What a big, strange, wonderful book.
I admit, I had started Hyperion several times and put it down. But so many people rave about it that I picked it up and persevered. It was worth it. It combine one of the oldest tropes in fiction with some of the most original ideas. The trope is that of a group of pilgrims swapping tales as they travel. Chaucer wrote a rather famous example of this more than 600 years ago, it became known as The Canterbury Tales .
There are fewer pilgrims in Hyperion (7 instead of 24) and it's a long strange trip they're on, to a planet where time operates differently and where a deadly being known as the Shrike lives and is worshiped. Simmons has invented all sorts of new technology, but the real interest is in the people and their stories.
Hyperion is a long book and a complex one. It will make you think, but it will also make you feel. And it's only the first book of four in the series.
Dan Simmons is the author of more than 30 books in the SF, horror and fantasy genres. He was born in 1948 in Peoria IL.
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