Books 'n Stuff

Synopsis: Against a backdrop of interstellar war and looming apocalypse, the drama of seven pilgrims on a hopeless mission expands.

Review: I fucking loved this book. The first book dragged a bit, and didn't really answer the questions that I had so I was a little hesitant about getting to the second one. Honestly, I think Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion probably should have been one book. The first one just ended so abruptly. The second book answered the questions I had, expanded the plot and the scope, and revealed more about the characters while introducing new ones.

At the end of Hyperion all of the pilgrims were about to meet the Shrike, and I expected each of them to meet some of grisly end one by one in the sequel. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was not so, as each character is woven seamlessly into a complicated and elegantly engineered plot line that explains why each of them is there.

I loved the way that Simmons throws subjects like quantum physics, time travel paradoxes, AI, even a little theology and makes it work. I'm enthralled, can't wait to get to the next book, Endymion, although I'm not sure when that will be.