Rick Riordan's Reviews > Hyperion

I had to be in the right frame of mind to read this book. Basically, it is The Canterbury Tales in space. Seven pilgrims set out on a potentially fatal one-way trip to visit the Time Tombs on the planet of Hyperion, where a godlike killing machine called the Shrike will possibly grant one of them a wish -- and probably slaughter the rest.

You have to have some patience, and be willing to change your focus from character to character, as each takes their turn telling the story of what has brought them to this pilgrimage. The novel is thus a collection of interconnected novellas with a common frame narrative. Each character's story is gripping, fascinating, chill-inducing. Each is worth the price of admission and offers clues to the puzzle of the Time Tombs and the Shrike. But for me, anyway, it can sometimes be tough to become attached to one narrator and then have to change to another. This is no knock on Simmons. His narrative is beautifully written, and once I was about halfway into the book, I couldn't stop reading. The payoff is totally worth it, as each story unfolds another facet of this incredible universe Simmons has created. It is a pilgrimage that is worth the journey -- and the book leaves us at a perfect cliffhanger, with the stories all told, the stakes raised, the mystery about to be confronted once and for all . . . but still no answers. And that's why I am buying the sequel right now!