3.5 Stars

This felt like Catch me If you can set in space.

There were some really exciting parts throughout. Especially the finale which was very gripping and had poignant writing to finish things out. Unfortunately Dan Simmons wasn't able to catch the proverbial lightning in a bottle that the original Hyperion book manages. There are definitely high points and looking back it was quite an adventure and I love our merry band. There were just way too many long stretches where I was bored mainly the hard sci-fi, and the Para-catholic ruling body.

I plan on finishing out the series I do care where our friends are headed next and hoping book 4 can carry some of the momentum.

3,5 / 5

Doscientos setenta y cuatro años desde la caída de Hyperion, la Hegemonía ha resurgido en una teocracia gobernada por Pax, una organización militar de la Iglesia católica. Aunque durante la Caída el cristianismo estaba en plena fase de extinción, gracias al cruciforme y su inmortalidad, hacen de Pax un poder en expansión. Pero estos temen la llegada de un nuevo mesías anunciado, Aenea, la hija del cibrido Keats y Brawne Lamia, que regresará de las Tumbas de Tiempo en Hyperion. A su vez, un joven pastor que se dedica al negocio de cazar patos, Raul Endymion, se embarcará en la misión de proteger a esta niña junto con el androide Bettik, para que pueda cumplir su destino.

Tercera parte de la descomunal tetralogía Los cantos de Hyperion de Dan Simmons, que trata de continuar y atar algunos cabos sueltos de las dos primeras novelas dándonos un salto temporal de 274 años, para mostrarnos las consecuencias de la caída de la Hegemonia, la situación de los exters y el Tecnonúcleo. Simmons sorprende de nuevo, utilizando en esta ocasión una narración desde dos puntos de vista, en la que uno puede ser el héroe y el otro el cazador que los persigue. Por un lado, tendremos la de Raúl Endymion, con un estilo más íntimo y sencillo, donde comparte con el lector sus pensamientos, temores, impresiones, hablándonos en pasado. Por el otro, el Padre capitán Federico de Soya, usando un tiempo presente y un estilo que conlleva mucha más acción.

Este volumen, al igual que ocurría con Hyperion en su momento, es la antesala de lo que vendrá en El ascenso de Endymion, como si se tratará de una gran introducción. La historia puede resultar muy clásica, el héroe trata de ayudar a la dama en apuros a cumplir su propósito mientras son perseguidos por todo el universo por su enemigo. Pero Simmons tiene la habilidad de hacer esto de forma hábil e interesante, cambiando de planetas sin parar (todos y cada uno de ellos con nuevas características y extrañas culturas) que no dejan de sorprender por la desbordante imaginación que implican. Tengo que reconocer que llega un momento en que peca de ser demasiado lineal y repetitiva, sabes que nuestros protagonistas llegarán a un nuevo emplazamiento y puedes discernir lo que va a ocurrir, pero el placer de descubrir un nuevo planeta y algunas de sus caracteristicas hace que sigas leyendo sin ninguna molestia.

En cuanto a personajes, se nos presenta un elenco totalmente renovado, pero que no carece de complejidad, atractivo y carisma; pero no faltarán multitud de personajes conocidos, como Martin Silenus o incluso el famoso Alcaudón, que, aunque no es centro argumental, sigue aportando ese granito de misterio y ferocidad con cada aparición. Nos sumerge de nuevo en una odisea por su universo aportándonos conocimiento sobre la situación que ha surgido tras la caída de la hegemonía, a través de mundos a cada cual más llamativo, como selvas inmensas, cavernas de hielo o desiertos abrasivos. Este prologo que se completará con El ascenso de Endymion, resulta una historia llena de acción y aventura, una especie de juego del gato y el ratón, una persecución continua que parece no tener fin y que en su tramo final es imparable. Tengo muchas ganas (y a la vez no) de ponerme con el último volumen de estos impresionantes Cantos de Hyperion y saber cómo Simmons se las ha ingeniado de nuevo para atar todos sus cabos y concluir su historia por todo lo alto.

As I’ve written in my reviews of Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, Dan Simmons is trying to melt my brain.

After weeks of medical treatment and therapy I’ve recovered enough to be rolled out to a sunny spot in my wheel chair with a nurse to wipe the drool from my chin. Despite the doctors’ warnings about continued exposure to Hyperion, I’ve gone ahead and read the third book in the series, Endymion. While there are still monumentally big sci-fi ideas in this story, I think that my earlier encounters have allowed me to build up some resistance to Simmons. I got through this one and only went blind in my right eye and lost all sense of smell, but no coma this time.

It’s hard to summarize this without giving up too much away. It’s about 250 years after the events of the last book, and we’re introduced to Raul Endymion, a young man with a checkered job history who is saved from death by a familiar character. Raul is asked by this person to find and protect a young girl, Aenea, from the forces of the Catholic Church who want to capture her. Aenea had been sent forward in time via one of the Time Tombs on Hyperion and the Church wants her captured immediately for unknown reasons.

The Church seized political and military power by using the parasitic cruciforms (handily shaped like crosses) that can resurrect a person from death to offer everlasting life to those who toe the Church’s line. Raul had refused to bow to Church authority and accept the cruciform so he’s an outcast and seems like a good candidate to keep the mysterious Aenea out of their hands. However, the Church has sent the devout Father Captain Fredrico de Soya to capture the girl. With the help of the android A. Bettik and the intervention from the deadly entity known as the Shrike, Raul and Aenea escape and begin a journey between worlds that is supposed to enable her to fulfill the destiny the Church is terrified of.

This book is an interstellar chase story with the dedicated de Soya hot on the heels of the fugitives as they run from planet to planet. De Soya was one of my favorite parts of this book. He’s dedicated and loyal to the Church, but he’s also very decent man. He’s so committed to the hunt that he makes Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive look like a crybaby quitter. De Soya has an incredibly fast pursuit ship but every jaunt between worlds kills him and turns his body to jelly leaving his cruciform to resurrect him. It’s an incredibly dangerous and horrible experience, but de Soya doesn’t blink as he repeatedly turns himself into paste to get closer to Aenea.

There’s enough gooey sci-fi goodness like space travel, time travel, alien monsters, and cyborg killers to keep the most demanding geek fan boy happy. And all of this moves the overarching story of Hyperion towards it’s ultimate conclusion. I just hope I can live through the next book.

Oh, I like this series.

This quest story set 300 years after the events of the much stronger “Hyperion” novels, was a bit of a let down. A trio of archetypical heroes flee from pursuing elements of the tyrannical empire regime across several planets which are the familiar settings from the earlier novels. While it is interesting to read the developments on those locations in the centuries of aftermath, I was reminded of the similar quest in Asimov’s “Foundation and Earth”, where the protagonist visits several worlds which were the nostalgic settings of some of Asimov’s stories set centuries earlier. Here, however, it is far less compelling as most of the spots have gone to wilderness. Also, the hero characters are a bit two-dimensional, fitting very familiar character patterns: Aenea, "The Holy One” child, who is somehow mystically important, and a threat to the authorities; Raul Endymion, “The Woodsman” guide, who uses his street smarts and survivor skills to protect her; and A. Bettik, “The Man Friday” who loyally and capably serves both.

While the first two novels of Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos made excellent use of multi-protagonist narrative threads to tell the story from multiple perspectives, This novel instead primarily sticks to just two- Raul Endymion and his chief pursuant, Father-Captain Federico de Soya, who is an extremely sympathetic ‘villain’, earnestly carrying out his duty to his shadier superiors. I had a feeling that we’d see some redemption and rehabilitation of this character after the first few examples of his flawless moral behavior, despite his unsavory mission. Most of the evocative tech and philosophical questions lay in his portions of the novel, giving it a much stronger grounding in Space Opera, while Raul’s narrative felt more rustic and terrestrial.

In the end, Endymion is a victim of the earlier novels success and ambition. Outside of their shadow, it might have stood as a great story, but as it happens it is merely a good one. It feels flatter by comparison with it’s fewer character narratives, it’s more linear structure, and smaller-stake drama.

4.0 Stars
I enjoyed this one so much more than I expected after my lukewarm feelings on thenfirst two novels. I need to reread and rereview this series. Stay tuned.

Going into this, I kept telling myself that this book is not Hyperion. I don’t think I believed myself until about the halfway point and because of that, I was hate-reading. I also usually take breaks between books in a series to avoid burnout, which I didn’t do here. I was almost purposefully refusing to like any of the characters and actively hating the plot (don’t get me wrong they/it could be pretty bland at times). But somehow Simmons got me through it and it ended up being pretty great. I think his philosophical themes work, I think his world is one of the best I’ve read, and I think that even his characters have a way of making you love them, even when they can be stupid and boring. I subconsciously wanted to hate this and couldn’t.

Just pickup the next book, because you cant just stop here….. although so far this is my least fav hyperion book. I understand why people stop here. You have to push thru.

Definitely the weakest of the four, although it might not be strictly fair to lump the tetralogy together that way -- Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion are basically one book stretched over two, even though the writing style changes. Endymion is in some ways a sequel, if one is looking strictly for chronological continuance of the Universe these characters inhabit. It's less so when one considers how brilliant and creative the first two books were, chocked with plot and heavy on characterization, while Endymion reads more like the action-adventure prequel to a much cooler, satisfying Rise of Endymion. I *like* Aenea and Raul, and I even appreciate how Simmons crafts their personalities, but everything else is just sort of ...blah. The explanations for a lot of "wait a minute...what?" moments in this novel don't come until the end of Rise, and even though that was also the case with the two Hyperion books, this wait seems much more protracted.

I consider it the Hump Book of the series, in a lot of ways. (No, not in that way. They don't get jiggy until Rise!) Once you get over it, it's relatively smooth sailing to the end.

I'm sorry, resto de mis libros pendientes, pero necesito saber cómo termina todo.

I’ve read thousands of books in my lifetime, and hope to read thousands more. I sometimes joke I’ll have to live to 150 or so just to read the books I already own, not to mention the new books I keep on buying regardless of lack of shelf space. But of the many books I’ve read — and there have been many memorable ones, many that have literally changed my worldview — this series is shaping up to be at the top of my list of Most Memorable books of all time.

In this one, book 3, we meet an old friend, Martin Silenus, the only surviving (at least in this timeline) member of the Shrike Pilgrimage, now almost 1000 years old, thanks to anti-aging treatments. We also meet the Shrike again, although ***********SPOILER ALERT***********, it is on “our” side this time.

We also meet some wonderful new characters. Raul Endymion, a young man who is a native of Hyperion, a former soldier, who runs afoul of the powers-that-be, but is saved by Martin Silenus for a particular mission: to rescue Aenea, the young daughter of Brawne Lamia and the Keats cybrid, and keep her safe from capture by the Pax and the Church who have taken control of many of the former Web worlds. The whole storyline of the Pax and a new iteration, or new corruption, I would say, of the Catholic Church, is a fascinating one, and one that isn’t completely explored in this book. I have a feeling we’ll learn more about that in book 4.

An android named A. Bettik also accompanies Raul and Aenea on the interstellar trek whilst being chased by Pax officer and priest, Father Captain Federico de Soya, and his special 3-man squad of Swiss Guards. A. Bettik is a bit of an elusive character; we never see his POV and he doesn’t say much about his background. We do, however, see some of the POV of Father de Soya, who has been tasked by the Pope with capturing Aenea who allegedly poses a threat to the Church. Father de Soya is a wonderful and complex character and it is hinted we will learn much more about him in book 4.

I loved this book every bit as much as books 1 and 2 and am starting immediately (well, immediately as soon as I do a bit of housework) on book 4, The Rise of Endymion. I’m sure it’s going to be another wild ride!

Terza parte della saga di Hyperion, ovvero la miglior saga fantastica che abbia mai letto.
Scritto magnificamente dalla prima all'ultima parola, zeppo di personaggi memorabili e di idee a dir poco geniali.
La Fantascienza al suo massimo.
E no, non sono d'accordo sul fatto che i seguiti non sarebbero all'altezza dei primi due volumi: Endymion e Il risveglio di Endymion devono essere letti per comprendere appieno le vicende e godere fino in fondo della smisurata inventiva di questo straordinario scrittore.
Non si può non adorare Raul Endymion, forse l'unico uomo comune (per non dire mediocre) rispetto alla immensa statura dei personaggi che popolano la saga.