Stop! If you've read Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion, stop there. The series does not continue. Pretend like these two books (endymion and rise of endymion) do not exist. On the other hand, if you haven't read hyperion, go read it. It's great. Really good. One of my favorite books. Amazing. But endymion takes a huge step down. After Fall of Hyperion, you're probably hungry for more, but trust me, it just has to stay that way. Some of the mysteries just have to be left as mysteries. Endymion and Rise of Endymion are not worth it. (But Hyperion is awesome.)

- HYPERION ★★★★☆
- THE FALL OF HYPERION ★★★★★
- ENDYMION: I have very mixed feelings about this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts I liked and detested the parts I didn’t like. Right off the bat, it has one of the clumsiest kick-offs in any book I’ve ever read. It takes way too long to get going, while all Simmons does is set up what’s essentially a hero’s journey, only he’s too afraid to play it straight and so wraps it in layers and layers of self-deprecating self-aware nonsense. In fact, at this point in the saga Simmons seems to have developed a strange fear of not being original enough, so his clichés (which, be warned, are back with a vengeance) are now always delivered with awkward justifications, along the lines of “I know this sounds like something that might happen in a bad movie, but…”. Honestly, I preferred the clichés played straight. This new approach just confuses me. In this book we accompany three of the most boring and uninteresting characters in the entire saga on an interplanetary cat-and-mouse chase, which, at its worst, reminded me of the dated goofiness of The Thirty-Nine Steps. Raul Endymion is a sorry excuse for a protagonist. His eclectic resume reads like the backstories Dwayne The Rock Johnson’s characters get assigned in action thrillers to conveniently justify why he knows how to fly a helicopter, pick a lock, hack a satellite and build IKEA furniture. I rooted a lot more for their persecutor, Father Captain De Soya, one of the saga’s more complex and interesting characters. Anyway, things do eventually pick up. Simmons is still the same old Idea Lunatic and he’s far from being out of ammo. The adventure on Sol Draconi Septem ranks high among my favourite moments in the saga. ★★★☆☆
- THE RISE OF ENDYMION ★★★☆☆

Almost three centuries after the Fall of Hyperion, the Time Tombs open and Aenea, child of Brawne Lamia and Johnny Keats emerges. Along with a former hunting guide named Raul Endymion and android A. Bettik, Aenea goes on a journey to fulfill her destiny as the one who teaches. Only the Pax has other ideas. Can Aenea reach her goal without being captured by Father Captain de Soya of the Pax?

With all the two star reviews out there, I wasn't expecting magic from Endymion. Imagine my surprise when I wound up enjoying it quite a bit. Endymion felt like rummaging through a box of old possessions you have fond memories of but have forgotten about. Only in this case, the memories are the hawking mat, the Consul's ship, the deactivated farcaster portals along the old river Tethys, and good old A. Bettik. And also The Shrike, but we won't say much about him other than to say he's still as efficient a killing machine as ever.

While not as pants-shittingly awesome as the first two books, Endymion was still an engaging read and doesn't tarnish the memory of the first two. The former Web has changed quite a bit in the 274 years since the Fall of Hyperion. Without giving too much away, the Catholic church and the cruciforms have melded in a pretty logical way into the Pax, and the Pax doesn't want Aenea fulfilling her destiny one bit. It makes for a good read. Endymion, Aenea, and A. Bettik visit some exotic former Web worlds, undergo quite a few harrowing experiences, and wind up in a good place to set up the next book, Rise of Endymion.

As engaging as I found Aenea and her people's travels on the raft, I somehow found the bad guys, de Soya and the rest, to be a more interesting cast. de Soya was efficient but conflicted and I almost found myself rooting for the poor cruciform-bearing bastard.

Don't let all the negative reviews steer you away. All franchises lose some steam by the third installment. At least there were no Ewoks in it. For fans of the first two books, Endymion is not to be missed!

My reaction to this book after reading #1 and #2:
My god, for the sake of all that is good and holy in this imperfect world, DO NOT read this book.

Never, I mean literally never before in my life, have I been so in love with an author to be so let down.

I don't even know. This might sound a little melodramatic, but reading this book honestly put me off reading scifi for months, so crushing was the blow. I haven't recovered yet.

I don't even know how to critique this book. I don't want to dredge up the memories of bland-she-jesus and her bland companions on their bland journey through bland internal and yet more bland external adventures.

I only gave it 2 stars, and not just 1, because I suspect if Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion hadn't be so good, I wouldn't be so bitter and dejected about book 3. Really, it's more a testament to Simmon's talent that he could get this reaction out of me.

An accurate description of Simmons thought process while writing it:
"And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:41-42)

n  "So it was that in the early autumn of my twenty-eighth year, content in my ignorance stolid in my conviction that nothing of importance would ever change, I committed the act that would earn me a death sentence and begin my real life."n

4.75⭐

n  Initial Thoughts n

Look, I'm not a sci-fi nerd. I tried Frank Herbert'sDune and gave up after fifty pages. I've never read Issac Asimov or H.G. Wells. But boy do I love Dan Simmons' Hyperion series!

Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion were the first two books in Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos. They are a self-contained duology and for me were absolutely mind-blowing, particularly the first book. Winning Dan "the Man" numerous awards (Nebula and Locus among others) and showcased just how good hard science fiction could be. Could anything top them?

From what I understood Endymion would follow on from those first two books and I've already waited far too long to read them. Main reason for that is that they are big, dense books and I like to hit my Goodreads goal before I commit to these behemoths. Is anyone else sad like that? No just me. But it's been a while since I've been in the Hyperion universe, so things may be a bit vague for me. But that's what those wiki summaries are there for.

I'm going to assume that you've read the first two books and if you haven't do it right away! Otherwise I'll be sending the Shrike over to see you, and if you know who he is you would certainly not be arguing!

n  "Death and resurrection are not to be taken lightly."n

n  The Story n

So this one starts two hundred and seventy-four years after the conclusion of the Fall of Hyperion. The universe that Simmons created has seen a definite change with the fall of the old order and the rise of the Roman Catholic church in the form of the 'Pax' government.

We begin with the main protagonist Raul Endymion, who works as a hunter on the planet Hyperion taking groups round the outback. At least he used to, as he's now been sentenced for a capital crime and awaiting execution in a small box-room orbiting the planet. He's not got much else to do so he's narrating the story of how he arrived in this jam.

We also get an alternative perspective as we soon discover that the former regime of the Hegemony has completely fallen and been replaced by 'the Pax.' The main antagonist is Father Captain de Soya who is on a mission to the time tombs on Hyperion, which were a feature in the original story, to capture a young girl (Aenea) who is scheduled to emerge from within.

The two perspectives intertwine when a character from the original story rescues Endymion and sends him on a mission to rescue Aenea with the help of ancient android A. Bettik. This is the basic set up, and once this takes place the story moves into top gear as the story begins to shift between the hunter and the hunted. Along the way we get to see exactly how the universe has changed, but I'm keeping my lips sealed as that's all for you to find out.

n  "Here I was charged with protecting this girl, and when what might be the deadliest killing machine in the galaxy appears what do I do but rush her toward the danger. I was being a bit of an asshole this long day."n

n  The Writing n

Yes Simmons is a brilliant writer and this series really allows him to showcase his talent as he paints a fantastically vivid and visually stunning universe. His style really is flawless and sets him apart from almost every other author in the sci-fi genre. The majority are really bland with their prose and this author is anything but with some stunning imagery and description.

But in Endymion we get to see just how talented a guy Simmons is as the most amazing aspect is his ability to imagine and create a whole universe. He did this brilliant in Hyperion and continues to show that there's plenty more where that came from. I consistently have to pick my jaw up from the floor in sheer astonishment at just how mind-blowing this all is.

Before I finish, I have to draw attention to the mode of space travel that the author creates in this one. I won't say what it is exactly, but it ties in humanities new found ability to resurrect the dead, and it is so original and visceral that it really caught my attention. It's certainly not a pleasant experience and there's some brilliant symbolism. I can't wait for you to check it out.

n  "nothing is inevitable. The outcome is always in doubt. Decisions for light or dark are always ours to make--ours and every conscious entity's."n

n  The Characters n

My main concern was, due to this one being set so far in the future, what would happen without the brilliant set of characters from the original Hyperion. Although, those in Endymion weren't quite on that level, I did end up really enjoying and becoming invested in each.

Although the main character of Raul Endymion is your fairly standard hero, he is certainly likeable and his interactions with the other characters, particularly A. Bettik provide a good bit of humour. His relationship with Aenea is well done and even though it looks like they are destined to get together when she matures, hopefully a fair bit, Simmons prevents things from heading into creep city. Something Stephen King probably couldn't do.

My favourite character though had to be Father De Soya. Certainly not your typical antagonist, and definitely not a complete villain, he exercises enough independent thought to begin to see the cracks in the Pax government's narrative and slowly realises that the forces he serves aren't quite telling the truth. Thank god our governments aren't like that! Through him we get to witness the chilling nature and motives of this regime. The guy really has a conscience and it was great to see his development throughout the novel as he wrestles with that inner voice and devotion to the church.



And fear not we do get to meet some old characters from the original novel and there's plenty of links to the original story. Including the number one killing machine...the Shrike. It really wouldn't be the same without him. But maybe, just maybe, he might be on the other team in this one. Who knows? He really does like to keep his feelings to himself.


Beauty and the Shrike

n  Final Thoughtsn

Again, in a similar vein to the first duology, this story finishes on a real cliff hanger. It turns out that this is just the first half of one complete story and I can't wait to get to the final installment...The Rise of Endymion.

Look, I don't think it would be possible to top the original Hyperion novel, but I found Endymion just as engaging although not quite as mind-blowing. It's a damn fine read and still some of the most exciting and entertaining science fiction I've encountered.

I would one hundred percent recommend it if you enjoyed the first two books and although reading them isn't essential I would strongly recommend it as it ties together so nicely. It's a staggering achievement that really does need to be experienced in its entirety. And I haven't even finished it. So it's on to the Rise of Endymion for me. Less time writing reviews and more time doing what we all love best...I mean reading! Get your mind out of the gutter...

...and thanks for reading. Cheers!

Neko sam kome fantastika bukvalno teče kroz vene ali epska, ne naučna iz prostog razloga jer naučna fantastika za mene nije fantastika. Sve mi je to realno i nešto što se već dešavalo/što se dešava.
Na primer, dovoljno je samo što je Mars razaran termonuklearnim ratovima pre 6 miliona godina. Možemo samo zamisliti kakva su to razaranja bila i ratovi i svemirski brodovi.
Istorija naše planete i galaksije je zanimljivija i luđa od bilo kog SF romana.
Imao sam sreću da za ulazak u SF pročitam remek delo Artura Klarka - Kraj detinjstva.
Kakva je to knjigetina koja se zauvek pamti!
Nakon pročitanog Točka vremena osećao sam veliku prazninu koju osećam i sada verovatno jer mi se čita taj serijal opet i nisam znao šta dalje...
Uzeo sam Hiperion i nije me oduševio. Neke fine priče, Štrajk Bog bola i tako to.
Not great not terrible. Nije me oduševio Hiperion, zaista nije iako sam silno to želeo.
Pad Hiperiona mi je dosta ozbiljnija knjiga kog koje uviđam Simonsovu maštu i mnogo mi se više svidela.
Dođoh do Endimiona gde dosta njih nije oduševljeno... Mene Endimion nije oduševio nego me je raspametio. Simons je jedan neverovatan pisac i skidam mu kapu za Endimion.
Toliko me je opčinila knjiga da sam juče čitao knjigu krišom iako je cela kuća bila prepuna gostiju zbog slave. Šta više da kažem?
Oduševljen sam svakim slovom, svakom rečenicom ove knjige i jedna je od retkih knjiga +600 strana a da ništa nije suvišno.
Endimion je remek delo naučne fantastike.
Sa istovremenim osećajem tuge i radosti idemo na završni deo "Uspon Endimiona"!

If I hadn't already read (and been blown away by) the first two books in this series earlier this year, I would have been very impressed with this book. But as it is, even though it is very good and exciting and has great characters and poignant themes and hints at even more to come, it pales when compared to the complexity and madcap storytelling of Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion. Those two books were chock full of stories and characters and layers of meaning, and there were about five to six plots going on at once that all tied together into one big plot, and the whole thing comes together in this beautiful symphony of words. Here, there are two main story threads, and they go together like a normal book, and there is only one plot, which is still pretty great and complex and makes you think, but still . . . in comparison. It's just . . . not what I've been trained to expect from Simmons.

Also, you can't read this book without reading its sequel. You just can't. The story is not done when this book is done, even though it has an ending. But it's ending is just an ending to what was going on in this book, and not the end of the overarching story of this duology, and of the four books as a whole.

Endymion actually picks up 300 years after The Fall of Hyperion, so I guess technically you don't have to read the first two books in the series* if you're curious, but I really wouldn't recommend it. Due to time travel fuckery, the twelve year old daughter of Brawne Lamia (a pilgrim from the first two books) has arrived in the present day, and a galactic conflict has broken out over her presence. Due to mysterious REASONS, she is important. As in, the fate of the galaxy rests on her shoulders. This is why two men follow her fate.

The first is Raul Endymion, who gets a first person POV in his sections. Raul is contracted to protect Aenea (as she calls herself) and help her to achieve her goals. They are accompanied by A. Bettik, a 600 year old android, and occasionally, the terrifying Shrike, who has left the planet Hyperion for the first time in living memory. The second man is Father Captain Federico de Soya. He is a priest for the Catholic church, which is now a galaxy wide empire. The church gained its power back in the 300 years since the first two books, largely due to the cruciform parasite which provides literal eternal life to its bearers. Father de Soya has been charged with tracking down Aenea at any cost and turning her over to the church.

*Although, maybe it would work? This book is so much simpler than those it might hook your interest. The only problem is, you'd be totally spoiled for the first two books. Anyway, it's not ideal.

The dual POVs really worked here. Simmons juggled them nicely so as to maximize the tension in the story. I also thought he did a great job with de Soya, who could have been a disastrous villainous character. Instead, he's a complex but ultimately sympathetic guy who is simply caught up in events beyond his control. His story is also responsible for some bone-chilling body horror. What he sacrifices in the name of his belief is staggering. There were parts where I felt Simmons went on too much about certain events, lingered too long in POVs, and it felt like filler. As mentioned above, the previous books were so chock full of STUFF that filler wasn't necessary. Here, it felt like with only two POV characters to worry about, Simmons overcompensated.

Regardless, this is top notch science fiction, people. It just doesn't quite meet the standards set by its own predecessors. Can't wait to read the last book later this year. (I think I'm going to save it for Thanksgiving so I can have days of uninterrupted reading.)

Rating: 8/10


Endymion is nothing at all like I expected the follow-up novel to be. It’s a very different story with focus on an entirely new cast of characters, but some old characters make a return and it feels very connected to the Hyperion books as it makes tons of references to previous characters and events, sheds new revelations about past details of lore, and re-visits several worlds which were mentioned in those original novels as well. It’s not the story I was expecting, and I was a little disappointed in not getting a direct sequel to the previous novels, but Endymion works great as its own epic Sci-Fi adventure novel and I enjoyed it.



Image: God's Grove (A planet within the WorldWeb)


[Pros]:

-I enjoyed the adventure aspect of exploring former Web-worlds and learning about those planets’ history, ecology, and geology

-The world-building is epic and the lore of this universe is expanded on much more

-Great new cast of characters which felt completely relatable, and I felt connected to them all

-Good pacing overall


[Cons]:

-There are some retcons that I didn’t like and I think weakens the previous books in the series

-Too many misdirects/fake-out deaths to the point where it becomes predictable and lessens the tension of the scene/chapter

-The ending was another cliffhanger, similar to Hyperion


*My Rating System*

5 Stars (9-10): Amazing
4 Stars (7-9): Really Good to Great
3 Stars (5-7): Average to Good
2 Stars (3-5): Bad to Mediocre
1 Star (1-3): Terrible

This was a GREAT piece of sci-fi. I loved the first two books of the Cantos, Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, but was worried that the two Endymion ones would not capture the same crazy newness and crisp atmospheres of them. I was wrong because Endymion carries through on its promises to give us more insight into the Shrike (well, actually not that much), but especially into the world after the Fall. The New Catholic Church reminded me a bit of the Orange Bible in Dune and it was fun to see a return of the Inquisition (however terrifying). The resurrection tech was completely crazy and fun as well. But mostly, the ride along the farportals on the broken Tethys is what made this such a great read. I loved the principal characters, the action, the narrative pacing, and the hard sci-fi ideas. Truly excellent sci-fi!

Want a free cruciform? Won´t hurt that long. Bodily.

It´s so realistic that humans would use a groundbreaking, new biotechnological option to establish a new reign of faith fueled torture and terror state that makes the empire look weak in contrast, because they at least didn´t want your immortal soul and forced you to get indoctrination body horror parasites I am absolutely sure that this is going to happen, that people will be manipulated without their knowledge by  secretly infecting them with an indoctrination virus or placing a flesh eating, extremely disgusting monster parasite on their body in a holy mass while they are chanting  That´s how we roll, besides, next, or maybe even before use in medicine, immortality for instance, or bio nanotech hybrids, the most stupid and dangerous use will be prioritized.

One may have guessed it already, Simmons owns any faith, religions, sect, or whatever may still come and shows how it happened, happens, and will happen in the future if belief and naivety of humans are used to gain power with false promises of immortality. It´s the only time he is masterfully dissing the once most destructive sick mental construct, before economy entered the stage and Chuck Norrised priests into oblivion while saying "Hold my holy consumerism texts, PR, advertising, and marketing, while I am proselyting the last one of your proponents behind that altar."

There are some antagonists that make Terminator look like a little kid, they could eat dozens of these primitive, stone age time travel killing machines for breakfast, just as the mentioned economy eats galactic politics and faith. One should definitively consider taking notes and, or, marking highlights, and especially continuing the thoughts, offered by this amazing series, to expand and fuse them with the knowledge collected by reading other sci-fi to get the full, immersive pleasure.

Some don´t like this novel that much and I don´t get why, it has everything, and criticizing Simmons for being too wordy would be the same as doing it with King, just very weird.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

I really like Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion... But Endymion was plain awful. The book was 500 pages of exposition and story aspects that were almost entirely unnecessary to the narrative. Very little character growth or change, internal inconsistency in story line items (within the same book) and meshing of the overall timeline. I felt like reading it was a chore. It took me about six weeks to finish when such a book would normally only take a week. Overall I only read it to finish off the overall storyline, but I'd more or less tell people to stop at Fall of Hyperion.

Taking a decent break following the two Hyperion novels before starting Endymion was actually a good decision. I knew full well that this series of four books offers diminishing returns after Hyperion and the first book for me was nothing short of a masterpiece and easily in my all time top five reads.

Having the time to breath and armed with the knowledge that this probably wouldn't hit the heights previously seen allowed me to go in and enjoy it for what it is and it was a welcome return to some familiar locations and faces.

I would offer the same advice with this series as I would for Frank Herbert's Dune - every lover of the sci fi genre should at least read the first book but continue only if you loved it and really want to squeeze out every last piece of lore possible.