As the pilgrims seek the Shrike the ominous thing in the eerie Valley of the Time Tombs, avoided by the frightened inhabitants here on the planet Hyperion, it does not appear, what to do? Days pass but still the creature has remained hidden, the letdown effects them they expected to be killed... The six seekers, the dying priest Hoyt , disillusioned soldier Kassad, sad scholar Weintraub ( and infant daughter, Rachel, who becomes dangerously younger, daily) unstable poet Silenus, heartbroken dete...

The Fall of Hyperion is a sequel. I swear. It says so right there on the cover of my mass market paperback, right above the cheesy artist’s rendering of Sol Weintraub presenting Rachel to a rather unimpressive Shrike. But I’ll tell you, it sure doesn’t feel like a sequel. It feels more like the first book, the main book, of a series, and it makes Hyperion feel like a prequel -- a superior prequel, but a prequel nonetheless. And I really wish I had read The Fall of Hyperion before I read its pred...

As the pilgrims prepare to enter the Time Tombs, the war between the Ousters and the Hegemony is just hours from breaking out. Can they enter the Time Tombs quickly enough to prevent intergalactic war and the deaths of billions?Here we are, the second half of the epic Dan Simmons started in Hyperion. Kassad, Brawne, and the other pilgrims introduced in the previous book meet their destinies. However, the bigger story is the war between the Hegemony and its enemies.During my initial read, I didn'...

Oh my god. Masterpiece.Phenomenal. I love this.

Hyperion Cantos #2: It's the end of times? Technology vs humankind vs outlier humans vs fundamentalists vs time travellers oh my!! And somewhere amongst this all, a quest for God?This startling sequel to Hyperion sees humankind struggle to determine how it became so vulnerable to external attack and so quickly, and most importantly why? In addition the Time Tombs have been opened, setting the Shrike free. Science fiction saga at it's best! A series, I should make clear, that is genius for it's w...

The trouble with reading a book like The Fall of Hyperion is that whatever book I read next will likely seem like a load of ol' crap. In fact, in a Shrike-like manner this book traveled back in time and slashed my opinion of the book I read prior to this one which now looks shabby by comparison.The first Hyperion book ends on a (musical) cliff hanger, The Fall of Hyperion carries on from there though the first chapter is narrated in the first person by a "new" cybrid protagonist Joseph Severn. W...

"Nurse, this patient’s chart is very confusing.”“Which patient, Doctor?”“Uh..Mr. Kemper. He’s the one in the vegetative state.”“Oh, that’s a very sad and odd case.”“According to the patient history, he was admitted a few weeks ago with cerebrospinal fluid leaking from his nose and ears, but it seemed like he should recover. But yesterday he was brought in again, barely conscious and then he lapsed into a coma. The really odd thing is that I see no signs of injury or disease.”“That’s right, Docto...

The series is developing more towards space opera and cosmic conflict range after the first part had played with different humanities, ethics, AI, and many other topics.A bit away from the characters, towards the meta big sci-fi is notorious for, the story shows how a strong female protagonist and another one, not sure about spoilering, are wandering through the settings of an epic conflict with vast consequences in the third and fourth part. Time travel and thereby manipulation of human civili...

Buddy read with Athena, Desinka, Gavin & Kaora"The Final Days are here, priest. The prophecies given to us by the Avatar centuries ago are unfolding before our eyes. What you call riots are the first death throes of a society which deserves to die. The Days of Atonement are upon us and the Lord of Pain soon will walk among us."The shadow of war has fallen on the Web. The Ousters are initiating a full-scale invasion of the central planets of the Hegemony of Man. Chaos rules in the corridors of po...

While somewhat uneven at the start this book developed into an awesome story with some of the most distinct, memorable and well developed world-building I've ever read, interesting and sympathetic characters, a strong central plot, cool literary references (mostly stemming from Simmons' serious man-crush on John Keats) and some thought provoking philosophy (although Simmons loses marks for incorporating philosophy into the plot and world in an organic and interesting way rather than through a se...

It's nearly impossible to give this novel the praise it deserves.It's also a mystery wrapped within an enigma, the conclusion to the grand tale set up in the first book, and it's an amazingly smart ride.I mean, sure, I could just point at all the great SF goodies packed in here, from black holes eating planets to AI gods creating Ultimate AI gods to an enormous war hitting the known universe for reasons that are delightfully complex and even more delightfully mysterious until the reasons blow us...

The sequel to Simmons' classic Hyperion is every bit as engaging and mind-blowing as the first book. The book picks up just where Hyperion leaves off, with the pilgrims at the Time Tombs and war with the Ousters imminent. We are presented with a few new characters - a cybrid named Joseph Severn who is far more than he appears and the CEO of the Web Meina Gladstone. Severn is capable of dreaming the dreams of the pilgrims and we follow their adventures primarily through his connection to them. Th...

Nutshell: how-to manual that recommends radical luddite social restructuring in order to defeat slave uprising.Abandons chaucerian structure of first installment and instead alternates between first-person and third person bits. Opening places narration at center of setting (barf) by popping first person narrator adjacent to president. This centralizing of narration is raised to an affirmative law of science fiction here, via repeated quotation of Yeats, and through the proclamation that “right

A chaotic mess sprinkled with rubies...(The first book, Hyperion, is a masterpiece)This continuation of the Hyperion saga seems to have been written by Dan Simmon's agent, pushing for more pages, using a neural whip on him for more cash. Ugh.Very long-winded and dull chapters, repetition, clumsy interaction between the pilgrims and other players, religious claptrap flowing endlessly....Simmons is clearly very (very) literate, hurray. We know that, and his inclusion of endless references to famou...

One of the best sci-fi books I’ve ever read.I don’t think I’m capable of fully articulating this sheer work of brilliance. From the prose, characterization, back story development, sci-fi world building, plot twists, artificial intelligence, time paradoxes and all the big feelies I had while reading this is too much for my brain to process. The sequel to the stunning classic Hyperion must be read if you’re going to embark on this journey. I can say without a doubt that The Fall of Hyperion is on...

Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to release new works. Something had to be done.On the spur of the moment I set myself a challenge, to read every book to have won the Locus Sci-Fi award. That’s 35 books, 6 of which I’d previously read, leaving 29 titles by 14 authors who were new to me.While working through this reading list I got married, went on my honeymoon, switched career and beca

"In the end--when all else is dust--loyalty to those we love is all we can carry with us to the grave." The Fall of Hyperion, the second part of the amazing (and I do mean AMAZING) Hyperion Cantos, by the superb Dan Simmons. Why, oh why did I wait so long to read this book? Honestly, I feel like I should be guilty of a criminal offence with a hefty prison sentence.First things first. You really need to know this book is the second part of a series. Can it be read as a standalone? No! Not und

There’s a lot going on here.Dan Simmons’ wildly popular and successful Hyperion Cantos continues from the first Hyperion to this 1990 publication. While some readers of the first book were a little miffed at that books truncated ending (ahem) word on the street was that Simmons delivered the plus size behemoth in one package and the publisher was the one with the bright idea to split it in half.Either way, Simmons’ incredibly ambitious tale of the pilgrims on Hyperion continues and his megalithi...

I’m a visual person. With me, things have to be neat, aesthetically pleasing, and in some sort of discernible order (even if that order is nothing but visually appealing chaos), otherwise I get cranky. I like charts and graphics and brightly colored pictures. This probably has something to do with the fact that I have synesthesia, specifically grapheme → color synesthesia. For me, everything has a color, and in turn, colors provoke emotions. My brain also automatically attempts to visualize inta...

So the Time Tombs are about to open, the process cannot be stopped/reversed, and now we get to see what’s in them or what they are causing. We’re also finally getting some answers (like what/who the Shrike is)!But before that, we get some much needed background info like what the Ousters are (I was right, they are human to some degree) and how the farcaster portals are created/managed. Thus, you have 3 factions in this universe: the Hegemony (humans), Ousters (genetically altered humans who brok...