The Hyperion Cantos [Hardcover]

Dan Simmons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1990

Eight centuries from now - long after the Big Mistake and the death of Old Earth - humanity is again on the brink of war. Galactic war this time. Contains both Hyperion and the Fall of Hyperion.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: GuildAmerica; Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion edition (1990)
• ASIN: B001VFB5RA
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,055,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This includes Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion!, August 2, 2007

By 

C. Lockhart (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Instead of buying a paperback copy of Hyperion, I bought the "Hyperion Cantos". It is a nice hardcover collection of Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion. I'm still reading through Hyperion right now (about halfway through it), and it is pretty incredible. It is such a powerful science-fiction epic that is definitely worth buying. "Hyperion Cantos" might be hard to find, but if you can get it at a good price I think you should buy it instead of having to buy the books separately. I don't really like the cover though, looks a bit cheesy.

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Book Dan Simmons Will Write In His Lifetime -- Science Fiction Literature, January 8, 2012

By 

Judah (Terre Haute In USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hyperion Cantos (Hardcover)

This volume is 929 pages, and contains a dense amount of detail. Think "War and Peace" meets "War of the Worlds" somewhere in a distant solar system when mankind has an interstellar Hegemony.

Taken by itself, volume one, Hyperion is an unfinished masterpiece, science fiction literature that mimics the format of the Canterbury Tales -- a group of pilgrims traveling to uncertain doom, each retelling their unique, individual stories. The Crucriform, Merlin's Sickness, Poetry and Sad King Billy, Keats in Cybrid, For Love Of War, and The Consul's Tale -- develop extremely strong characters (characterization, often lacking in science fiction, is overwhelmingly present). As the pilgrims reach the time tombs, the first book ends, right in the middle of everything.

The Fall of Hyperion picks up the plotline and concludes the epic. It is too long. Perhaps Simmons benefited from relaxed editing, or decided he was writing a 'future classic' and included poetic scenes with little plot relevance. Either way, the second volume takes 400+ pages for a 200 page story. Two new perspective characters are introduced (M. Gladstone and M. Severn), and 100 pages are wasted recapping events which 'just happened' in book one. Additionally Simmons included 10+ pages of poetry by Keats, in italics, for atmosphere mid-story.

The themes of the second book include Johnny Keats (it is recommended you read a biography or are familiar with his works before reading Hyperion), man-made and machine-made UI [Ultimate Intelligence or 'God'], pain, the evolution of man, betrayal, dreaming reality, and allusions of the Christian holy trinity (more metaphoric; no preaching). Science fiction wise, the time tombs, the tree of pain, the web of teleporting doors, the deathstick device, fat-lines of information, and non-empathic Artifical Intelligences, and the strange foreign landscapes give the book it's own distinct feel. Simmons has a gift for description that he tends to over-use (but people into classic literature can't get enough).

Why only four stars? This book is a masterpiece; one man's masterwork. The first volume even won a Hugo award. For me, those extra 300+ pages which added little to the story experience diluted the magnificence. Hyperion Cantos took me a long time to absorb and I don't intend to re-read it. If you are the type of person who has read Tolstoy for a *second time* then you should buy this. If you just want an awesome sci-fi epic that'll take a month to read, hit up your local library.

Finally, Simmons continues the universe in Endymion (Hyperion Cantos) and The Rise of Endymion... I do not recommend the read unless you are of a literary bent or in love with the world. Both those books are direly in need abridgment for the amount of story they contain, and do not add much to the mystery of the Shrike.

Much like "Dune" or "The Foundation Trilogy" this is epic science fiction that you should try once in your lifetime.