It’s Friday again and you know what that means: time for another one of my reviews. This week, it’s Dan Simmons in the spotlight with the first book of his Hyperion Cantos, Hyperion
Hyperion is a space-age version of The Canterbury Tales. It follows pretty much the same format: pilgrims on a religious voyage swapping stories. However, unlike Chaucer’s work, there’s a meta-story at play and the tales the pilgrims exchange are not just to pass the time. They are compelling, interesting, and show that the narrators (the characters of Hyperion) have led interesting lives to put them where they are at what seems to be the very end of the world itself. As a reader, I couldn’t help but get caught up in their stories and wonder more about them which is why I’m very glad I had the second book handy because Hyperion ends in a very unsatisfactory manner. It doesn’t so much hit a wall and go off a cliff as some critics have alleged. To me, it feels like it was one book cut in half with Hyperion being the first half and the second book, The Fall of Hyperion
Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion are good books and well worth the read. Dan Simmons is a good author who spins a great narrative with compelling characters. However, you will want to get both of them at the same time and read them back-to-back which has been a cause for some to feel a bit disgruntled about paying for two books to get the story of one. Still, in this case, I’d argue that the show is well worth the price of admission.
Three-and-a-half rainbow farting zebricorns. Well-written and a good read but the sucker-punch-tenterhooks-cliffhanger ending was just a bit too much.
— G.K.
