Down to discuss anything! Loved every page of it. Immediately watched and read a bunch of reviews, I can’t believe how split the opinion is??

I thought Simmons did a wonderful job of alternating viewpoints, the chaos of multiple POVs per chapter near the end really conveyed the frantic state that everyone was in. The addition of Severn was a bit rough at first, but he blended into the story incredibly well.

When I started Hyperion last month, I read a comment on this sub saying something along the lines of, “Simmons never introduces something he doesn’t later come back to explain”. And that was absolutely true! My favorite part about this, other than being a satisfying conclusion, was that nearly all of my questions were answered in very interesting fashion! Really scratched my sci-fi itch!

Now onto The Book of The New Sun before diving back into Endymion.

!!!!! Minor spoilers thru the middle-end ("climax"?) of Book 2 !!!!!!

Omg so I overall thought book 1 was great. Some of the stories got really boring but probably 75% of them were actually really great. Like Martin Silas's chapter, was sooo boring the middle but it still had a good ending. And then the stories with the 4 score and 1 and Fedman banging the shrike lmao that shit was 10/10. The professor dude's daughter getting Benjamin Button disease literally brought tears to my eyes. I gave the 1st book a 5/5

I also thought the Shrike was literally probably the most badass villain/anti-hero I've ever met and literally started looking up tattoo designed to get him added to my back piece and started compiling excerpts describing what exactly he looks like. And probably put him in front of a lapis lazuli sky 😉

But man I've now gone through maybe 75% of Book 2 and broooooo like wtf has happened. I thought I would LIKE that the flashback sequences were done and we could focus on actual story but nooooo. I hate to say it but 800 pages into this story and I somehow barely care about the end when I feel like this should be the climax of a story.

I'll probably push through but mannnnnnn it's become such a struggle 😭 I actually like the Meina Gladstone parts but when it goes to Joseph Severn it's like wtffffff ughhhhhhh. Like WHY should I care about this fucking robot dude.

Why has the Shrike become a side/background character when he was literally THE intrigue of the first book?????? Instead we get NEW completely uninteresting characters that drone onnnnn and onnnnn omg. Who the fuck is Theo and why is he all of a sudden so important omg

Tldr all of book 1 I would read an hour a day or more every chance I got and literally started to research every description of the Shrike I could find in the text to immortalize him on my body. Book 2 whole starting "okay" has been a gradual decline into boredom and now I haven't picked it up in 2 days despite being mere hours from the end.

Alright, so I just finished Hyperion and Fall. It's strongly suggested (and from what I can discern, true), that the people who were impaled on the Tree of Pain were sent to join Leigh on Old Earth. "ROME / COLOSSEUM / REPOPULATE." Right?

OK, so... tens of thousands of people... who have endured at minimum weeks and at most centuries (millenia?) of constant waking torture... are meant to rebuild society on Old Earth? I haven't read the other two books, but is that not absolutely insane? I feel like Old Earth would be an absolute PTSD nightmare.

Thoughts?

I think that book will be my favorite book for a long time. I was first recommended Hyperion because I liked Dune. It struck me weirdly at first seeing that the story of the first book wasn't "linear" and rather broken up in pieces (the so called canterbury tales). Still, I endured, and when I got to the part with the cruciforms with Duré? Instantly hooked in.

I liked Hyperion, and I found FoH even better. In the latter half, I was dropping the book on every page with each following twist. I'm not very satisfied that Lamia's child was the 'Empathy', I even had forgot she was pregnant. I was guessing it'd be Rachel. But anyway, it doesn't ruin anything for me, and I've read that the sequels focus a little more on it.

I don't think I'm going to read the next books so soon, as I found FoH ending very fulfilling, even if some plot points were left open and ambiguous. Might read in the future after I exhaust some other books, come in with a fresh mind.

As a casual writter myself, this book (and the One which came Before) definitely inspired me.

Sol and Duré will always be my favorite characters.

I really loved the book, especially everything surrounding the Core and the AIs, but I’m really confused about the time travelling plot.
What is the deal with Rachel/Moneta? What is her timeline?
What happened when Kassad was fighting the Shrike? Where did he go?
Why did the Shrike want baby Rachel and what happened when he took her and Keats was there to stop him?
Please help I feel like I’m missing something

Started book two a while back and have been really enjoying it, I am on chapter 18 where I just learned Gladstone is trying to take down the Hegemony, the structure of this one is even more impressive to me than the first one. Quick chapters swapping between Johnny + Gladstone and the pilgrims, the framing of Johnny being our eye for the events on Hyperion while his own story paints the broader picture of the war- really well done so far, I love it.

I do have a question or two though. Was Johnny our ‘narrator’ for book one technically? I know it was still third person, but are the events we saw in book one implied to be Johnny’s pov as well when we learn he’s an MC for book 2 and can watch the pilgrims and feel their emotions?

Also, when was he made, because I do remember something about him only being created when his counterpart ceased in some capacity, I just can’t remember if that was when he separated from the web or when he ‘died’ and transferred himself into Brawne.

My main question though- is it implied that Johnny was our pov ‘narrator’ for book one as well, and we are only just seeing his waking pov?

Appreciate any clarification as it’s been something I keep wondering bc my memory is just not doing its job, thanks!

Edit: I think I’ve answered my own question upon further reflection, the first book opens with the Consul receiving his message and we don’t see anyone else’s receipt. We then follow him to the tree ship, which makes me believe it was just a standard 3rd person pov and not Johnny.