Hyperion
Written by Dan Simmons
www.ink2quill.com

“Hyperion” is a Scifi novel written by Dan Simmons and the first book in the Hyperion Cantos. The other books in the Hyperion Cantos are “Hyperion”, “The Fall Of Hyperion”, “Endymion” and “The Rise Of Endymion”. This is a scifi classic that has won many awards and is a great read.

Hyperion Goodreads webpage

Hyperion Amazon webpage

“Hyperion” is the story of a pilgrimage to a planet called Hyperion, an outback world difficult to access and with structures called the Time Tombs that emit time waves causing time to move backwards. Humanity is spread out over thousands of worlds but there is an AI intelligence called the TechnoCore growing in the background. That intelligence my soon become a threat to humanity. Add the conflicts between the Hegemony of people and modified humans known as Ousters and you have a human race teetering on the edge of a catastrophy. The pilgrims are a small group that comprise a catholic priest called Lenar Hoyt, a soldier named Fedmahn Kassad, a lewd poet named Martin Silenus, a private investigator named Brawne Lamia, a man known simply as the Consul, a scholar named Sol Weintraub and his daughter Rachel, who suffers from Merlin Syndrome. They are as different as people can be and all have their reasons for going on this pilgrimage to Hyperion and meet with a creature known as the Shrike. The skrike is a godlike creature 3 meters tall with sliding and protruding blades coming from its body and is able to manipulate time. It is a fearsome and savage creature.

Let me start by saying that one of the things I liked most about the story was how inconventional it was. This was not the story of alien invasions, galactic fleets, fancy technologies or even weird aliens, although it did have a sprinkling of those elements. What I mean to say is that those elements did not define the story. They were not the draw. The conflict humanity had with the different galactic forces moved the story forward and did not keep it trapped in a predictable narrative. This is the story about a pilgrimage. Yes a pilgrimage.

I also loved the way the characters of the story were so different. In essence you had a scholar and his daughter, a soldier, a detective, a poet, a priest and a consul and they´re all on a journey, for different reasons, to meet with a dangerous, supernatural creature. The stories they all tell are so different but linked to the planet Hyperion. There is one character who did not have enough said about them. The story of the Consul felt unfinished. I always felt that there was more to his story than the story of his grandparents.

One thing I wonder about are the events surrounding the pilgrimage. The way the TechnoCore, the Ousters and humanity´s position are changing in the universal power dynamic. The TechnoCore is so mysterious and the Ousters are so denigrated and as a result I feel we never get a clear enough picture of them. And of course The Shrike and The Time Tombs are a wild card in this hand of poker. So to speak. I haven´t read the other books but I wonder if The Shrike will upset the outcomes of the various power struggles and maybe even assure humanity´s precarious survival in some way.

John

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