Hyperion

By: Dan Simmons

Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, Jay Snyder, Victor Bevine

Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it.

In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope - and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.

©1989 Dan Simmons (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1990
Locus Award, Best Novel, 1990
"Dan Simmons has the Midas touch: Every genre he writes - whether SF, horror, mystery, historical, or thriller - he turns to gold. Hyperion and The Fall Of Hyperion set a new standard for grand-scale science fiction." (Kevin J. Anderson, author of The Saga of Seven Suns)
"Dan Simmons was a star from the outset. It was the Hyperion books that made him a superstar. The man, quite simply, is what we in the trade call a writer's writer." (Mike Resnick, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author)
Each of [the pilgrim's] stories would make a superb novella on its own. ( The New York Times Book Review, Gerald Jonas)

Fantastic, weird, intriguing and well worth a listen

Firstly I want to get the good out of the way. Hyperion is first and foremost a must read and or listen. The prose and story are both snappy and wonderfully varied, spanning multiple locations, perspectives themes and even genres, while never clashing too harshly. The world of the Hegemony that Simmons built here is incredibly interesting and subtly and not so subtly represented and shown through the use of his Canterbury Tales style narrative in a way that makes it both weird (tree ships, casual star gates, time a anomalies) and yet somehow still believable. Each character is at well written and at the very least sympathetic which is good as every one of them gets a turn at the mike.
Speaking of... the performances here were for the most part FANTASTIC. I love audiobooks with actual casts and always get excited when they show up. However that brings me to my only criticism: that being the VA for Bran Lamia. While I love the character her voice actor Alyson Johnson’s, mostly comes off robotic and somewhat one note in her narration (I particular don’t like that her narration and her Lamia sound exactly the same) but that’s just a small blemish on an otherwise stellar production. Can’t recommend it enough!

One of the best scifi stories ever created

Great story, and the narrator are simply amazing, if you love sicfi this a must read/ listen

Best book I've read all year!

A wonderful, surprising story. It taps into many subtle themes of my other fave scifi yet remains unique. A truly cohesive and in depth world has bern created. Enjoy!

It kept me hooked

It kept me hooked right up to the end and then I was irritated. I had not realized this was the beginning of a series. Now I must have the next book.

wonderful

Took me a while to get going on this book. I bought on Kindle back in 2011. in 2018, I started the audible book... holy cow, what a great story! highly recommend.

Kept me driving

I will preface by saying that I am not a Sci-Fi fan per se. I like good stories no matter the genre, and this title came on recommendation from a friend who is a tru Sci-Fi nut. He knows I loved the Dune series, and although he was in no way comparing this to Dune, he thought it was a big enough and deep enough story that I would like it. I listened to this on a road trip and it was engaging enough that it kept the miles moving by for me. If I was not a captive audience I might not have finished this one, though, because I never got fully invested in any of the characters or the overarching story. It had some really interesting parts- particularly during some of the back stories, but also a lot of really cheesy moments, especially in the "real time" of the story, and the interplay between the main characters on the voyage didn't build anything real for me. Sometimes the long descriptions of everything got to be too much for me and rather than enriching the imagery of the story it just pulled me out of it and bored me.The ending was so incredibly dumb that rather than leaving me hungry for the next chapter in the saga it left me annoyed that the author chose to leave such an unbelievably cheesy final image in my head.

I will say this- my friend who recommended it really likes it and has a greater appreciation for the Sci-Fi genre than I do, so if you know you do like Sci-Fi you very well might love this one.

Can't wait...

This book was completely enjoyable. Great stories brought together with good writing. The voice acting was very good and this book went by very quickly. I can't wait to dig into the sequels.

Great world-building.

I read this in the late 90s and was unsure if the audio version would capture the same feeling I had of being immersed in a very well flushed-out future. I’m happy to report that the audio version is just as good as the paperback.

Excellent

I adored this book and look forward for the rest of the series. Highly recommended.

Leaves you wanting more

It took a bit to be introduced to the world and the mythos, but once I was brought on board, it was a great ride. And it's just beginning. This is mostly a set up book for the series, but it has great body to it to make it very good to read.

It's hard to review without giving too much away. But overall the characters and their stories were incredible. Ideas presented by them were thought provoking and insightful.

I dropped a point for performance mainly do to how disjointed it felt at times when all the characters were together. All of the narrators were obviously reading their respective dialog alone in the studio with no others to work off of. However, when on a monologue, the narration was well done by all.

I am looking forward to the next in the series.