Review | Hyperion & Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

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[chrisrubenstahl]

The Scholar's Tale. Simply heartbreaking.

My wife isn't really a science fiction fan, but she has difficulty sleeping, so I read aloud to her at night. She usually likes Sherlock Holmes/ Hercule Poirot type mysteries; she was getting too into them, so she agreed to listen to one of my favorites.

"I hate you, " she said, after about five nights of reading.

"Have you gotten into it? " I asked, smirking.

"Shut up and keep reading!"

[MustardDragon]

Father Dure's tale had me riveted all the way through. It set the tone for the rest of the book and stands out in my mind as the best character journey.

[wanderthenight]

Oh, my favorite tales. This is tough. The Poet's Tale, because of its hilarity, as you pointed out. The Scholar's Tale, because it is a beautiful tragedy. And the Priest's Tale, because I ended up loving Father Dure so very much. In fact, there is a correlation between my favorite tales and the characters I ended up loving most in the second book. Though I do have a great deal of affection for them all. And for me, that's the real magic of these books. Simmons really excels at characters and their development. It doesn't hurt that the story is epic, as well.

[guidorovelli]

There are around 900 Sci-Fi books in my library. I have read the Hyperion Cantos 4 times.
What else to say.

[AudhamEnThaTokyo]

Awesome review! I love that you did both books in one video. The Consul's and the Soldier's tales were my favorite. Quite opposite ones in style and stories. 
I agree with you that the Priest's one might be the strongest tho. 
"Does he have a degree in every subjects out there?" :D It sure feels like it!
I bet, of all of us from the group, you're the one who recognized most references. Did you take some notes of them while you were reading? Or do you remember them from the top of your head?

[j.riverolll]

Read them once and marveled at the beauty and creativity of Dan Simmons. Looking forward to reading them again. Thanks for the review.

[im-jnvl]

I think my favourite tales where that of Sol and Father Dure. Endymion blew my mind.

[jonfernandez]

Perhaps the most impressive part of this remarkable duology is how with each individual's story, the writing itself is different. It feels like a different author penned every story. It's amazing and I've never read anything like it before or since. Dan Simmons is a gift to humanity.

[serpent]

Dan Simmons wrote an absolute masterpiece with "Hyperion", and its sequaelae. I loved all the pilgrims tales, more because they produced a whole, than because they were individually worthy. What is the Shrike"s tale? This series deserves serious attention.

[BGranoff]

The Scholar's Tale was my favorite. I have to reread these books. Can't wait to see what Bradley Cooper and Co. have in store for us.

[LetsReadSFF]

Loved both of these books. The framing structure, the shrike, and all the characters and imagery. This is writing.

[cybersnap]

I'm a bit late but the priest's tale was easily my favorite. I got goosebumps. Great review.

[MikeFITDC]

A yr later im still digesting and thinking about these books. The series is what inspired me to start a channel and do reviews. Yours is excellent.

[Literaturlaerm]

In Germany the two parts were actually released in one book.
I read them some years ago and loved them [although I didn't like "Song of Kali" by Simmons]. Unfortunately I can't remember it all to well, but I think I enjoyed Weinberg's story as well as everything around the John Keats-AIs. He put so much in it that it really becomes "more" than just a space opera.

[Josh-iiix]

It's difficult for me to choose between the Priest's Tale and the Scholar's Tale

[syndiccalls]

This is great. I've already read the series twice, best books.

[burnsloads]

I'm halfway through endymion. I found it ridiculous that the hyperion and fall end with wizard of Oz songs. it makes me laugh so hard.

[Calm_Energy]

Great review! I too love the crazy amount of references, Simmons is similar to Asimov in respect to the diverse amount of knowledge he has.

[ericmiller]

The poets tale is my favorite. Excellent review of this book.

[chroniquephilousophique]

The priest tale are fascinating and this is very Lovecraft strutured. It's not my favorite tho, but to this day, this tale still facinate me. This hellish exploration of the human mind still give me goosbump. As for my favorite tale, i think Martin Silenus won my heart. The story was, even with the ominous presence of a "slasher movie" behind the line, manage to grip your intellect as well as your sense of wonder implied in every mythical story inspired by the odyssey. Which makes me think that Hyperion is more a Dark Fantasy book then a real science-fiction book so to say. The science-fictional aspect are really approximative and really was there to enlarge the scope of the book universe to an interplanetary one. There is a magical aspect in these stories and the fact that Simmons disperse some sientifique gibberish in his writing to called the phenomenon implied dont makes it more real. However, this book is still one of my favorite to this day.