Book: Hyperion by Dan Simmons


Good but no satisfactory ending

Dan Simmons
Hyperion
Bantam, 1990
ISBN: 0-553-28368-5
$7.50
482 pages

Hyperion is a very entertaining science fiction novel. The universe it's set in is impressively imagined and the main characters are interesting to read about. They're on a pilgrimage to an odd alien artifact. A human religion has grown up around the artifact, though the characters are not religious pilgrims in any ordinary sense. A crisis related to the artifact seems to be coming to a head and their pilgrimage seems likely to be the last one that anyone makes. As they travel, they each tell the story (sort of Canterbury Tales-wise) of how the artifact has impinged on their lives. The characters and their stories are varied and the amount of imagination that went into creating them is impressive.

The only criticism I have is not of the book but rather of its cover. In a prominent place on the cover, the publisher should have printed in large type:

    WARNING: This book is the first of a series. It does not contain a satisfactory ending.

I confess that the lack of a satisfactory ending without advance warning is sufficiently annoying to me that I'm not in a hurry to read the next book in the series.

Posted: Thu - April 22, 2004 at 08:53   Main   Category: 

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