A flawed book with very, very high highs.
"Here Lies One
Whose Name
Was Writ in Water."

There are few words that strike more fear in the hearts of Über-Intellectuals (as defined in my review of The Da Vinci Code, of all places) than the word “sequel”. Adored by Hollywood producers and publishing moguls alike for its low-risk, high profit profile, this extension of plot and character guarantees your presence for at least another act. Uber-Intellectuals, however, shun The Sequel for those same reasons; often rightfully so. If you can tell a story in one book, don’t tell it in two.

Behold the general rule: The Sequel is not as good as the original. Yes, this encompasses the distant sequel, interquel, midquel, sidequel, parallel, prequel and caramel coated chocoquel. Every good rule is proven by its exception: The Empire Strikes Back, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Godfather II. But make no mistake, the basic tenet is that almost all sequels are best left on your neighbour’s doorstep like the flaming bags of dog feces that they are. The Sequel is often devoid of fresh characters, ideas and oxygen.

Allow me to interject with two points: 1. This review is a sequel to my Hyperion review. 2. Dan Simmon’s Fall of Hyperion is likely only in the form of a sequel to Hyperion because of a publisher-imposed limit on page count. When deciding whether to set both this review and Fall of Hyperion ablaze in a small plastic sac, I urge you to keep those points in mind.

My review of Hyperion was a poor attempt to echo its literary structure. Clearly I’m no Simmons, let alone a Chaucer, but it was fun and I achieved my stated goal to do it wrong. In strict accordance with the rule of sequels, this reviewquel will likely be subpar. I propose to construct my review of Fall of Hyperion in the same basic form as its subject. This will require four elements: a less obvious use of the frame story, a first-person narration in half of the story, the use of dreams and an ultimate sacrifice. Here we go.

(The opening bit of Keats poetry)

My quick eyes ran on
From stately nave to nave, from vault to vault,
Through bow'rs of fragrant and enwreathed light
And diamond paved lustrous long arcades.
Anon rush'd by the bright Hyperion;
His flaming robes stream'd out beyond his heels,
And gave a roar, as if of earthly fire,
That scared away the meek ethereal hours
And made their dove wings tremble. On he flared

The Less Obvious Overarching Frame

Another reviewer has proposed that the Hyperion duology may, and perhaps should, be read in reverse order. This suggestion merits consideration for the reasons described more fully in that review. It also begs the question: would we then care enough to go on to read Hyperion? You don’t lead with your chin, and in my view, while it is a great novel, Fall of Hyperion lacks the soul of the first book. I missed the emotional connection to the characters that was forged through the structure of Hyperion. Each story dragged by our ears into the character’s pain. I think that is why that book was so successful. It feels untouchable. In Fall of Hyperion, however, we are kept at arms length from the hearts of Sol, the Consul, and the others. More than that, we learn about their journey through the dreams of a Cylon. Sorry a Cybrid. We are too many steps removed. Even if the overarching plot may have been even more engaging than the first book, readers will no doubt come away feeling distant. “It was great, I loved it, but I don’t know, something is missing.”

A Dream: Simmons Shrikes Me

(Something is stabbing me in the gut. I am impaled by a large pen. Dan Simmons’ pen.) I am not worthy to write the post-it note that Dan Simmons uses to remind himself to take his daily vitamins, but I am going to offer a few critiques here. The use of the word “Technocore” for the sentient artificial intelligences identifies this novel as a child of the 1980s. There’s just no other way to say it. The discussions with Ummon, while very enlightening, read like tea leaves. If you want to locate them in your copy of the book, search for the clump of pages written in some form of whack robot poetry code that relies extensively on backslashes. There are very few parts of the Hyperion duology that I don’t really like and Kwatz if this isn’t one of them. Finally, I know this isn’t Simmons’ doing but I was also shocked at how dismal the Shrike looks on the cover art. Is that a twelve-year old girl with bad posture in a Halloween Shrike costume? I wouldn’t give that thing the time of day let alone a baby. Sci-fi covers…sigh…

Semi-reliable narrative

As humans and as a society we want to think that humanity generally does good and will continue to do so, presumably even 700 years into the future. In the Hyperion universe, the Hegemony of Man is the authority that governs humanity’s settled worlds, including those in the Web (connected by farcasters) and those simply in the Protectorate, such as Hyperion. The Hyperion duology is essentially told from the perspective of members of the Web and Hegemony. They don’t see like bad people. Most of the actions they take are for the good of the people of the Hegemony. There’s also the All Thing, a real-time participatory democracy. The enemies of the Hegemony, the Ousters, are seen as “barbarians”. But the actions of the Hegemony reveal it for what it is: a brutal dictatorship. Worlds are dragged into the Web in order to exploit their resources. The Ousters are not necessarily as they are described to us. While this book is not laid out as an unreliable first-person narration, it smacks of that. And I love that.

A Dream: I Am Ouster

(My iPod tells me what to do. I look behind me. I have wings. I fly away.) A future ruled by artificial intelligence as a result of a technological singularity and recursive self improvement is a common theme in sci-fi. Iain Banks’ Minds and Simmons’ Technocore are good examples. Both Banks and Simmons play on the motivations of such non-organic sentient life forms, and have fun with our inherent discomfort with placing our faith in them. From my perspective, the technological singularity theory makes a lot of sense and seems likely. I do, however, very much enjoy that Simmons offers us alternatives to AI rule.

Martin Silenus Redux

Martin continues to be a central point of enjoyment in this novel. In my Hyperion review I promised to reveal my favourite Silenus line. Unfortunately I was an unreliable narrator. But I’ll give you a hint: it’s the first thing he says when Brawne wakes him up from his sleep.

Return to the Less Obvious Overarching Frame

I enjoyed Fall of Hyperion. A lot. The future of politics, military tactics that take into account the issues of space travel, difficult choices galore, and some answers to interesting questions. I want to give it five stars but I am forced to compare it to Hyperion and for the foregoing reasons, four stars is clearly a better fit. If anyone out there experiments with reading the duology in reverse, I’d love to hear how you felt.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

It was great, I loved it, but I don’t know, something is missing.

This is the second book in Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos. I liked the first book better. There were sections where I was really interested in what was happening, but also sections that I struggled through. In this book we learn more about what’s going on in the larger universe instead of focusing exclusively on the pilgrims. I was theoretically interested in that larger universe stuff, but somehow I often found it dull to read about. Parts of it were definitely interesting, but I was usually more interested in the parts focusing on the pilgrims.

This book makes a lot of references to Keats and his poetry, as well as some references to poetry in general. I have minimal knowledge about Keats (well, I have more now, I guess!) and I lack much appreciation for poetry. It was apparent the author did some pretty clever things here, but I wasn’t really the right person to appreciate it. I did appreciate some of his non-poetical cleverness, but it also sometimes felt like too much random stuff was crammed into one story. There’s a stronger cyberpunk vibe in this book, or at least it seemed so to me, and maybe that affected my enjoyment as well. The “too much random stuff crammed into one story” is something I’ve come to associate with cyberpunk and it’s a large part of the reason why it’s not one of my favorite subgenres.

Some things made sense, and some things didn’t. I guessed several things in advance, so there was some logic to the story and its conclusion to allow me to do that. I didn’t feel like the author just threw a bunch of random answers together at the end that came out of nowhere, but I didn’t buy into all of it. I liked the way some things were wrapped up, but a big part I had trouble with was the stuff surrounding Lamia’s unborn baby. For example, before Lamia knew there was anything special about her baby, she was told to “trust”. She had no idea what she was trusting, but somehow she had the power to walk on water and defeat the Shrike because of her baby. And then when she lost her unspecified “trust”, she could no longer walk on air and fell. I felt like I’d turned the wrong page and ended up in a fantasy novel for a while there. I also didn’t feel like there was ever a satisfactory explanation for the Shrike(s), nor did I feel like the explanation about Rachel/Moneta was very solid, although I had guessed early on that they were the same person. Maybe there are stronger explanations for those things in the next books.

I don’t plan to continue to the second set of books. I think there’s definitely stuff to like here, but I also don’t think this is really in my wheelhouse and I’m not feeling any temptation to learn more or see what happens next. This one became a slog for me at times, and I think it would get more sloggy if I tried to continue.

2nd Read: I wish I had been able to reread it faster in order to nail down the larger concepts, but never-the-less I feel better prepared to continue the journey.

I need to read that again.

My goodness it was dramatic, the end of an era! But I was so happy for Maui Covenant, they deserved the happy ending. I have the next two audiobooks, but again, I think this needs a reread before I dive in.

Spoiler-free recenzija:
DEFINIRANJE VARIJABLE HYPERION

Prva knjiga je odlična uvertira u svemir Dana Simmonsa, ima sporiji tempo i služi za postavljanje određenih bazičnih stvari poput definiranja misterija i tehnologije, detaljnog i opširnog uvođenja likova i slično. Sve te priče imaju svoju svrhu i sve misterije koje prva knjiga donijela u ovoj dobivaju zadovoljavajući kraj, a opet ostavljeno je sasvim dovoljno prostora za nove nastavke. Doduše, neke stvari su objašnjenja načelno i vjerujem da će u idućim nastavcima biti dodatno razjašnjenja pa je opet teško suditi o konačnom dojmu, ali prosječan čitatelj bi trebao nakon prva dva nastavka biti zadovoljan završetkom priče.

Pad Hyperiona ima potpuno drugačiju strukturu. Određenom broju ljudi sigurno je drugačiji način prezentacije priče kroz Hyperion izdvojio knjigu iz mase drugih naslova, ali meni osobno i ovakav uobičajeni način prezentacije radnje je odličan, pogotovo jer doprinosi dinamičnost knjige. Koncept povezanih priča je napušten i naracija se odvija kroz uobičajeno pripovijedanje s paralelnim radnjama. Općenito se nastavak više bavi čovječanstvom kao rasom nego kao pojedincem, duhom ljudi i nastojanjima da se suoči s prijetnjama koje dolaze izvan, ali i unutar vlastitih redova. Radnja je vrlo slojevita, počevši od borbe svakog lika sa svojim demonima do veće priče i galaktičkog sukoba. Kada tu umiješate vremensku komponentu koja je vrlo fleksibilna, izdaje i urote dolazimo do nekoliko razina radnje koje i samostalno mogu funkcionirati izvrsno, ali zajedno daju knjizi posebnu težinu. Način na koji su te sve priče povezane da djeluju kao jedna je izrazito zanimljiv i odlično funkcionira!

Pad Hyperiona se još više posvećuje pitanjima Boga, nastanka i postojanje Boga, odnosa prema čovjeku i slično. Jedan od zanimljivijih motiva je pretjerana ovisnost o tehnologiji i dosezi same tehnologije. Znamo svi koliko smo danas ovisni o svemu što nas okružuje, a sadrži poprilične količine silicija. Zamislite sada svijet u kojem su svi spojeni na nešto slično internetu (svemrežju op.a.), gdje u svakoj sekundi primaju razne informacije i podatke gotovo do razine kolektivne svijesti. Koliko ljudi u tom trenutku postaju robovi tehnologije i koliko ona njima upravlja s obzirom da je uz ljude aktivni sudionik radnje TehnoSrž koja predstavlja naprednu umjetnu inteligenciju. Uostalom u jednom trenutku autor zaključuje da jedino po čemu se čovjek razlikuje od strojeva su snovi. Sanjate li?

Već u prošloj recenziji spomenuo sam da vjerujem kako će ovo pričekati na ekranizaciju još neko vrijeme, a ovaj put moram to potvrditi. S druge strane zbilja se nadam da ćemo to doživjeti, jer je ova književna priča ispričana daleko zanimljive, dinamičnije i slojevitije s odličnom karakterizacijom od određenih koje su sada na vrhu popularnosti kad su ekranizacije u pitanju. Uostalom, legendarni Shrike je toliko jedinstven, interesantan i fenomenalan da ga želim vidjeti animiranog uz još mnoge stvari poput ergova, čeličnog stabla, raznovrsnih planeta, borbi, brodova, Odstranjenih, Ummona, portala i puno previše toga da ne bi ušao u teže spoilere.

Zaključno moram naglasiti da je ovo ogledan primjer kako odlična prva knjiga može biti nadograđena senzacionalnim nastavkom! Tempo priče je vrlo brz, misterije se gomilaju nevjerojatno brzo, likovi doživljavaju nezamislive transformacije, a priča svime time doživljava obrat na obrat. U određenim trenucima činilo mi se da svakih nekoliko strana dolazi novi i odličan obrat, koji jednostavno čitatelja natjera da ostavi knjigu na trenutak i razmisli što se upravo dogodilo i kako će to utjecati na radnju, a to je ono što meni ovu knjigu izdvaja u sam vrh pročitanog u posljednje vrijeme. Apsolutno zaslužena najviša ocjena 5/5 i naravno da nakon kraće stanke planiram zagristi i drugu duologiju Endyimion, koja je ipak nešto tvrđi orah s otprilike 1250 naprema ovih 925 stranica. Svima dakako ogromna preporuka!

Pretty darn good, but I was a little less pulled in than I was with the first entry. I found my ADHD brain getting distracted and having to reread pages because I'm not one of those sci-fi fans who's heavily intrigued by all these excessive descriptions of AI technology and scientific mumbo jumbo. On the other hand, if you were to take all of that out, the story would really suffer. There would not be enough depth. Also, a lot of the descriptions were necessary in allowing us to understand moments integral to the plot.

Well-written? Absolutely. But as intriguing as the first? Listen, I only read this because I loved Hyperion, and I wanted to see what happened to two or three of those characters from the first book---Some, more than others. This is basically the second half of Hyperion and I loved how the first book ended. It left it open to the imagination, and this one does great in tying any loose ends.

Recommended. I'm debating whether or not to dive into Endymion. I've enjoyed the road so far, but I don't want the next two to change my opinions on the series for the worst.

Notes:

- 4.5 Stars for Narration by Victor Bevine
The rest of the series is narrated by VB and does not have a group narration cast like Hyperion.

- I loved the last half of the book or maybe a good chunk in the middle and the last is more accurate. I may up the rating on a re-read.

- Recommend: Read Hyperion & the Fall of Hyperion together.
#2 was a direct continuation of the story that was started in #1. I wish I had followed up with this book right after re-reading Hyperion.

This was a terrific book, especially the final 150-200 pages or so. You get all of these different personalities, and their takes on what's going on and also their actions; they're so varied in their goals, yet it really does all come together in the end.

Nothing is as it seems. The war with the ousters, the ousters themselves... the Core. The tech, hell the whole galaxy is full of surprises. Expertly done.

There's a lot of philosophy in this book, and a dab of religion. I didn't feel that it was preachy, and I really enjoyed reading the author's intellectual breakdown of thought, love, feelings... I will guess that the author does believe in a higher power, though not a Christian one, but really it doesn't matter. I didn't agree with a lot of the beliefs that the characters portray, but some did resonate with my own beliefs. Regardless, it was fun to read almost a dissertation of one character in particular's awakening (if you would call it that).

Please, don't let that put you off, though, if you don't like philosophy- this is a very short section at the end of an amazingly written story. I've never read anything quite like it. I'll definitely read more of this guy, and if you're on the fence about Hyperion or its sequel, I say go for it.

What a crock of shit. I loved the first book and gave it 5 stars. This one... man, I hate it. It's nothing even like the first book. It's just a bunch of political/religious/philosophical non-sense. The Pilgrims from the first book are basically secondary characters here. They aren't really even the focus of the story anymore. I spent almost the entire book just wishing the Shrike would slaughter everyone so this book would be over.

Too much poetry
Too much boring descriptions of people traveling - walking really far, endless descriptions of farcaster travels, really boring descriptions of traveling in the datacore etc.
Too much tedious political backstory details
BORING TEDIOUS BORING

The narrator, Victor Bevine, is one of my favorites. He narrates all the other audio versions of the Hyperion Cantos, including the first, dramatized version of Hyperion itself. I gave five stars to the underlying written work. I only subtract a star for this audiobook because Mr. Bevine isn't quite up to the task of doing all the characters--particularly all the Shrike Pilgrims--by himself. Still, this audiobook is a great way to re-read Fall of Hyperion.

Merged review:

Having read Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion twice each, and now having read Endymion and Rise of Endymion, the third and fourth books in Dan Simmons' so-called Hyperion Cantos, I can say my initial reaction to the first two books stands: they're the best pair of books I've read regardless of genre, certainly the most influential books to me personally. Indeed, I now consider the first two books required reading for anyone who enjoys reading contemporary fiction, science fiction, and even non-fiction in the religious, theological, and philosophical veins.

One could read the first two books of the Hyperion Cantos and stop there; they represent a complete, satisfying story that gives you plenty to think about beyond the actual plot-lines themselves. But if you want to get the full meaning, see the entire subtle complexity, understand Dan Simmons' fears for a sickening and stagnant human future as well as his hopes for the fulfillment of human potential, an optimistic utopian outlook that seems at once utterly attainable and so far away, I suggest you read all four books.

I would love to write more about each book individually and the four books taken together, but they are simply too important to me. I read these books over the course of 2010, which is turning out to be the best year of my life in many ways, and the Hyperion Cantos have had an important and positive influence on my thinking about God and religion and love and family. Simply put, these books are close to my heart, and nothing else I say will do them justice.

Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion are two halves of an extraordinarily complex science fiction masterpiece. There are subsequently two more books that appear to follow this series (Endymion and Rise of Endymion), but they aren’t necessary to feel you’ve gotten a complete story. I will absolutely read them in the future. With elements of horror woven through, it’s an extremely twisted vision that takes you to the farthest reaches of science fiction.

The plot is elaborate and multifaceted yet by the end, the many seemingly chaotic inexplicable threads intertwine to a satisfying conclusion. Quite a high wire performance by Simmons. The story surrounds an intergalactic war and a planet key to the various factions. On that planet, there are inexplicable artifacts, environments called the “Time Tombs” that are travelling from the future back in time, but they have not unlocked yet. The various factions feel that when the Tombs open…they will release something so powerful, it will end up deciding the course of the war. Billions of lives are at stake.

A small group of travelers are sent on a pilgrimage from across the human empire to visit the Time Tombs…hence the connection to the “Cantos” from the book titles, a reference to the The Canterbury Tales. Each of these travelers has a unique, and often bizarre reason to have been included on the pilgrimage. As characters, they are almost all quite distinct and well delineated. Simmons is equally deft at integrating character, plot, action, theme, and poetic language, often describing the most fantastical scenes. He does so much right.

I have a few quibbles with the book, but it’s an overwhelmingly awe-inspiring achievement. One, I found the sex scenes described by the character Fedmahn Kassad to walk too far into porn territory. Sex is hard to write, no doubt, without falling back into stereotype. I don’t think Simmons achieved anything new here. My only consolation is that to some degree, the somewhat blatant writing of the sex scenes does play well when they transform into moments of extreme violence and horror. Sex and horror are partners quite commonly in the slasher formula, but in this case it seems to set up rather a contrast or deflation of the pleasure. Even so, I felt those scenes pushed me out of the narrative.

Two, I was not fond of the storyline of Sol Weintraub. He posed as a sort of Wandering Jew character, and his name alone threw me right off the bat. When put up against so many of the other characters that had either abstract future sounding names (like Brawne Lamia), or modestly generic names (such as Paul Duré) “Sol Weintraub” struck me as extremely old fashioned and stereotypical. Even while religion carried through as a significant theme in the story, I could have done without the retro, stereotypical Jew name. But beyond the name, I wasn’t fond of his storyline, which struck me as too sentimental. It fit, everything fit together quite extraordinarily. And yet, of all the character lines, his was my least favorite.

Thematically, Simmons explores the terrain of technology, religion, faith, morality, and the myth of God. Some of his views are crystal clear, others a bit murky, but in either case, he offers enough meat to ponder our own views on these matters.

If you enjoy far-future science fiction or epic science fiction, then this is a series you must try. Highly recommended.

The Fall of Hyperion picks up directly after the cliffhanger ending to Hyperion. The pilgrims have reached the fabled Time Tombs, which are opening, and await their confrontation with the mysterious Shrike. The confrontations, when they came, made for compelling reading. I was fairly happy with the way Simmons concluded each of the pilgrims tales. The pilgrims were as likable, or unlikable, as they were in the first book. Brawne Lamia and Colonel Kassad benefited from the most interesting story arcs, but none of the pilgrims tales were dull.

Elsewhere in Simmons vast and complex world the three way power struggle between the Hegemony, the Ousters, and the TechnoCore exploded into full on war. For the most part I really enjoyed this aspect of the story. We learned more about Hegemony politics and society. We also learned the true depth of the almost symbiotic relationship between the Hegemony and the TechnoCore. The advent of war provided a great backdrop for Simmons to tell a number of stories that showed both the positive and the negative side of human nature. The besieged and oft out of its depth Hegenomy council dealt with the happenings as best as they could. Political leader Menia Gladstone was a well developed character. She was strong and ruthless at times, but at others compassionate and easy to sympathize with.

The structure of the story was different to the frame story style employed in Hyperion, but was equally successful. This was told from the first person perspective of a new Jonh Keats cybrid. This Keats cybrid had the ability to observe, by way of dreams, the happenings from the pilgrims on Hyperion and a few power players in the world of Hegemony politics. The new Keats was a likable character and Simmons first person narrative was as engaging as it was in the first book. The "dreams" were told in the third person perspective and were slightly less engaging. That said, they were never dull and I liked Simmons chosen storytelling method. It was effective and provided plenty of opportunity to see events from multiple places and characters which offered the story even more depth.

I was not happy with everything. Simmoms is a bit obsessed with poetry and religion for my liking. The latter of which developed into a problem as some revelations took this story in a direction I was not entirely happy with.

On the whole this was a fun read that was similar in quality to the first book in the series. It lacked the emotional punch provided in Hyperion by the Scholar's tale, but benefited from the excellent world building and character development of the first book by being an engaging read from the very first page.

Rating: 4 stars.

Audio Note: I missed the excellent full cast which read the first Hyperion book, but thought that Victor Bevine did a good job of narrating this on his own.