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.

[ESP/ENG]

Antes que nada, aviso a navegantes. La reseña puede contener spoilers del primer libro, ya que es continuación directa del mismo.

n  - No se equivoque - advirtió – Sabemos quién es usted, qué es usted y a quién representa usted.
- Enhorabuena – mascullé- , porque a estas alturas le aseguro que yo no lo sé.n

Esta obra no es una secuela al uso, sino que, como se indica en los prefacios tanto de Hyperion como de esta, la historia era tan grande que se tuvo que partir en dos, por lo que aquí partimos del mismo punto en que quedó todo, a saberse, los peregrinos de camino a las Tumbas de tiempo, la Hegemonía enfrentada a una guerra con los éxters, y nosotros sin saber por dónde puede salir la cosa.

Hay que decir que la primera parte estaba narrada en forma de relatos de cada peregrino, algo que aquí por necesidad se pierde y tenemos una narración más al uso, y un narrador principal que nos servirá de guía en una gran parte de la historia. Ambas cosas me supusieron un pequeño bajón, pero poco a poco les he ido cogiendo el gusto, y tanto narrador como narrativa han acabado siendo muy de mi agrado. Sobre todo porque no es algo lineal, sino que va dando saltos y te mantiene pendiente para saber qué está pasando, dónde y cúando. Aquí sí tendremos respuestas, muchas y muy buenas en mi opinión. Todo lo que estaba en duda en la primera parte queda resuelto, y lo que se plantea aquí casi todo queda resuelto también (algo queda pero hay dos partes más, pinta a que se hizo así para dar pie a esos libros)

n  En ese caso, Dios es la criatura, no el creador. Tal vez un dios deba crear a los seres inferiores que están en contacto con él para sentir alguna responsabilidad por ellos.n

Este libro tiene mucho de filosofía, e incluso teología, para dar forma a los personajes y sus acciones. A veces demasiado, pero no es difícil seguir la trama, a pesar de todos sus términos de ciencia ficción. De lo que más me ha gustado es todo lo que tiene que ver con las Tumbas de tiempo, su origen y propósito, y ese Alcaudón desatado. Hay ciertos pasajes que son sobrecogedores, como pueden ser los que tienen lugar en El árbol de espinas, o cierto momento en los laberintos que recorren Hyperion.

Hay mucho misterio detrás del origen de la guerra en Hyperion, y ver cómo poco a poco se va desvelando todo es muy satisfactorio, así como la resolución del conflicto, que es para mí totalmente inesperado, además de ser apoteósico. El libro está escrito en tres partes, y la tercera es sin duda la más frenética, tanto en acción como en respuestas. Y todas me han gustado, no le pongo un pero a nada (bueno, sí, Silenus me sigue pareciendo un petardo)

n  ¿Qué se puede opinar de la guerra? La guerra no pide reflexión, solo supervivencia.n

Aquí dejaré un batiburrillo de cosas que me apetece reflejar, pero habrá spoilers gordos:

La primera parte giraba en su mayoría sobre La última peregrinación, y los siete peregrinos eran lo importante. Aquí tendremos el final de cada uno de ellos, a cual más impactante. Desde ese Silenus enganchado al árbol y luego rescatado, pasando por Brawnee Lamia, su hija y su destino así como su enfrentamiento con el Alcaudón al que da pa'l pelo, la muerte de Hoyt y posterior resurrección de Paul Duré, la lucha de Kassad y su épica muerte y conversión en símbolo, el destino de Het Masteen, la sorpresiva resolución de la historia de Sol y Rachel (es Moneta!!!!! whaaaattt), y la trama de El cónsul quizá flojea un poquito aquí pero es clave para la resolución.

Me ha encantado la resolución de la trama de la guerra, cómo estaba todo conectado desde el inicio. Pasa de la típica invasión "alienígena" a la traición interna de las IA, pasando por una guerra en el lejano futuro que tienen que mandar elementos atrás en el tiempo (las infames Tumbas de tiempo y el Alcaudón), todo muy bien hilado con una resolución muy bestia, pero muy prometedora.

Todo lo que tiene que ver con el Alcaudón me ha impactado, esos momentos en que se ven miles de ellos, o el aspecto de El árbol del dolor, y su popósito de ser usado como nave. Y por supuesto las Tumbas de tiempo, son un elemento fascinante. No puede ser más impactante:

El árbol era más vasto que el valle, más alto que las montañas que habían cruzado los peregrinos; las ramas superiores parecían llegar al espacio. Era de acero y cromo, sus ramas eran espinas y ortigas. Seres humanos forcejeaban y se bamboleaban en esas espinas, miles, decenas de miles. En la rojiza luz del cielo moribundo,Silenus se sobrepuso al dolor y comprendió que reconocía algunas de aquellas formas. Eran cuerpos, no almas ni abstracciones, y evidentemente sufrían los suplicios de los vivientes arrasados por el dolor.

En resumidas cuentas, una lectura obligatoria para fans de la ciencia ficción, pero asequible también para lectores con menor bagaje. Y si has leído el primero, este es necesario para resolver lo planteado allí.



-----------------


First of all, notice to navigators. The review may contain spoilers from the first book, since it is a direct continuation of it.

n  - Make no mistake - he warned – We know who you are, what you are and who you represent.
- Congratulations - I mumbled -, because at this point I assure you that I don't know.n

This work is not a typical sequel, but, as indicated in the prefaces of both Hyperion and this one, the story was so big that it had to be split in two, so here we start from the same point where everything ended, namely, the pilgrims on their way to the Time Tombs, the Hegemony facing a war with the Ousters, and us not knowing how it will end.

It must be said that the first part was narrated in the form of stories from each pilgrim, something that is lost here out of necessity and we have a more traditional narration, and a main narrator who will guide us through a large part of the story. Both things were a little down for me, but little by little I have been taking a liking to them, and both narrator and narrative have ended up being very much to my liking. Above all because it is not something linear, but it rather jumps and keeps you pending to know what is happening, where and when. Here we will have answers, many and very good in my opinion. Everything that was settled in the first part is resolved, and what is raised here almost everything is also resolved (something remains but there are two more parts, it looks like it was done that way to give rise to those books)

n  In that case, God is the creature, not the creator. Perhaps a god must create the lower beings that are in contact with him in order to feel any responsibility for them.n

This book has a lot of philosophy, and even theology, to shape the characters and their actions. Sometimes too much, but it's not hard to follow the plot, despite all its sci-fi terms. What I liked the most is everything that has to do with the Time Tombs, their origin and purpose, and that Shrike unleashed. There are certain passages that are overwhelming, such as those that take place in The Tree of Pain, or a certain moment in the labyrinths that run through Hyperion.

There is a lot of mystery behind the origin of the war in Hyperion, and seeing how little by little everything is revealed is very satisfying, as well as the resolution of the conflict, which is totally unexpected for me, as well as being tremendous. The book is written in three parts, and the third is arguably the most frenetic, both in action and in responses. And I liked all of them, I can't say anything bad about it (well, yes, Silenus still looks like an idiot to me)

n  What can you say about the war? War does not ask for reflection, only survival.n

Here I will leave some things that I want to reflect, but there will be major spoilers:

The first part was mostly about The Last Pilgrimage, and the seven pilgrims were the important thing. Here we will have the end of each of them, each more shocking. Starting with Silenus hooked to the tree and then rescued, through Brawnee Lamia, her daughter and her fate as well as her confrontation with the Shrike, Hoyt's death and subsequent resurrection of Paul Duré, Kassad's fight and his epic death and becoming a symbol, the fate of Het Masteen, the surprising resolution of Sol and Rachel's story (she's Moneta!!!!! whaaaattt), and the plot of The Consul may be a little weak here but it's key for resolution.

I loved the resolution of the war, how everything was connected from the beginning. It goes from the typical "alien" invasion to internal AI betrayal, through a war in the far future that has to send elements back in time (the infamous Time Tombs and the Shrike), all nicely spun with a resolution very dramatic, but very promising.

Everything that has to do with the Shrike had a big impact on me, those moments when thousands of them are seen, or the appearance of The Tree of Pain, and its purpose of being used as a ship. And of course the Time Tombs are a fascinating element. It couldn't be more shocking:

The tree was wider than the valley, higher than the mountains that the pilgrims had crossed; the upper branches seemed to reach into space. It was made of steel and chrome, its branches were thorns and nettles. Human beings struggled and swayed on those thorns, thousands, tens of thousands. In the reddish light of the dying sky, Silenus overcame the pain and realized that he recognized some of these forms. They were bodies, not souls or abstractions, and they evidently suffered the torments of the living beings devastated by pain.

In short, a must read for science fiction fans, but also affordable for readers with less background. And if you have read the first one, this is necessary to solve what was raised there.

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. The story is exciting and a page turner - I risk massive spoilers by going into any details or specifics. There are lots of mind-bending concepts here - farcasting, the All Thing, the metasphere, the River Tethys, hawking drive (and an explicit admission of this homage to Stephen Hawking) - all of which add a fantastic technical edge to the book.

Without going into spoiler territory, I thought I would talk about some of the interesting themes that are addressed in the book. The organized religions here - Catholicism, the Shrike Cult and the Templars - are all interesting studies. I suspect that Simmons is himself a Catholic due to the sympathetic treatment they receive. The Templars are environmentalists (another theme I will address in a minute), whereas the Shrike Cult are fanatical pessimists. The default religion is a form of Zen Buddhism. All of the religions take a big hit in the book. I think that Simmons was trying to show how these various ways that organized religion tries to deal with a catastrophe: denying it, embracing it, trying to manipulate it, and fleeing it. The embracing and fleeing techniques seem to have been the ones that were best rewarded.

I mentioned the environmentalist bent earlier. The Templars seem to accept the judgement in the book as payment for mankind's destruction of the environment in the galaxy, going so far as to calling the human presence a cancer. As Simmons took lots of time describing the beauty of the worlds he invented such as Maui-Covenant with its motile islands replete with dolphins and whales, he also condemns harshly the destruction wrought on them by Web tourism (by extension, the destruction of various tropical paradises by mass tourism on Earth). He seems to be a bit pessimistic about our ability to change preferring a reboot.

The theme that is the most striking and perhaps the most visionary for this work of the early pre-Facebook 90s is the Web and the Core, or TechnoCore. At the heart of these two books on Hyperion is a reflection on our endorsement of technology over humanity - our willingness to give away privacy for the convenience of access to data and experiences. There is a massive warning here of the repercussions of this surrender. Given the power that Facebook (and Apple and Google and Amazon, etc) has over nearly everyone on the planet, the lesson is even more relevant now than it was in the 90s. The nightmarish use of human brain power to feed the intelligence of the Core is has been addressed in dozens of sci-fi (The Matrix being one particularly example) movies since 1990 - I wonder if Simmons was at the origin of this trope or not. In any case, it gives me pause when I think about my own personal investment in social media and its possible long-term impact. It is certainly an aspect of the book that resonates 27 years later.

As for the narrative and the writing, it is just as well-written as Hyperion with some great poetry citations from Yeats and Keats (and my favorite character, the irascible Martin Silenas). I thought that there was a moment where the text plodded a bit towards the end (Keats sections), but I cannot really offer an example. Another thing that struck me was how unpredictable the novel seemed, particularly in the middle. In any case, it did not for me take away from the overall impression I had about this book - fascinating, visionary, and entertaining, a sci-fi classic. I wonder if the two Endymion books are as good...

Τελείωσα την διλογία του Υπερίωνα και το πρώτο μου σχόλιο είναι:Ουάου!Tι έπος!Και δεν ξέρω πως να συνεχίσω.Oυάου!
Έχω εντυπωσιαστεί με τη γραφή του Σίμμονς,με τη φαντασία του και με τον τρόπο που καταφέρνει να δέσει στο τέλος μια τόσο πολύπλοκη και πολυεπίπεδη ιστορία.
Με μπέρδεψε,με τρέλανε,με έκανε να αγωνιώ για την τύχη των ηρώων,με πήγε ένα απίστευτο ταξίδι στο χωροχρόνο και σε άλλες διαστάσεις και όταν τελείωσε έμεινα ζαλισμένη να σκέφτομαι τι διάβασα.
Ο τύπος έχει δημιουργήσει ένα τεράστιο σύμπαν γεμάτο διαφορετικούς κόσμους και διαφορετικους ανθρώπους και έναν παράλληλο κόσμο τεχνητής νοημοσύνης που κρύβεται εκεί που κανείς δεν μπορεί να φανταστεί.Έχει φτιάξει μια ιστορία που ξεκινάει απο τη Γη όπως την ξέρουμε και φτάνει χιλιάδες χρόνια στο μέλλον.Η θεολογική του θεωρία και το παιχνίδι του με τον χρόνο είναι mind blowing,με έκανε να παραμιλάω προσπαθώντας να καταλάβω τι μου λέει.Οι ήρωες του είναι ολοκληρωμένοι,παρακολουθησα την πορεία όλων τους με ενδιαφέρον,αγωνία και πολλές φορές συγκίνηση,δεν υπήρχε κανείς που να μου είναι αδιάφορος και η θυσία κάποιων ήταν συγκλονιστική.
Δεν ξέρω τι άλλο να πω και δεν θα προσπαθήσω καν να δώσω μια ιδέα της πλοκής γιατί πραγματικά δεν νομίζω οτι μπορώ.Θα πω μόνο οτι μου άρεσε πολύ η δράση σε αυτό το βιβλίο που ειδικά απο τη μέση και μετά είναι καταιγιστική και οι σκηνές καταστροφής απίστευτες.Μου άρεσαν επίσης μερικές χιουμοριστικές νότες που υπάρχουν,μου άρεσε το μυστήριο,μου άρεσε ο ρομαντισμός μέσα σε όλο αυτόν το χαμό,μου άρεσε που ο συγγραφέας δεν μας θεωρεί ηλίθιους,μου άρεσαν όλα τελοσπάντων.Ουάου είπα;ΟΥΑΟΥ!
ΥΓ.Χάρηκα πολύ που ψάχνωντας στο διαδίκτυο είδα οτι ο Υπερίωνας πρόκειται να γυριστεί σε μίνι σειρά.Θα περιμένω με ανυπομονησία ελπίζοντας να μην αλλάξει κάτι και να το δούμε σύντομα στην οθόνη.

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

Bueno esto ha sido una pasada...

Aunque es un poco mas pesado que el primero en un inicio, el desarrollo y conclusión es mucho mejor que el primer volumen.

No tiene perdida. Pocas veces me sucede que una lectura se me haga tan pesada debido a la cantidad de información que tiene pero que a la vez no puedo parar de leerla. Es una genialidad sinceramente.

Lo único malo es que puede terminar de ser muy complejo y que toma elementos de fantasía para resolver la trama, pero no es para menos.

Recogiendo el testigo del final de Hyperion, La Caída de Hyperion nos sitúa instantes después de los últimos sucesos, cuando nuestros peregrinos ya han alcanzado las Tumbas de Tiempo. En esta segunda parte de este primer ciclo de Los Cantos de Hyperion, conoceremos el final de la aventura de nuestros peregrinos, tendremos la aparición de nuevos personajes con mucho más protagonismo y descubriremos que una gran amenaza asola a la Hegemonía, el gobierno de la Red. A través del cibrido Joseph Severn y sus “sueños”, visitaremos a todos los personajes y conoceremos los detalles que le ocurren a cada uno. A su vez, veremos como avanza y termina la historia de cada peregrino en las Tumbas de Tiempo, y cómo reacciona la FEM Meina Gladstone ante inminente amenaza de la guerra Exter. Esto ya simplemente diferencia a Hyperion de esta segunda parte, donde pasamos a tener un narrador omnisciente como puente de conocimiento, con capítulos cortos y cargados de acción, haciéndola una novela más al uso que su primera parte. La historia vuelve a ser espectacular, me ha fascinado, con grandes momentos, muchos misterios que ir hilando y resolviendo a lo largo de sus 734 hojas, pero para mí esta un escalón por debajo de su antecesora, que tenía algo especial con esa narrativa desbordante y esas historias cortas tan absorventes.

La historia está plagada de giros, de eventos importantes, de misterios que se van resolviendo de forma que son intrigantes y sorprendentes en muchos casos, aunque también existen momentos en que estas muy perdido y no tienes ni idea de lo que está ocurriendo, sobre todo, al principio de la novela. Está dividida en tres partes; una primera, donde nos recoloca en situación a través del cibrido Joseph Severn, narrando acontecimientos de Hyperion a través de sus sueños y presentando parte del conflicto que se avecina; una segunda parte, más centrada en los peregrinos y su enfrentamiento individual con el Alcaudón, narrada de forma omnisciente en tercera persona, y una última parte, donde alternando primera y tercera persona se concluyen todas las ramas argumentales, que finalmente se llegan a hilar y a tener un sentido conjunto. De esta forma se nos ofrece un relato de más de 1200 páginas espectacular, lleno de miles de líneas argumentales simultaneas, que crean un mundo y una trama llena de complejidad y profundidad.

No deja de sorprenderme como Simmons es capaz de hilar las historias de todos los personajes para crear una trama tan grande, con un mundo tan complejo, y menos aún, como es capaz de cerrarla con todos esos secretos, juegos de espejos e intenciones ocultas que no paran de descolocar al lector hasta las últimas páginas. El constante cambio de acción y punto de vista le dan un gran ritmo narrativo a toda la novela, aunque a mí me ha desencantado en ciertos momentos, ya que deseaba continuar con una de las historias y tenía que leer rápidamente para volver a alcanzarla, mi interés estaba en otro sitio realmente. Lo que sí que queda claro es que Simmons lo tenía todo planificado desde el principio, las historias de cada peregrino muestran las cargas que deben portar cada uno de ellos en esta segunda entrega, y no dejaban de reflejar elementos cruciales para esta la conclusión de esta segunda entrega.

Mi faceta de mayor interés en la obra de Simmons, aparte del Alcaudón y las Tumbas de Tiempo, gira en torno al Tecno-núcleo, un espacio donde residen las IAs en total secreto, donde están divididas en varias facciones que persiguen diferentes fines; y que obviamente juegan un papel mucho más importante de lo que parece en toda la trama de la novela. Al igual que en Hyperion, Simmons aborda temas tan importantes e interesantes como la globalización o el choque entre las civilizaciones, un tema candente aún en la actualidad. Si Hyperion nos presentó y nos introdujo en este universo, con esta novela lo desarrolla y lo amplía hasta el más mínimo detalle, cerrando un primer ciclo de su gran obra de manera extraordinaria.

5/5

I found this book incredibly difficult to rate.

Parts were thrilling and addictive and wouldn’t let me put the book down. The continued stories of the seven pilgrims and the way they grow as people together. The huge stakes and wars between different molds of human, between AI and human and between the gods of these different group. The political maneuvering of Meina Gladstone was captivating and never once dry or overly convoluted.

There were other points where the narrative dragged and really took away from the overall story. Specifically, the large regions of recited poetry that weren’t particularly relevant and the long portions of theology, where characters do nothing but mentally contemplate one god/religion or another.

I had to take a break from this incredibly heavy series after The Fall of Hyperion, but I am looking forward to picking up Endymion next.

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 predecessor. I think I would have liked it more.

I did like it, though, despite my negative tone. I even loved some parts of it. The political machinations of Meina Gladstone, the in-fighting between the AIs (Stables, Volatiles and Ultimates), the early battles of Kassad and Moneta, the conversations with Ummon, all of these elements were fascinating, and the radical excision of the Core from all human affairs and the subsequent cost of victory blew my mind. In fact, this latter element may have been my favourite moment in either of the first two installments of Simmons' Cantos.

But these elements don't entirely mitigate my disappointment. I loved the characters from the first book; those who made the Pilgrimage to the Shrike had background stories so rich in detail, emotion, thrills, you name it, that their shift to banal plot devices, players present only to move the action along, disappointed me deeply.

I don't think I'd feel that way, though, if I'd met them in The Fall of Hyperion first. If Simmons had dropped me into the middle of the war between the Hegemony, the Ousters and the Core, if he'd thrown me into the midst of the Time Tombs, if he'd introduced me to the Shrike and the Keats persona and the Pilgrims -- without the baggage of what got them there -- I think I would have cruised through The Fall of Hyperion and loved it with fervor. Then I would have hungered to go back and find out what brought the Pilgrims to Hyperion, and I would have been thrilled by a prequel that was even better than the original.

Sadly, there's no going back now. But if you are someone who's planning to read these books for the first time I beg you to ignore the official order and start with The Fall of Hyperion. I am convinced you'll get more out of it if you've got nothing to compare it to and a healthy sense of wonder and confusion about what you are reading.

I'm really not sure I should continue reading the Cantos, but the temptation of finally understanding the purpose of the Shrike may be too tantalizing to ignore.

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 one of the best books I’ve ever read. Period.

Every age fraught with discord and danger seems to spawn a leader meant only for that age, a political giant whose absence, in retrospect, seems inconceivable when the history of that age is written.

As opposed to the first installment which has the structure of Canterbury Tales, The Fall of Hyperion has a little more traditional storytelling spanning an intergalactic hegemony in the far human future and that its faced with its own uncertain future against a hostile alien force, a hostile AI force, a hostile far-future force and also… ghosts and gods? It sounds weird but wow does Simmons stitch all these fantastic concepts together in a sweeping tapestry that is nothing more or less than a literary work of art. Each character and their actions impact the story development.

The Great Change is when humankind accepts its role as part of the natural order of the universe instead of its role as a cancer.

The reason this pairs so nicely with the first book is because it expands on the wonderful back story that was laid down. We know each of the pilgrims—their motivations, their flaws and perhaps the reason they were chosen for this bizarre pilgrimage. The horror, uncertainty and chaos that flows from this story is more personal and it makes everything just that much more frightening. The atmosphere is haunting and incredibly engaging. I could see these images and scenes vividly in my mind.

The enormous intergalactic world is incredibly well done on par with someone like Peter F. Hamilton. From communications, to travel and what an intergalactic culture looks like, this is an immersive and believable version of the future. The impact of AI, the singularity and how it is inseparable and domineering from humanity was incredible and a likely version of the far future. What Simmons does with time is awesome. The arrow of time and hints of the multiverse are a big part of this story. Pitting the future against the present and at the same time not making the plot and resolution feel pre-destined was so well done. Simmons ability to predict futurist trends as someone who wrote this in the 1990s is truly a remarkable feat.

The politics, statecraft and warcraft on an intergalactic scale was not intimidating like other similar worlds like this that I’ve read. The decision making on the intergalactic scale and how it impacts billions of peoples and cultures was felt by the reader with every single decision that was made. The religions, cults, governments and cultures presented are messy, realistic and incredibly compelling to read.

God is the creature, not the creator.

The resolution and plot twists at the end of this second installment were jaw dropping and revealed the depth of Simmons’ careful story crafting. He was cognizant of every development and how character backstory played into the ending. The mysteries presented—like Hyperion, the Shrike, the Core—it’s all explained, at least in part and it is one of the coolest over-aching plot lines I’ve ever seen in a book like this.

Love was as hardwired into the structure of the universe as gravity and matter.

The only issue I can see some having with this book was the pacing. There are many POVs told and some of the plotlanes are frankly stagnant even over several hundred pages. Simmons will freeze a scene for one character while letting other plotlines catch up. This may be jarring for some readers but I didn’t mind it.

I highly, highly recommend this book. It will stay with me for a long time and is a series I will definitely finish and probably re-read. This needs to be made into a movie or a series—I think it’s doable in the right hands.

No spoilers here, but n  Hyperionn ends in smack-dab in the middle of the story. After loving the first book I knew that I had to rearrange my reading plans and dive directly in to The Fall of Hyperion. Dan Simmons initially submitted Hyperion Cantos as a single volume, but was advised to split the book in two for publication. It's a decision I agree with more after finishing The Fall of Hyperion because it feels, at least stylistically, quite different from Hyperion.

Compared to its predecessor, the sequel expands its scope as it ties together pilgrims' storylines with the greater Hegemony through a new narrator. At first I was taken aback by this narrative shift, but was also disappointed to see the first novel's experimental form get replaced by chapter-to-chapter POV shifts. Once I got into the swing of things I was more than happy to intermittently check in with Martin Silenus as I was the new players. The quick changes between characters work for the pace as the novel clicks along, leading to a blistering and brain-rending ending. All same, would have it been too much to ask for just one more pilgrim-like story?

The shift to expansive space opera also took me aback a little bit, but I needn't have worried that Simmons would abandon his literary musings on religion, art, and human nature. Indeed, much of the first novel's philosophical roots extend out into the sequel and make it feel part of a whole. As the Time Tombs open and everything gets all topsy-turvy, I found myself appreciating the breaks for, say, Sol Weintraub to ponder his moral dilemma. It makes for an ending that wraps things up narratively as well as thematically.

I was a little disappointed in The Fall of Hyperion at the start, but was dialled in by the end. If Hyperion was a continuous jolt of bizarre energy, The Fall of Hyperion offers more vibrations from this plane with occasional blasts from some foreign world. Hyperion lays the foundations of mystery and The Fall of Hyperion does a lot of solving but still leaves room for interpretation and obscurity. There's horror beside philosophy, space opera neighbouring romance, and crazy action next to slow-burn cyberpunk. In the Hyperion Cantos it seems like there's something for everyone, but you'll definitely need to read this volume to get the full story.

Sólo hay una cosa que me mosquea de este libro.... ¡NO HABER SABIDO JAMÁS EL NOMBRE DEL CÓNSUL!

DNF 66%.

A masterclass on how to say as little as possible with as many words as possible.

I heavily criticized the previous book for having too many sub-plots that went nowhere, but at least there was plot to these subplot. This book is mostly one narrative told from two general perspectives, either the pilgrims on Hyperion or John Keats (the 3rd) in the Web. As far as plots go, there is one, but it's slow, bloated, told with too much distance from actual events (people talking to each other about something interesting that happens elsewhere, instead of letting the reader be present in that more-interesting elsewhere), and paused over and over for random discussions of nothing in particular.

There's a war going on. We know because lots of people tell us about it, but we see none of it. Which could be fine as background for the real plot (if it existed), but it takes up way too much of the book. We have people sitting in a room, discussion strategy and military options, and it's not that bad but it just doesn't fucking end.

I'm not against books with little plot -- they are usually the best. But that requires something else to fill the void: interesting characters, interesting conversations or explorations of art, science, philosophy, etc. This book may seem like it tries to do that, but it only pretends to; the endless discussions, allegedly about philosophy or religion, are nothing more than shallow references to these subjects. The author clearly loves to write, but evidently he has nothing to say.

The endless parade of literary references, which in better books would have something to do with the story, are given here (usually) for no other reason than being literary references. Something happens, then someone says "that's exactly like in [insert literary reference]", then we never hear of it again. Repeat for an entire book.

The religious discussions, which feel like they are taking the majority of the book, are completely shallow. Word after word after word, without saying ANYTHING.

Take Sol Weintraub's quest to play Abraham (very minor spoiler, and most of it is from the previous book): A voice comes to Sol in a dream, telling him (in a more-or-less quote of the bible) to go to Hyperion and sacrifice his daughter to the Shrike. Sol then begins a life-long scholarly research into the "Abraham question", regarding the morality of sacrificing one's child to God. If you thought we get to hear any kind of interesting insight, then I'm sorry to say that we don't. After years of research, Sol finds an answer: we shouldn't sacrifice people to God anymore. That's all we're told. Then Sol goes to Hyperion with his infant daughter, meets the Shrike, and tells him he will not hand over his daughter as sacrifice. Then he sees a vision of his daughter telling him to hand her over to the Shrike, so he does.
I seriously considered deleting the book at that point. And that's one of the less-terrible of the religious "allegories". Most others are worse.