Hyperion: Great Sci-Fi Books Explained

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

If you’re into multiverses, power plays, or high-stakes revenge served ice cold, you might just love my sci-fi novels. In Delphine Descends, journey with Kathreen as she rises from war-victim to galaxy-class powerhouse with a serious grudge. And in Black Milk, join Prometheus as he shatters the laws of time, space, and sanity for love (and maybe destroys the universe along the way). Links to both below 📖 Delphine Descends (Amazon link) shortlink.uk/P59l Black Milk (Amazon link) shortlink.uk/MHpv

[@johnpelosi4117]

Hyperion could never be condensed into a film, it would have to be treated as a tv series with multiple seasons. Thank you for this excellent analysis!

[@TheSwordOfTheJedi-u2p]

I hope it never gets adapted to TV or film. Even if it got a huge budget for as many seasons as required there is large percentage chance it will be bad. Even an acclaimed adaptation like Dune is just a ghost of the book. Such is the nature of adapting Novels.

[@ryno_8848]

The shrike and the tree of pain are some of the most terrifying concepts in sci-fi IMO

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Agreed. I love the fact we never really know its motives either. Makes it even more terrifying.

[@bryanl1984]

It's basically Roko's Bassilisk made "real."

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

I was literally thinking that the other day 🤯

[@Emanon...]

Meh. I went to a Jordan Peterson lecture once and had to hear him talk about him psilocybin pseudo-science. That was actually horrific.

[@brianuseremi3626]

@@Emanon... That's got to be one of the most non-sequitur shit posts I've ever read.

[@danishfauna3398]

I actually get a bit envious when I hear about people getting to read Hyperion (and the later books) for the first time. Even though I discover something new every time I re-read them (and I've re-read them many, many times.) Thank you for this video.

[@kingkusnacht]

Apparently a controversial opinion but the Rise of Endymion is actually my favourite entry in the series, it discusses so many insightful philosophical themes!

[@jds1275]

Same here. While I enjoyed the whole series, The Rise of Endymion was the best.

[@Jakkz921]

Also my fave by far 🙌

[@General_reader]

The Hyperion Cantos blew my mind! I have yet to experience anything like it

[@RandomDarter]

On par imo is the Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny. Its fantasy, but honestly the more we discover about quantum physics, the more I feel it could qualify as sci Fi. Also, if you haven't already found it, look into Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere collection.

[@FoulballProductions]

I love this book! Picked it up randomly in a NYC bookstore and read most of it through a hurricane on the jersey shore. Spectacular experience

[@sachinnair3820]

Wish I read it like you did.

[@vivekfouzdar1075]

Much needed and brilliant video

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Thank you! 🙏

[@bobbressi5414]

I have read hundreds of sci fi books by numerous good authors. The Hyperion books are outstanding. The writing is extremely intelligent. The characters are fleshed out beautifully and the concepts are fascinating.

[@sharathkumar8422]

Will be starting with the Fall of Hyperion today. Watched this video as a refresher to Hyperion itself which I read earlier this year.

[@calvinjohnstone2664]

Enjoy, such a great series. 👍

[@jeroenmeuleman8110]

Lovely video! Way back when (2005) I actually wrote my Master's thesis on the Hyperion Cantos and attempted to analyse all of its literary themes, motifs and references, where I admittedly chewed off a bit more than I could bite. The Hyperion Cantos were also formative for me as a writer in my own right because they work on so many levels. If you're just up for a cool sci-fi adventure, they have you covered, but they also offer up so many meditations on humanity, culture, history and art.

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

If you would read the book today, you don't even notice it was written 35 years ago. The way he describes AI is far ahead of his time . He has a female MC who happens to be stronger than most men around her (for example ) . It's truly a timeless novel. I read it in the 90's and it's still one of the best books I've ever read (multiple times )

[@mac1462]

Why is having a female character stronger than men a good thing? How many women do you know that fit the criteria? 😂

[@ShirleyTimple]

Bless your heart lol. This book reads straight out of 1985 with how dated it feels. The soldier chapters are literally 80s action and adult animation combined into a cheesy Heavy Metal knockoff. It's cringe. There's no other word to describe it

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

@@ShirleyTimple Awhhhh Sweetheart ....Saying the exact opposite , and acting as if it factual. Bless your passive aggressive little heart too !

[@vitigaymer1053]

An unaugmented female MC being stronger than males aroubd her is just stupid pandering...

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

@@vitigaymer1053 Yep. That woke Hyperion book from 1989 . Pandering for strong women ..So typically 80's !

[@IRosamelia]

Hi Darrel! I read Hyperion last year because of you; scary stuff! The visuals on this video are superb, and your voice alluring, but you already know that 😉

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Amazing! I hope you loved it as much as me.

[@IRosamelia]

@@Sci-FiOdyssey Well, actually Darrel, I confess I love you more than I loved Hyperion 😅

[@SolomonAD]

I just finished reading Hyperion today. Your video is fantastic and I owe channels like yours for making me a reader again. Hyperion is a masterpiece and I appreciate the videos you make that expound on that cosmology Simmons made. I would love to know more about Dan Simmons as an author. His roster is ridiculously versatile and prolific. I am left jaw dropped reading his abilities on full display in his novels.

[@oldforestroad]

Excellent commentary and fantastic visuals in this episode. Thank you.

[@ThePrimordialJunction]

Thanks for the content, I love the video. Keep on, doing what you're doing. I'm subscribing.

[@kellyduggan2326]

Love how Dan Simmons came up with this story 😀😀😀😀

[@RandomDarter]

This has been a favorite of mine since my teens. Incredible series ❤

[@WelfareChrist]

“To lose all of this forever is the essence of being human” - the Rise of Endymion

[@NickKlamerth]

listening to this, I immediately thought of the canterbury tales. thanks for the narrating, very well done and as mentioned below, your voice is a pleasure to hear.

[@jortmaas5873]

Thanks, even years (and many books) after first having read this I must conclude that this is still one of the greats.

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

I agree. For me it’s one of the true modern classics of sci-fi.

[@leematthews6812]

Very useful. I read Hyperion ages ago, but only now have got round to Fall of Hyperion, so it's nice to have a refresher.

[@AdamTheCoop1]

Thanks for making this great video, I remember seeing this book cover at stores and it never managed to tempt me

[@kufujitsu]

I've grown to like Dan Simmons from his books of the supernatural - Carrion Comfort, Summer of Night, Song of Kali, & Children of the Night - so when I picked up Hyperion it seemed somewhat of a departure - I remember reading the first story in Hyperion about the priest, & I liked it so much I never wanted it to end - but I needn't have worried, because Simmons followed up in the rest of the book with excellent connected novellas. What a book - & I have 3 other books in the Hyperion series, which I fully intend to read at some point.

[@myautobiographyafanfic1413]

The rest of the series isn't worth it. A lot of thr subtext of Hyperion becomes text. It floudners.

[@AB-ee5tb]

@@myautobiographyafanfic1413the rest of the series IS worth it

[@DominusNox106]

So good to see people start reading again.

[@konst80hum]

The cantos is a masterpiece of space opera, with philosophical questions and themes that go far. I cried when the space habitats of the Ousties were attacked. Simmons made such vivid and rich imagery that the reader cannot help but be drawn in.

[@ShirleyTimple]

It's dated 1980s tripe with one standout short story about a cruciform. The rest is slop for 80s action movie fans

[@dannycolwell8028]

I read very very fast but, my comprehension and retention isn’t the best. Having videos like these to follow up with after I finish a book is very helpful, thank you sir 🫡

[@Booourns]

Such a great series. Just finished rereading it for the second time. So visually creative and character driven.

[@Crijoe]

I just finished the series. It was excellent.

[@hareonthegrove]

This is just a general comment and compliment: I've been trying to find good, gripping sci fi to mix into my reading rotation but it's been difficult to know where to start. I want to say that I've watched a lot of youtube videos trying to learn more and yours are, *by far*, the best. The production value and the scripts you use reflect outstanding preparation. It must take a lot of work to make these videos look and sound as good as they do so thank you for all your effort in creating such compelling content! On a separate note, I'm a Kobo user in the US - is there a way to purchase one of your books that will be compatible with my kobo? Anyway, thanks for everything - great work.

[@KakashiHatake-ou7mp]

This is a wonderful book. The whole Concept of blending sci fi and real life literature is a Signature Dan Simmons style and I love it. Thank you for making a video on this! I am loving this series!

[@juricadogan3870]

Your best video so far. I remember watching this channel when you had about a thousand subscribers and it was obvious immediately that you will grow very fast. Keep it up.

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Thank you!!

[@thewriterstuff]

Thanks for your insightful analysis. I've so far read Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion and enjoyed both. Moving on to Endymion.

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Awesome! Hope you enjoy!

[@jacobfoster9185]

At 47 I haven't seen this image since I read the books at 13 years old. I've never been able to find it because I only remembered that image on the cover. Well and the story but not well enough to help me find it.

[@Shrike1988]

The Hyperion cantos is a fantastic series. Yes you will like some of the 4 books better than the others, but the overall story is worth reading. This is peak Sci Fi IMO, but I'm a bit biased.

[@steampunkdesperado8999]

It was a fantastic series! Can't believe I only discovered it a couple of years ago!

[@TheBeird]

Must've been nearly twenty years ago I read these book. Took a punt on them one day. Only went through the Cantos the once, but it's stuck with me ever since.

[@marcconley7037]

Amazing books. I did find all of them good, although the first two are supurb. I have reread them all over the years and will revisit them again after this refresher. They fall into the same realm as Frank Herberts Dosadi books, complex and wonderful to read that first time. You cant put them down.

[@tishapatton7446]

Excellent video. Thanks, Darrel.

[@Staylecrate]

Best strike pic ever. Where did you find the media?? Looked great! I don't know why, but Sad King Billy is my favorite secondary character.

[@JulianBoyce]

The Hyperion Cantos is spectacular - but I think Ilium and Olympos are even more imaginative from Dan Simmons.

[@danielrolfe1960]

Honestly, I found it dark and depressing and the Shrike… ugh. I stopped reading.

[@Jedimaster36091]

Loved the first two books. Would you recommend reading the later two?

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

I would recommend them certainly. However, while they’re connected to the first two, they’re very much a story in themselves.

[@stuptuty]

Good question. First two books are very innovative masterpieces. Next two... I didn't like these at all. Main concept that I cached is clueless protagonist with everything will be just fine plot. From the other hand it is good to see closure of the story and looks like many people do like it.

[@twiss9341]

Well done video bravo and thx for the content

[@jtd8719]

I had no idea that there was a fifth part. I've had copies of the four books I knew about for years, and will re-read them every few years. This video may have got me to dig them out of storage and see if I can interest my son in reading them...

[@Upticks36-v2u]

Top 3 series for me, up there with GoT and The Dark Tower

[@SardonicALLY]

I read this series, it was well worth it.

[@megavide0]

The *Hyperion Cantos + Endymion* is one of the greatest Sci-Fi sagas that I know of. > “Would Teilhard have included the TechnoCore in that evolution?” Aenea asked softly. She was hugging her knees. The blind priest stopped rocking and combed his fingers through his beard. “Teilhardian scholars have wrestled with that for centuries, my dear. I am no scholar, but I am certain that he would have included the Core in his optimism.” “But they are descended from machines,” said A. Bettik. “And their concept of an Ultimate Intelligence is quite different from Christianity’s-a cold, dispassionate mind, a predictive power able to absorb all variables.” Father Glaucus was nodding. “But they think, my son. Their earliest self-conscious progenitors were designed from living DNA-” “Designed from DNA to compute,” I said, appalled at the thought of Core machines being given the benefit of the doubt when it came to souls. “And what was our DNA designed to do for the first few hundred million years, my son? Eat? Kill? Procreate? Were we any less ignoble in our beginnings than the pre-Hegira silicon and DNA-based AIs? As Teilhard would have it, it is consciousness which God has created to accelerate the universe’s self-awareness as a means to understanding His will.” “The TechnoCore wanted to use humanity as part of its UI project,” I said, “and then to destroy us.” “But it did not,” said Father Glaucus. “No thanks to the Core,” I said. “Humanity has evolved-as far as it has evolved,” continued the old priest, “with no thanks to its predecessors or itself. Evolution brings human beings. Human beings, through a long and painful process, bring humanity.” “Empathy,” Aenea said softly. Father Glaucus turned his blind eyes in her direction. “Precisely, my dear. But we are not the only avatars of humanity. Once our computing machines achieved self-consciousness, they became part of this design. They may resist it. They may try to undo it for their own complex purposes. But the universe continues to weave its own design.” “You make the universe and its processes sound like a machine,” I said. “Programmed, unstoppable, inevitable.” The old man shook his head slowly. “No, no … never a machine. And never inevitable. If Christ’s coming taught us anything, it is that nothing is inevitable. The outcome is always in doubt. Decisions for light or dark are always ours to make-ours and every conscious entity’s.” “But Teilhard thought that consciousness and empathy would win?” said Aenea. Father Glaucus waved a bony hand at the bookcase behind her. “There should be a book there … on the third shelf … it had a blue bookmark in it when last I looked, thirty-some years ago. Do you see it?” “The Journals, Notebooks, and Correspondences of Teilhard de Chardin?” said Aenea. “Yes, yes. Open it to where the blue bookmark is. Do you see the passage I have annotated? It is one of the last things these old eyes saw before the darkness closed.…” “The entry marked twelve December, 1919?” said Aenea. “Yes. Read it, please.” Aenea held the book closer to the light of the fire. “ ‘Note this well,’ ” she read. “ ‘I attribute no definitive and absolute value to the various constructions of man. I believe that they will disappear, recast in a new whole that we cannot yet conceive. At the same time I admit that they have an essential provisional role-that they are necessary, inevitable phases which we (we or the race) must pass through in the course of our metamorphosis. What I love in them is not their particular form, but their function, which is to build up, in some mysterious way, first something divinizable-and then, through the grace of Christ alighting on our effort, something divine.’ ” There was a moment of silence broken only by the soft hiss of the fuel-pellet fire and the creak and groan of the tens of millions of tons of ice above and around us. Finally Father Glaucus said, “That hope was Teilhard’s heresy in the eyes of the current Pope. Belief in that hope was my great sin. This”-he gestured to the outer wall where ice and darkness pressed against the glass-“this is my punishment.” None of us spoke for another moment. Father Glaucus laughed and set bony hands on his knees. “But my mother taught me there is no punishment or pain where there are friends and food and conversation. And we have all of these. [...]

[@augustsbautra]

Hyperion needs more love. It's super fun to read, and prescient in many aspects.

[@arklowrockz]

His Ilium/Olympos books are even better!!

[@JLchevz]

I can't wait to read Fall of Hyperion!!!

[@TheSwordOfTheJedi-u2p]

It's a brilliant book!

[@Shoutatclouds]

"I can see my house from here" - shrike never recovered

[@jmillzoryan9763]

Just read Hyperion, loved it. Hesrd mixed things about Fall.. is it worth it?

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Yes it’s worth it… it’s different. Some say not as good but defo worth it.

[@hochfeldjessie85]

did anyone else get goosebumps when they mention a"cowboy" named "Case", who in the very old days hiked the mainframe? Or did I dream this?

[@jtd8719]

I think it was Cowboy Gibson - a nod to Cyberpunk - that you are thinking of that BB mentions to Brawne.

[@hochfeldjessie85]

@@jtd8719 are you sure?. "gibson" would have been a bit too obvious, wouldn't it. but, since i couldn't even remember if that was real, what do I know. I must look it up.

[@hochfeldjessie85]

@@jtd8719 I looked it up, you were absolutely correct. As I said, I couldn't really remember it, I read it when I was sick with a mild fever. But yes, it is "Cowboy Gibson". So, my mind was arrogant enough to alter my memory because I had been thinking that using "Gibson" might be too obvious. Thanks for the clarification! 😃

[@subraxas]

Whassup, Darrel-san?! So will you humour us with a scathing early review of your most favourite TV/streaming show of all time, Da Ringz o' POW--WAAAGH? 😀 😛 This shall be rather amusing. 🙂

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Haha! I honestly can’t bring myself to watch it. Even to tear it to shreds. I’m being zen about it these days and giving my attention to media that deserves it 🙏

[@subraxas]

@@Sci-FiOdyssey Nooooooooo!!!! I was so looking forward to all the sarcasms, insults, innuendos and other expressions of frustration.... and dread. 😀 😛

[@takezogun]

The best of the best

[@ShirleyTimple]

Not even close

[@takezogun]

@@ShirleyTimple please enlighten me i need recommendations

[@greggwilliamson]

Dr Who said it best (Peter Capaldi): "Being immortal isn't about living forever. It's about watching everyone else die." That was the most eye-opening, profound, put into perspective, statement I ever sat and really considered. It kinda scared me. Everyone wishes they could live forever, but I never really thought about what that would actually mean. I read the first two and enjoyed them, BUT, all these super-secret-unable-to-be-understood by us "plebes", ulterior, hidden, you-must-be-versed-in everything from all time, plots is just stupid. ANYONE that needs THAT level of BS to enjoy a SCIENCE-fiction story, is like democrats cancelling everyone that didn't agree with them. Anyone that stupid needs to go outside.

[@ulrichwentzel6327]

Great video!

[@martinbarr9402]

Hey Darrel, did you see the gold Shrike at the Olympic closing ceremonies? Very scary!

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

Ha! Yes I did. Does this mean the Louvre is a Time Tomb? 🤣

[@palantir135]

Yes, read it. Good story. Read the sequel Endymion too but I didn’t like it as much as Hyperion.

[@adcaptandumvulgus4252]

It's so funny when I was looking for fantasy I saw that book so many times and thought I'll read that one day and I never read it so thanks.

[@libertyauto]

Johnny's quest in the technocore, reminds me a bit of Tom Jones and the junk-fuckery he had to deal with in Grid City.

[@ianmills5210]

Yes Grid City and the Broadweb blew my mind. I loved reading Black Milk, so much I read it twice! ❤

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

😍 I love that you said that. Hyperion was a major influence on Black Milk.

[@libertyauto]

@@Sci-FiOdyssey I loved Black Milk. It went so many different places. And many times I would be reading and disappointedly thinking: ahh this novel is winding up now, and then pow, off it goes in another elaboration. But by the end, EVERYTHING had its conclusions.

[@StevenSiew2]

Hyperion and the fall of Hyperion needs to be turn into 8 two hours movies. 6 movies for each of the pilgrims and one movie for the ending of hyperion and one movie for the fall of hyperion.

[@nickmf22]

That's ridiculous and would never be made, empty headed suggestions with no regard for reality and the studios fiduciary responsibility to their investors to make money

[@jackogrady3118]

10-12 episode series would do it perf though

[@gonzalogonzalez2585]

Nothing that I have read has had such a vivid impact as the Consul playing Prelude in C Sharp Minor by Rachmaninof while a storm washes over a jungle. At the very beginning of the book...

[@wzywg]

The story of Father Dure's choice of constant electrocution and rebirth is a horrendous mirror of the Shrike tree (and Christ, obviously). I'm Catholic by birthright but an atheist by choice, so I can understand the heavy Roman Catholic narrative, even if I loathe the RC church. I've read them all, and I actually prefer the Endymion tales. Despite some wayward moments, it resolves the void that binds, and has incredible battles between the Shrike and other, similar agencies. I have also heard Bradley Cooper hopes to make Hyperion as a movie, but the Endymion books are a much more achievable movie.

[@kingkusnacht]

I actually also prefer the Endymion tales! There is a small minority that is though very upset about those 2 later entries, maybe because of the religious or philosophical subtext of them

[@fxm5715]

I enjoyed the first two Hyperion books very much, although I sometimes felt beaten over the head by Simmons' literary references. It can be distracting, and I wish he would be a bit more subtle about it. I think he took the success of those two books and chose to double/triple/quadruple down on the style. I slogged though the relentless grandiloquence of Illium/Olympos hoping for a satisfying conclusion but was sorely disappointed. I think I finished them, but don't even remember the ending. I may have given up somewhere in the second book. Still, the first two Hyperion books are well worth reading.

[@jaya5264]

Personally I don’t want this made into a movie or TV series. The story is too good and I don’t want it screwed up. Rachel’s story is one of the saddest stories I’ve read.

[@johns1625]

The purpose of The Shrike is to crucify every single human until eventually he identifies the second Mosiah, so that he may go find her and protect her at all cost 🥰🥰

[@shobhitkaul8076]

17:21 I noted you saying ha'j'emony distinctly whereas before you were saying it as hegemony (as in haggis) Why the shift.

[@timmo971]

I read Hyperion in the 90s several times due to its complexity. It is both compelling yet forgettable. Thanks for this recap but once again I feel lost about its point. Images it inspires within the mind are outstanding and peak sci fi. Ouster civilisation particularly memorable yet also troupy in hindsight.

[@pf6797]

Hyperion is like the Ex Machina of sci-fi novels. People rave about them like they’re transformative stories but both seem more shiny than deep.

[@hihihihihello]

Nothing new under the sun

[@ericalilja7111]

​@pf6797 cause you need to have a good understanding of keats works to pull them apart. They set out to answer the question keats couldn't in his unfinished epic poem hyperion. He at a very surface level uses his first epic poem Endymion to provide that answer. Hence the order reversal of the novels from the poems.

[@slorrin]

Is the Hegemony stated to be pronounced with a hard G in th ebook? Otherwise, that word has a soft G, like geode, geoffry, or gif.

[@vollsticks]

I saw the Moneta twist coming as soon as Weintraub told his tale. But it was intruiging to see how it would play out! The rest, not so much!

[@ShaktiChaturvedi]

Ah yes The Shrike, my answer to what is pure nightmare fuel

[@henningjust]

Still one of my favourite books

[@danielgarlock2074]

I remember hearing about it, I worked in a bookstore at the time. I remember reading it and found it so, so, deeply and painfully awfully written and concieved. Bathtub reading for old ladies.

[@TheCharlesAtoz]

Sol offering up his daughter is biblical in nature like Abraham offering up Isaac. Someone's probably already related that tidbit.

[@deathmagneto-soy]

Where is the artwork/illustrations used in this video from?

[@Spencer_Beard]

As a husband and father, Sol's tale is one of the saddest stories I've ever read 😢

[@DrCraigR.Walton]

I like the ideas in Hyperion but the flash back dirty entry style of telling of the Fathers tale was unreadable for me for some reason (from memory - it was ages ago. Maybe I should try again)

[@jonmoore4050]

Great books, but really a single story that takes centuries (past & future) to unfold. Highly recommended to any hard scifi fans.

[@tinlizziedl001]

This series of books by Dan Simmons are, imo, some of the greatest "sci-fi" books ever written. If you're looking for shallow, pointless drivel with forgettable characters & themes, do not read these. The only other two series that impressed me as deeply: Dune (through Chapterhouse) and Peter F. Hamilton's works (especially those in the Commonwealth saga).

[@MultiRedskull]

Was this Shrike image made with AI? Where can I find the image without the text on top?

[@Elricsedric]

Hyperion and the fall of hyperion literally arrived yesterday. I'm so excited to read them, but I fear because people say the sequels get bad.

[@Sci-FiOdyssey]

I hope you enjoy them. A lot of the criticism of the sequels is usually directed at the Endymion duology-it might be fair to say, however I enjoyed all the books. Perhaps it’s because the first two set the expectations so high 🤔

[@Elricsedric]

@@Sci-FiOdyssey then I'm so excited to read it, because it sounds awesome, like something that could be one of my favorite stories.

[@TurkishSupremacy]

The first book is magnifcent, eerie and mind-blowing. The second is solid, I enjoyed it. The third was a bit of a directionless slog and after reading a few reviews on it, I didn't bother with volume IV.

[@splifftachyon4420]

If you choose to read the Endymion books, I would recommend not reading them right after you finish the Hyperion books. I read Hyperion and Fall when they were originally released and same for the Endymion books, so there was a gap there of about 5 or 6 years for me. Let the wonder and depth of the Hyperion books sink in before attacking the Endymion books. While I don't think the Endymion books are nearly as good as the Hyperion ones, I think you'll enjoy them more if you give a little between them.

[@Joeofiowa]

Isnt the endymeon duology the only sequels there are? ​@@Sci-FiOdyssey

[@oleg19667]

Hyperion is a very intriguing story, but the key mysteries around the planet and the Shrike are left unresolved. The sequels do not clarify anything and are not as good.

[@vorda400]

I hope that no one will come up with the idea of ​​making a movie based on this book

[@paddyomaddy]

It's well over a decade since I read these books. The first tale in Hyperion is one of the finest short stories I have ever read, but after that it is all down hill. A couple of the other tales are OK and the rest meh. Of the other 3 books I recall very little of the plot, Ido recall the slog to get through them, each more drawn out and tedious than the one before.

[@AB-ee5tb]

I thought all 4 books were great

[@LunatiqueRob]

Why does the pronunciation of "hegemony" keep alternating between "hejehmony" and "hegehmony"?

[@TheEedjit]

Doesn’t seem to matter how much I want to read this book I just cannot get past the part where they’re all on the ship speaking about their first experiences with Hyperion. For some reason I just get absolutely bored. I know, I know, I’m an uncultured heathen.

[@NefariousKoel]

Been quite a long time since I read them, but I recall the beginning being rather slow for me too. However, at some point past the early reading it really picked up and kept me enthralled through the rest. I've seen a few others with the same impression so you're not alone.

[@brufleth6299]

It starts slow and then stays slow. And then continues being slow. I do not get why people enjoy this book.

[@seeingeyegod]

This is one of those books that makes me feel stupid.

[@dirtyintel5668]

Im just here for the art.

[@Leonssj]

I rly enjoyed this book. However there is one thing i didnt understand and this video didnt explain either. The pilgrimage is 7 ppl going to the Shrieke who they belive will grant one of them their wish and kill the other 6, we follow their journey, learn their wish but we are never told one very important thing: WTH did any1 think Shrieke grants wishes? What about Shrieke made them think "oh yeah imma wish for world piece from spiked metal monster who impales ppl on tree to suffer eternaly lmao". There were other pilgrimages before this one and we are never told did it work, what were the wishes granted in the past. For me its a huge gaping hole that we are supposed to "just roll with it".

[@scottnolan2833]

I can’t stand stories that end without an ending. When I was 16 I read Poe’s “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym.” It too ended just at the moment it got interesting. I hurled it across the school parking lot and left it there. I found the anti-Christian themes of Hyperion to be eye-rolling. It was technically brilliant but ultimately MEANT nothing. What good is an exploration of the nature of Mankind if you come to no conclusions? No thanks.

[@StalxD]

Did u read the empire of silence Odyssey 👀🎃

[@jekw23]

Some of the imagery in these books still sticks with me. The Tree and the Skrike are nightmarish. These really are impressive books.

[@SamSpade903]

Loved the first two books but the last two really went in the wrong direction. Dan seems to struggle to end his stories because olympos and the Endymion sequels seem to be written begrudgingly and/or retcon what’s been written in the earlier books.

[@jonpato]

Only an out of touch academic author with literally zero life experience would think using poets as anything other than complete failures as protagonists would fly with a general audience

[@General_reader]

20:32 correction. Simulated human consciousness.

[@discobolos4227]

❣

[@ÂngeloF-tzp]

Hyperion and the Fall of Hyperion are great. Endymion series is not good though.

[@imadrajwani4927]

Excellent summary for an incredible story Of note - Kassad was of Palestinian descent Simmons was aware enough to characterize him and his peoples as those constantly under persecution Similarly, Weintraub was an analog of the classic New England academically astute Jewish father with an over-achieving daughter