Book Review – Hyperion

Last updated on 2014-09-07

Hyperion, by Dan Simmons, is a great Science-Fiction that is also loaded with Fantasy. It is a novel told using many short stories (much like I, Robot), told by the last pilgrims to the Time Tombs located at the Hyperion world, at the edge of the current galactic civilization.

Each story tells a different angle on what is Hyperion, or more to the point, what are the Time Tombs and what is the Shrike, a mythical type of monster that lives on Hyperion and does very strange and magical things. No one know why the Shrike exists, what is it’s purpose… nothing. And all the pilgrims have been somehow affected by ether the Time Tombs or by the Shrike in some way that makes them want to return to it and close the circle.

Each on of the book’s stories is very different, which I liked because if one of them was not very good, it did not ruin completely the book. There are also references to other great Science Fiction woks –  for example, someone tells that “Cowboy Gibbson” once managed to access the core of the matrix, and who is that “Gibbson”? probably William Gibbson, the author of Neuromancer (actually it was Case who accessed the core, but still, the reference is nice).

One thing I didn’t like in the book is it’s end, which leaves the book unfinished. This is done too briskly in my opinion, and I was expecting at least some closing. But well, I guess I’ll have to read the next book in the series.

Overall a good, enjoyable read.