Reviews

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

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jreeb19's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

radicalmguy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

sashapasha's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars

If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be creepy. It is the story of a group of travelers, so called "pilgrims", heading to the mysterious Time Tombs on the planet Hyperion. The Time Tombs are moving backwards in time and no one knows how or why, and they are haunted by a creature called the Shrike, a homicidal being made of metal. Along the journey to the Tombs, each traveler gives their account of why they are on the pilgrimage, which somehow ties in to the mystery of the Shrike.

I didn't end up loving it, but I did find it interesting. Each character's account is unique and creepy (or sad) in its own way. The world building is complex, and the motivations and politics are slowly unveiled with each story. I felt that the ending -- the reveal of the book's "message" or thesis -- kind of came out of left field for me, though perhaps I missed some earlier themes building upon each other.

Spoiler

I really thought it would be more about the Shrike and the AI "Core" trying to kill humanity, but it ended on a really strong anti-colonialism note, which only seemed to get attention during the final traveler's account.

A friend pointed out that the book is very male-centric, which is true

Spoiler

I did find it pretty weird, for example, that Kassad interrupts battle to randomly have sex with a perfect fantasy woman who basically never talks

, and it does not pass the Bechdel test as far as I can tell, not because the female characters only talk about men but because there aren't enough female characters for any of them to talk to each other (there might have been a snippet of dialogue between a mother and daughter, but nothing significant.) What few female characters there are get very small roles, bar one. But that's pretty much what you expect from a sci-fi book written in the 1980's by a male author. It's not about women and it's not trying to explore any themes related to them. To be a tad cynical, their purpose is to serve as a tool to leverage and incite the male characters' emotions. Essentially, the men love the women and are inspired by them to do great things. It is what it is.

Spoiler

Brawne Lamia might be considered an exception to this pattern, and I would applaud her role, except for the fact that her story largely involves falling in love with a man and promptly getting pregnant with his child.

The role of women aside, I enjoyed it as an unusual and imaginative entry to the sci-fi genre.

macoliver28's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

yaakovakiva's review against another edition

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4.0

The imagery at the end made me smile. What an amazing group of interlaced stories, so different and so inventive. A little miffed about the ending but can't give this less than 4 stars for how engrossed I found myself in everyone's tale. I'll definitely be moving on to the next book shortly. :) I loved the poet's tale and the scholar's tale especially.