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powellki's review against another edition
Boring as fuck, language is old and I can tell it was published the same year I was born. Chapters are ridiculously long, to the point it should be noted it's basically 7 short stories with only a semi-locked in plot for the rest of the book. Hard pass on the Jesus allegory of the first story where the Jesuit Priest keeps calling a group of people "small re***ds" and comparing them to children. Only made it slightly into story 2 when the sex scene was just so laughable that I couldn't continue. There was no way the position being described could be performed if the two people are in the stated positions (or unless the female was a.) an illusion, b.) a contortionist, or c.) just dislocating her arm to perform said acts). -10/10 do not recommend. Don't see why it's considered a "pillar of Sci-Fi."
Content Warnings
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
ailsaod's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- 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
I thought this was a sci-fi book - not sci-fi horror!!! Oh boy was I not prepared for the depths this book goes to - or just for anything about this book to be honest!
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!).
One thing I found frustrating about this book is that I never really understand what the point of it all is. For most of the book you don't know what the Time Tombs even are and you certainly don't know why anyone would want to go there. It does get explained a bit towards the end but it never really made sense. I get that it is supposed to be mysterious but it felt more like badly explained to me. There are a lot of interesting things in the worldbuilding of this book but they are just mentioned casually like "oh yea Hyperion is one of those labyrinth worlds". OK, please elaborate?
Another reason I didn't like this book much is the way the characters are written - the main character is pretty much a blank slate and is barely even named in the book (which is for plot reasons, but doesn't make his point of view any more enjoyable!). A lot of the other characters behave in ways that are so strange that they seem unreal and everyone is really horny which didn't help.
I think this book is for a specific type of reader - which is not me! - but it's not terrible. I would have been slightly more appreciative of it if it had ended at a less frustrating point but I have no intention of putting myself through book 2!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and War
Minor: Drug use and Sexism
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia and Islamophobia
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