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)

Classic Sci-fi

Any additional comments?

A great sci-fi story told in the "frame story" format. (Like Canterbury Tales.) Seven very different people are on a pilgrimage together to Hyperion and each of their back-stories unfolds the plot.

What I liked best about this story is that in addition to being a great story and setting, (common in good sci-fi/fantasy) the author happens to be a great writer (not so common even in good sci-fi/fantasy). You can tell that the author has a love of science and futurism but also a love of language and poetry. (References to Keats abound.)

Warning: When I started this book I thought it was a stand-alone novel. However, it ends abruptly and I'm told that the Fall of Hyperion finishes the story.

Great Stroy

This book was well woth the 20 hours! I wish all great books lasted as long. Even at the end I wish it wasn't over. Some people didn't like the ending but I absolutey loved it. It was almost unexpected. I kept looking at the time and said it won't end right - just not enough time left. But it suprised me. Not everything ends happily ever after. I'm going to hold off from listening to the next book in the series because I want the ending of this one to keep sinking in. I love how every character, a stranger to each other, were intertwined. I loved the priest story and the story about the baby almost made me cry. It didn't need the tree ship captain. I don't know if that character was just there to make a number or if the character will return in another book. But as a stand alone story the tree ship captain didn't need to be there. By the way 5 is a prime number too so they could have left someone behind.

Great but ends abruptly

Hyperion, is intricate, exhilarating, and, at times, wantonly embellished and needlessly esoteric. Simmons's works are all pocked with literary nooks and crannies that he fills by paying homage to classic writers, spinning poetry and prose, and reviving classic themes. Unfortunately, in his quest for literary achievement, he sometimes leaves the reader behind. Reading Simmons requires both faith and patience.

The stories embedded within Hyperion are a mixed bag. The priest's story is the most compelling. Father Dur?'s exile to Hyperion and his subsequent life with the Bikura is brilliant and haunting. The scholar's tale is also very good. The remaining stories range from mildly interesting to completely lacking in context. The purpose behind the stories is not always apparent and, without reading the sequel, they seem completely irrelevant to the story. They all play a significant role, but we do not learn this in Hyperion. They also serve to lay out the foundation for the frame story's complex setting. Simmons doesn't cut corners on anything. His universe is dark, detailed, and even confusing.

Be warned that Hyperion ends abruptly. I have no idea how this novel won awards without the context of its sequel, The Fall of Hyperion, considering that the frame story of Hyperion is completely unresolved at the end. If I hadn't known there was a sequel, I would have been quite annoyed. Even so, it wasn't clear at the outset that the sequel would be required for closure.

The narrators are talented and the overall production is excellent. All of the characters are given expressive voices that serve to illustrate and decorate their story. With a few minor exceptions, their voices are exactly as I would have imagined them to be had I been reading the paper version. The narrator who reads Silenus's part is particularly well-suited to the role.

An Instant Classic!

Hyperion and its sequel are absolutely wonderful books! Dan Simmons succeeded in creating an interesting and vibrant universe of unique worlds, fantastic creatures, and varied human colonies. He takes a unique approach by having each main character tell his/her own story in the first book to fully develop their characters before setting them into the main conflict of the story. I loved it and will definitely look for more Dan Simmons books in the future.

Awkward start, but awesome.

All I mean by awkward is...you have to get the back-story on some characters - and those back stories are great - but you have to cut the author a little bit of slack on how you get them - they all decide to tell their stories after dinner each night...and you'd expect that to be in 1st person, and when you're reading from a hand written journal...someone probably wouldn't have written feverish moaning..., etc. - but as I mentioned, the back stories are really good and...and the main story ends up being awesome...

This book pretty much requires book 2 to be a "complete" story, but book 2 is even better than this one - so you'll want to get that one too anyway. After book 2, you could probably stop if you wanted, as the story comes to a reasonable-enough stop... But I'm almost through book 3, and loving it. Completely hooked on this series.

I can only speak for books 1-3 so far, but they are all an excellent use of a credit.

Elegantly written, a writers writer

WOW! I love science fiction and was surprised and delighted with Hyperion. It is unique and written in a way I think of as a work by "a writers' writer" which for me is not only a creative story that carries me away it is also elegantly written. Dan Simmons pulls elements into his story that weave surprise and intellect throughout. To me Dan Simmons wrote this book because he loves to write and create, the style reminded me what it is to seek knowledge for knowledges' sake. The characters pulled me in and kept me riveted. I listened to this twice through (back to back), very well done!

Overhyped?

Good premise and good format.   But drags quite a bit.  Much of the sex and language didn't forward the story.  Terrible ending.

Maybe the editor should have cut 100 pages or so.

good but confusing

The mystery of this novel is great. However the understanding of time is so confusing I do not know how it passed the editors and got the Hugo award. If you ignore the concept of time and ignore some of the abbreviations the story is great. There is a whole cast of readers to help dramatist the story too. Just wish the author could explain the confusing aspect of time in the story.

Missing a proper conclusion

I found this story quite entertaining and a good listen. The problem is it ended with no final conclusions or outcome. A very good way to sell the next book in the series.
I may or may not purchase the next volume after experiencing a very disappointing ending to the first one

Six decent short stories don't make one great book

Not so much a single story, but several stories told by each character. The ending is meant to tie up their stories together but the supposed pay off falls flat. The stories are individually quite good though. But there is no chemistry between the characters when they are together, and we spend little time with them other than to hear the individual stories.

As a scifi book, I was surprised to hear the year it was written, Simmons has created a very plausible world here.

The audio production is one of the best I've ever heard, the voice actors bring the stories to life better than any other audio book I've heard.

Overall it felt like a first act of a larger story, but I'm not sure I got invested in the characters enough to want to listen to the next book.