Hyperion

My first concern that this book would be of terrible quality, was the fact the spine reads Hyerion not Hyperion. It doesn't fill one with confidence when the publisher can't spell the name of the book. Upon reaching page 30, my fears were realised when about a third of the pages fell out, like leaves from trees in autumn. Any Peep Show fans out there - this was 100% published by British London.

I love the style of writing, the word building is so rich, considered and intriguing. Dan Simmons has such a gift for description. A brutal time to be living, incredible surroundings, and fantastic characters with rich individual backstories. The whole series is slow and intense and so intricate. If you’re looking for a fast easy read this is not the boo for you. If you are after great use of words, vivid descriptions, vivid world building and a dense story spread over several book, this is absolutely for you.

I kept seeing Hyperion pop up on Amazon/Kindle recommendations and thought I'd give it a go. The story is basically a collection of short stories told from the perspectives of a band of very different individuals thrown together on an intergalactic pilgrimage to the outback planet of Hyperion to ultimately encounter a time bending alien being known as The Shrike. As the characters in this book start out as strangers their origins are explained one buy one by way of being woven into the main body as short stories (these do take up the majority of the book). What you are essentially getting when you read Hyperion is simply stories within a story and in some cases stories within stories within stories. Each are written quite differently which makes for good variety throughout. There's a good mix of superb sci-fi guns blazing goodness, grounded family misfortunes, war stories and more. My only criticism of Hyperion is its fairly strong emphasis on poetry which is fine however its just not to my taste. I don't personally care much for poetry but its by no means a deal breaker. I'd recommend Hyperion to anyone whether you're a Sci-fi fan or not as its variety of story telling keeps it interesting regardless of your preferred genre.

The majority of this book is absolutely fantastic! Unfortunately the end is very anti-climactic.The main bulk of this book tells the story of different people and often in very different writing styles. It's refreshing and edge of the seat stuff as so many different perspectives are told in the same book. It is impossible to put down and even as you're reading it you get the feeling that you are reading a book which is truly special but the end just doesn't live up the the build up.A great book which falls just short of greatness, but still definitely worth the read.

Finally got round to reading this after multiple recommendations - there's lots about this that in lesser hands would come across as clever, tricksy, showy, knowing, and over ambitious, but although Simmons works on a colossal canvas he covers it brilliantly. Most imaginatively devised and realised SF novel I've read in years