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What's New
Review Features
S - Science Fiction
F - Fantasy
H - Horror
Complete Listing
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Adams, Douglas (S)
Asher, Neal (S)
Aylett, Steve (S)
Banks, Iain M (S)
Barclay, James (F)
Barker, Clive (H)
Baxter, Stephen (S)
Brin, David (S)
Bury, Stephen (S)
Card, Orson Scott (S)
Cherryh, CJ (S/F)
Clute, John (S)
Cockayne, Steve (F)
Cook, Glen (F)
Danielewski, Mark (H)
Dick, Philip K (S)
Egan, Greg (S)
Feist, Raymond (F)
Gaiman, Neil (F)
Gibson, William (S)
Goodkind, Terry (F)
Grimwood, Jon C (S)
Hamilton, Peter (S)
Jeter, K.W. (S)
Jordan, Robert (F)
Lethem, Jonathan (S)
McAuley, Paul (S)
MacLeod, Ken (S)
Martin, George RR (F)
McMullen, Sean (S)
Miéville, China (S)
Moran, Daniel K (S)
Morgan, Richard K (S)
Nagata, Linda (S)
Niven, Larry (S)
Noon, Jeff (S)
Robinson, Kim S. (S)
Rucker, Rudy (S)
Simmons, Dan (S)
Smith, Michael Marshall (S)
Stephenson, Neal (S)
Sterling, Bruce (S)
Vinge, Vernor (S)
Westerfeld, Scott (S)
Williams, Sean (S)
Williams, Tad (S/F)
Collections (S/F)
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| The Classics |
Bradbury, Ray (S/H)
Burgess, Anthony (S)
Tolkien, JRR (F) |
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| Dan Simmons |
| Author Information |
Reviewed Books |
Other Books |
Notes: (H) - Hyperion Series
Notes: (E) - Endymion Series |
Hyperion
(H)
Fall of Hyperion (H)
Endymion (E) |
Darwin's Blade
The Hollow Man
Rise of Endymion (E) |
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 Our
Ranking Hyperion is the first of Simmon's Hyperion
series and was the winner (rightfully) of the Hugo award. It was the first book
I'd read by him, picking it up after hearing from numerous sources that this was
a must read. Well, they were right. Hyperion is one of the few science fiction
books that manages to pull in a galactic plot well. Simmon's wonderfully portray's
an incredibly complex galaxy that has thousands of planets populated by mankind.
I truly enjoyed how he managed to describe the setting enough to give you a good
basis of some key worlds, portraying just how diverse the galaxy is but without
going into descriptive overkill. The temptation to just endlessly describe hundreds
of diverse systems must have been tough to quell, but Simmons thankfully managed.
However, despite the literally galactic level of the setting, the strength of
this book is actually the smaller focused tale of the pilgrims. Simmons does a
good job balancing the galactic wars and issues in wonderfully with the singular
tales of the pilgrims. The pilgrims are basically stuck on a planet called Hyperion
while events are exploding throughout the galaxy. Each of the pilgrims have been
called to Hyperion to try and stop this beast known as the Shrike. While traveling
to where the Shrike is rumored to be they tell their tales of how they became
involved. This part the story is sort of Canterbury Talesish but with one exception;
most of these stories (especially the priest's) are pretty wild. I was very impressed
with the imagination of some of the tales and how they actually tied into the
events that were currently occurring. The plot is truly what drives this story
and barring a few holes and inconsistencies it is very solid. The characters are
pretty well thought out but a little inconsistent among them. It is pretty obvious
which characters Simmons happens to like more. The Shrike as a character is incredible.
It is certainly one of the better villains created in modern science fiction.
Unfortunately, (the trend seems to continue with terrific science fiction) the
end is terrible. Not only is it a cliff hanger for the second part of the series
(this I could have dealt with) but it is extremely cheesy and just doesn't fit
with the rest of the book. I wouldn't let this deter you from reading it. All
in all this is one of the best sci-fi books I've read. |
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 Our
Ranking Unfortunately, as with most good science
fiction series, the sequel fell short of what the original produced. Fall of Hyperion
takes off where Hyperion left. The pilgrims are ready to take on the Shrike, while
in the intergalactic scale, all hell is ready to break loose. Simmons tries to
focus more at the intergalactic level in this book where it is more or less all
out war. He does a good job describing the crisis and the problems that would
occur during a conflict of this size and magnitude. Some of the space battles
are very impressive, and the overall planet to planet fighting is also well written.
At the pilgrim vs. the Shrike level, Simmons doesn't do as well. The problem is
he made the Shrike just so awesome and indestructible in the first one that he
boxed himself into a corner here. The pilgrims should technically have no chance
at all. Simmons' attempts at working around this for the most part come out horribly.
One or two of the scenes are very good especially the very awaited Kassad versus
Shrike scene. Otherwise this is a bust. For the most part, this wouldn't have
hurt the book too much. But what really kills it, is the inconsistencies in the
plot and Simmons' attempt at trying to correct some from the first book. The answer
to why all of this is happening, and why the Shrike was released while interesting
and surprising, was not exactly where I'd hoped the book would go. In addition,
Simmons tries to explain how some things works and it just comes out horribly.
(ie. the starcasters portals) Finally, Simmons looks like he is ready to be grouped
into the long list of sci fi authors who can not end a novel. The ending, while
better than Hyperion's, just left me fairly frustrated. If you read Hyperion,
you might as well read this one to get a sense of closure, otherwise this is not
a have to read. |
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 Our
Ranking Endymion is the follow up to the incredibly
successful Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. While the first two Hyperion books
were very much science fiction at an epic level, Endymion proves to be more of
an adventure novel set in the same setting that Simmons established in the first
two. Looking at this simply as an adventure novel it is not a bad effort. The
plot doesn't have a whole lot to do with the first books, but it does use some
of the same technologies and ideas from them. Simmons comes up with some creative
ways to use the cruciforms from the Hyperion book and sort of expands on some
of his previous ideas. However, nothing from the science fiction standpoint is
a breakthrough here. The book certainly does not display the same level of imagination
as Hyperion. The plot is pretty basic. Raul Endymion is asked by one of the original
Hyperion pilgrims to protect a young girl Aenea and basically just serve as her
guard. Along with a humanoid robot they basically set off on a pilgrimage of their
own, using the old farcast portals as a guide and are brought from world to world
on a mission only Aenea seems to understand. As they travel Simmons manages to
tie in some of the worlds visited in Hyperion which is a nice touch, but as with
the ideas, there is not a whole lot new here. The characters are a bit bland,
but they serve their purpose in the book. I didn't get as attached to them as
I had to the Hyperion characters. In addition to the pilgrim who appears, the
Shrike is also in this novel but in a slightly different and mysterious role.
This is one of the better aspects of the book, trying to figure out where the
Shrike stands. However, the new villain for the story falls pretty short. I think
Simmons really tried to recreate a new villain that was a evil as the Shrike was
in Hyperion, but it really doesn't work. In fact, having the Shrike in this novel
makes the new villain even seem weaker in concept. All in all this is not a bad
adventure tale, but as far as science fiction it is really just an expansion of
Hyperion ideas and nothing too new. |
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