I often find myself finishing such books or shows slightly confused, wondering if I missed a critical detail somewhere or if the author just failed to communicate it clearly (it’s usually a bit of both). It can go from being a clever idea to convoluted in a heartbeat. Time manipulation in stories is a tricky thing. It’s ironically exhausting … and kind of brilliant. Then it kept me up even longer as my brain tried to sort out all the information learned about this world, the Shrike, and their effects on time itself. It was the kind of gritty, morbid tale that kept me page-turning well into the night despite the ever-growing knot in my stomach. Although it started out with heavy religious overtones (the first perspective being the religious POV), it soon captured my imagination with a complex mystery and only got more engaging from there.

It is, and will remain, one of a major American writer’s most remarkable achievements.“Hyperion” is definitely a thought-provoking book. In the course of telling an enthralling story, it examines the problematic relationship between humanity and its own artificially intelligent creations, ponders complex questions of moral and ethical responsibility, and offers a visionary examination of the primal importance of empathy and love, qualities “as hardwired into the structure of the universe as gravity itself.” Like its predecessor, and like the two Endymion novels which would follow, The Fall of Hyperion delights, amazes, and enriches its readers at every turn. The Fall of Hyperion is both a grand, superbly written adventure and a work of great intellectual rigor.

At the same time, we follow the larger, overarching destiny of mankind itself. Through these artfully shifting perspectives, we follow the individual destinies of a diverse group of characters, all of whom we have come to know in intimate detail. Joseph sits in on the private war councils of Hegemony CEO Meina Gladstone while also maintaining a telepathic link with the pilgrims on Hyperion. The story comes to us through the voice of Joseph Severn, an artificially created “cybrid” uniquely placed to describe every level of the narrative. With these elements firmly in place, an extraordinary vision of the future is ready to unfold. And the identity of the rumored traitor within the pilgrims’ camp has been revealed. The pilgrims making their way toward their confrontations with the Shrike have told their stories. Interstellar war between the Hegemony of Man and the quasi-human Ousters has begun. By the time the novel begins, much of significance has already taken place. The Fall of Hyperion is the second and final volume of Dan Simmons’s award winning Hyperion Cantos.

FALL OF HYPERION by Dan Simmons - SIGNED LIMITED EDITION BOOK See all titles by Dan Simmons.

Hyperion by dan simmons