I've heard that this book and series is considered an award-winning masterpiece but the only word I can find for it is "weird". Weird scenery (like giant flying trees) and weirder characters without motivations explained. For example, one character finds out his friend suffered an excruciating death because of contact with an alien life form. Then, in the next scene, we find out somehow the character has suffered the same fate as his friend--but the how and why of this occurrance is not explained at all.

As the recording went on the story just got both more weird and more boring. And one of the narrators (female) didn't seem to be able to act.

I couldn't finish it--don't waste your time.

Again, I was fooled by the reviews which were generally positive. However, this was another costly loser. Although I managed to get through it, it was an effort. The story idea wasn't bad, although it took most of the book for me to get it. That was the good part. As for plot line, style, characterization, and plain old storytelling...strictly fifth rate. The book was
packed with overly dramatic
and stilted language, hackneyed and
pretentious characters so predictable and robot like and unlikeable that I wanted them killed off
in the first few chapters. Like many bad sf/fantasy writers, the author just had to give
several of characters those "cutesy" "names from the future" that no
parent in their right mind, even millenia from now, would likely even think of naming their children. And, the "climax" was not a climax nor was it imaginative. It was, worst of all, without
believability.
Except for its epic length, one could easily
guess that the author, when he wrote this book, was an 8 year old x box addict. HYPERION is a real waste of time.

I read this about 12 years ago and then listened to the audiobook. It was just as good as I remembered it and it translated well to audio. Ignore people complaining about the ending; they don't seem to realize that it is a two-part story. The writing is fantastic and many of the character's backstories are incredible and memorable stories unto themselves.

The narrating was hit or miss... the guy who played Martin absolutely hit it out of the park and was PERFECT. Just precisely how I imagined him and one of the best audio adaptations of a character I've ever heard. The Consul was an overactor, though, and the gal's attempt at an english accent was embarrassing for everyone involved. But that's no big deal considering the overall quality of the production and writing.

Simmons drags us through 5 life stories, spending hours on each, providing the most pointless details such as the color of random, ancillary character's clothes and what they ate for lunch. In the end, 90% of the people you've been reading about are tossed asside and no longer part of the story (so that roast beef sandwich that everyone kept eating really didn't matter?). And not only does he NOT provide an explanation for the main plot device, he doesn't even let the reader know what happens to the very same 5 people. He just has skipping on down the road.

What a waste of money and time. Really, don't bother unless you like to read about clothing styles and lunch menus of the far future.

I very much enjoyed this novel, though it was a bit of a slow start. I think that most space opera fans will basically enjoy this novel. I liked the readers with the notable exception of Allyson Johnson. She wasn't technically bad, but poorly cast for the character of Brawne Lamia.