[…] novel is the continuation of Simmon’s Hyperion, which I reviewed previously. It picks up, right where the first novel left off. This means that you don’t really want to […]

@Steve: That’s what I have heard. In fact most people say that it is best to just read Hyperion and stop there. But I think I will read the Fall of Hyperion just to see how it breaks down from here.

@Mack: I think I heard about the birds before but I never made that connection. Thanks!

@Alphast: Very true – I loved Priest’s tale. It’s a great piece!

@chris: Heh, I’m the same way. I actually bought the Fall of Hyperion already and it is sitting on my desk waiting for me to finish up my current book. Can’t help it – I like the universe and I want to read more of it.

This is actually what happened to me with Frank Herbert’s books. I read Dune and needed more. Unfortunately the books that followed it did not live up to the original. I loved them nevertheless. Messiah was probably the lowest point of the series. Children was good, God Emperor was trippy (I liked it) and Chapterhouse was decent but it just ends in the middle of things. Too bad Herbert never managed to write a follow up to it. Some people hated these things, but I’d totally keep reading if he kept writing them.

Fortunately Brian Herbert cured me out of my Dune addiction when he started raping his father’s legacy. Kid doesn’t have a quarter of his old man’s talent but he is milking the Dune universe for what it’s worth. I actually bought one of his “prequel” books, got halfway into it and then hurled it out the window. Seriously – I just threw it out. Horrible stuff.

So yeah, it is definitely more about following an author rather than the series. Or both. I actually got few non-Dune books by Frank Herbert and they were not so great. There is a review of Hellstorm’s Hive somewhere on this blog. I also started White Plague and put it down because it was pretty much taking 300 pages just to set things up. I’ll probably go back to it at some point and slog through the rest but it was no Dune.

Anyway, I will give Fall of Hyperion a chance and see where it takes me.

@Mack: I agree, but I actually slugged my way through the next two disjointed pieces of crap. Sigh. I have wasted so much time reading garbage because the first book of a series was so good.

when i turn to a new universe i like to absorb it completely. i would feel incomplete if i didn’t read all of it.

‘hyperion’, ‘the fall of hyperion’, ‘endymion’ and ‘the rise of endymion’ belong together in my opinion. i’ve read them all. it’s a nice series, so why should i deprive myself of the complete story?

maybe it is the difference between ‘reading books’ and ‘following an author’ that seperates our opinions here?

Nah. Fall of hyperions ending was rubbish enough. didn’t wanna ruin the series some more with some new characters- The only ones I cared for in the first place was the Poet, Old Shrikey and the Consul anyway. Besides, the plot ties itself up nicely, I don’t quite see where it has to go from there

A few of you mention the Fall of Hyperion…have you read the next two: Endymion and Rise of Endymion?

Shrikes are also present in Europe (though we give them other names)…

This aid, I really liked Hyperion and especially the Priest’s part which is, I believe, a masterpiece in mixing theological and philosophical comments.

I just finished Fall of Hyperion about a month ago, and have taken to using SHRIKE 3000 as a screename. “Shrikes” are actually North American birds which impale their prey on thorns or barbed wire fences ( I got curious about the name when it cropped up in Hyperion as well as in the Mortal Engines series ). Hence the Tree of Pain old Shrikey has.

The antiquated gibsonian cyberspace bugged me as well, after reading your thoughts on it- Previously I just took it at face value and didn’t think too hard about it at all. Neal Stephensons Diamond Act “Ractives” seem more plausible.

But anyway. In the second book the Cyberspace notion at once fades and becomes more prominent- The AIs and Technocore play a bigger part as the plot of AIs Vs Hegenomy Vs Ousters, and the mystery of the doomed earth, the origins of the shrike, and ouster/human politics get revealed as the plot unravels. The Cybrspace stops being silly gibsonian Lawnmower man nonsense and instead is simply used as a stage for AIs and Cybrids and humans to converse. There’s a passing reference or so to “cyberpukes” but mostly they fall away and let the AIs take the stage for plot revelations.

Again, the AIs aren’t actaully evil- They have a mutaul coexistence with with humanity that humans aren’t aware of. The Volatiles in the first book seem completely stupid when the technocores structure is actaully revealed. Although the plot hangs together well, it does seems vaguely forced since it relies on an element barely ( if at all) seen in the first book.

The second book is a much more straight up description of Ouster Posthuman Politics, and clearing up all the mysteries in the universe backdrop set by the first novel. We get to see more of the hegenomy rulers, the AIs with the eastern philosophical ideals and a particular computer code/haiku style of talking, see teh ousters and snippets of their mindbending, weightless/artificial gravity generated escher landscapes and ultimate bodymod culture, the guts of the shrike church, and people getting cut in half by failing farcasters. As normal, the shrike doesn’t have much to say, but simply Is, which is disappointing, and the end kinda tails off into ambiguity after the Hyperion universe stomping all over itself in a spectacularly predictable but awesome manner.

But I ramble. Sidenote: Only on one of the later books does Shrikey appear with all four arms intact.

And I actaully really enjoyed the combat scene. It was satisfying videogamey and mindless after all that braintime spent on mystery.

‘Scuse any poor structuring, I’ve been going back and adding bits in wherever.

Ah, Dan Simmons. You’ve just got me wanting to re-read Hyperion. Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion are great books. He also does cheesy horror sci-fi really well and Carrion Comfort and Song of Kali are well worth the read (even though they are light entertainment). The Ilium/Olympos cycle are good too. More recently The Terror is (I think) his best book and is a fantastic piece of speculative historical fiction.

I loved Hyperion. But a warning…the other books are not so good. The “mystery” is anti-climatic and the writing seems to ramble. Much like Phillip Jose Farmer’s first two Riverworld books…and then the rest go down hill.