Hyperion

I read Hyperion because it was on many top ten lists of the greatest novels of science fiction. The novel has an interesting approach to telling the story; however, there is too much extraneous, chaotic detail, so much that I would skip entire paragraphs knowing that they were not compelling elements of the story lines. The majority of the story is composed of the 7 anecdotes of each of the 7 pilgrims. Most of those are interesting. However, one has a growing suspicion that the pilgrimage will not come to a satisfying conclusion. And, it's never made clear why these seven pilgrims are selected to be on the pilgrimage, as the story ends just as the pilgrims reach the Time Tombs. If the author is saying that the important part of the story is the 7 anecdotes and that the climax of the pilgrimage is of little importance, then I don't find that to be compelling conclusion of the novel. If the ending is simply a cliff hanger that leads into the next book in the series, then I do not find that compelling either. I suspect that the books in this series continues the mystery of the Shrike and the Time Tombs... I am just not that interested. I am curious about two aspects of the story.... (1) Does Rachel ever stop getting younger before she is born? And (2) how does the Hegemony deal with the threat of the AI Techno Core? The first requires a conclusion of the pilgrimage. The second would require an extensive story in its own right. It will be a long time before I decide to read the sequel.

Clunky writing, obvious scaffolding, every two pages a forced excuse to force justify a similie to modern earth for us readers that the narrator would never use. 70s style scifi writing with no craft.

I found the beginning of this book a bit trying to push through, but I'm glad I did. This book mainly explains the back stories of the Shrike Pilgrims and each has an interesting story to tell. The Fall of Hyperion is by far much better, but I would recommend this book for anyone looking to read a sci-fi seres epic.