Hyperion - Dan Simmons

[The Wanderer]

OK, started this, Will post initial comments soon...

[GOLLUM]

Look forward to it. Lots of friends tell me it's a wonderful read. I have a copy but yet to invest the time, so many books, so little time GRRR.....

[Quokka]

I've read three out of four and without saying too much I've enjoyed them alot so far. I'm not always a fan of stories where several characters are introduced and then the story unfolds either forwards or backwards through each character in turn. Its hard to get the balance right so that the reader doesn't want to ignore one character in favour of another.

But I found with the opening Hyperion in particular that as each character begun to tell their story, they were the ones I wanted to know about. That's not to say I didnt have favourites but from memory there was no real sensation of a central character.

In my opinion Hyperion deserves the respect/awards its received, Is the whole cantos as strong and deserving? That's maybe more debatable but like I said I've certainly enjoyed reading it.

I wasn't so sure about Endymion before reading it, novels that revisit a place long after the original tale is told are notoriously hit and miss but again I got into reading it easily, this time it follows two distinct streams and although I'd finish a chapter and not want to switch characters that only ever lasted a few lines before I was happily reading and likely to finish the next chapter in the same way .

I'll add that my knowledge of some of the literary influences is pretty sketchy, which I imagine might add another layer to reading the cantos.

[Soggyfox]

second all that Hyperion and Endymion i really enjoyed and theres the ones about Troy as well, Ilium and Olympos, which are an enjoyable read too.

[Connavar]

I read Hyperion earlier this year. I thought the first half of the book was good. Some of the characters and their stories was very well done.

Its is though the only SF i havent finished reading this year. The world was too uninteristing and some of the characters didnt touch me. Some of them i liked. But the lack of story cause you wait for the characters tales and why they are going where they are going was a big minus. It got to be too much about the characters for me.

I could have forced my way through it but i had better SF books to read at that time.

I dont see the fuss about it and the awards and the respect it has. It seems like the way the story is told by the characters was what made it rated high. Cause as a hole book Hyperion isnt that good IMO. To call it a classic as some say it is going way too far and dissing the real SF classics....

[malfunkshun]

Ok, maybe somebody in THIS thread can help me. I lost my copy of The Rise of Endymion about 50 pages from the end. Endymion and Aena had just dropped off Fedman on Mars and they were about to head to Pacem to see the pope.

Somebody please summarize quickly what happened! I was almost finished, and I need to know as I can't find this book anywhere locally.

[Quokka]

If anyone can please do it by PM or put a nice big SPOILER on it, as I said above I haven't read the last book yet

[The Wanderer]

Gripping Book, though it ends on a cliff hanger, for me - not that that 's bad, I just wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters