a (likely doomed) pilgrimage on the planet Hyperion. However, I ended up being so compelled by each character's story that it didn't matter how awkwardly the transition scenes began. All of the stories added some intriguing mystery to the pilgrimage and made the book almost feel like a thriller. Also Sol's story made me cry ;3;
Another drawback is that the story isn't actually complete in book 1, which I guess is acceptable since I knew this was part of a series, but I was still kind of expecting the main plot to have some sort of wrap-up. There were also some slurs that I was not expecting (the main one I can think of right now is the r-slur, and there was also possibly the f-slur). I think there were only a handful of instances of them, but they were still jarring.
Graphic: Sexual content and Dementia
Moderate: Gore
clemencepct's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Gore and Alcohol
bandolyre's review against another edition
- 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
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:
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.
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Terminal illness, and War
Moderate: Genocide, Sexual content, and Medical trauma
ailsaod's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Hyperion is inspired by the Tales of Canterbury (which I only have a vague idea of what they are to be honest) and consists of a group of 'pilgrims' from different backgrounds travelling together and telling each other their life stories. So far sounds boring, except all these people have some kind of horror element in their backstory, some of which I found interesting but others were unpleasant to read. I would strongly recommend looking up the content warnings for this book as it covers a wide range of topics people might have difficulty with. I personally really struggled with the soldier's story as sexual horror is something I avoid and some of the things in that section were a bit much for me (understatement of the year!).
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and War
Minor: Drug use and Sexism
luketheduke022's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
It's worth reading! Just a bit of a slog for me.