Review: Hyperion

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book created a bit of a backlog in my reviews, as it needed a lot of simmering before I felt up to writing out what I thought about the book. It also took some serious consideration as to whether to read the continuation The Fall of Hyperion before writing this review, but finally decided against it.



So the first thing you should know about this book is that it isn’t a book, but half a book. It’s strongly tied to the continuation and doesn’t contain a story in itself. With that in mind it’s a bit strange that it was rewarded with a Hugo in 1990.

That said, I can totally see what it was rewarded with a Hugo, as the writing style is magnificent and the world building is fairly unique (at least as far as I know). The blurb for the book reveals that this is about a pilgrimage that seven people undertakes to a terrifying creature in an attempt to save mankind. What isn’t revealed is that according to the legend at most one of them will return from the journey. This book contains the stories of why the seven people are risking their life to reach the creature at the end of the journey.

To me the very opening with a man sitting alone playing piano in a space ship parked on a hostile planet, a violent storm raging in the distance and the sounds of wild creatures accompanying his music promises a great space adventure. So I was a bit disappointed when the story turned out to be a ‘stories around the campfire’ setting, but I soon changed my impression again as I was sucked into the first life-story. The different life-stories are all different and each have an own theme, but what I came to really appreciate was how each one showed a different facet of the planet Hyperion and the surrounding universe in which it exists.

I came to really love this book, but a couple of things left sort of a sour taste in my mouth. The first was the complete lack of an ending and some closure. In a play this would have all been the first act, without the intrigue and conflict of the second or the resolution and revelation of the third. The second thing that took away from this book was the cinematic reference at the very ending of the book, which went down my literary windpipe and ignited a great deal of irritation on my behalf. I imagine that the author wanted to create a tongue-in-cheek reference, but to me it only served to ridicule the rest of the book.



So I can’t with good conscience give this book more than four solid stars, but those are also well deserved.



View all my reviews