I absolutely hated it.
Dan Simmons comes off as convuluted, not because of his flowery prose, which I generally enjoy and adopted to, but because of his boring characters, lack of action or excitement, and paper thin plot. Despite what it was inspired by, a great book shouldn’t feel this painful to read; he throws a million terms, planet and character names at you from the get-go, so there’s no understanding or connection to any of his words; and even when you press on, as this is something you can get over, it reads like the stereotypical cold, male writer, who sucks your soul out through lifeless words. By the time any story gets good it ends, it’s followed by one dimensional prose to connect them.
The amount of people who claimed it was their all time favourite piled high — “remarkable” and “enthralling” — but for me, overall, it’s a collection of disjointed stories, tied together with main characters you don’t care about, with very little to pull you back to the story at all, as dry as unbuttered toast. I do have to say that his writing style, difficult as it is to swallow, is perfect for an intense story; the right characters, plot, etc, simply weren’t delivered for that.
I had a feeling similar to reading a medical textbook. “This is absolute nonsense.”
“Overhyped. Overdone. Over it.”
Perhaps Science Fiction isn’t for me (I would hardly call it that), or I’m missing something crucial, but from a technical perspective it was completely devoid of any elements needed for a good book. I’ve read endless good and bad reviews, understanding the excuses of both sides, and I just can’t understand the obsession. I wanted to enjoy it. There were small moments I did, they just ended quickly.
Obviously, if you have enjoyed it, I am glad, but it’s probably my lowest book of the year. I won’t be touching the “sci-fi” genre for a while.
by Joke_Superb
5 Comments
I thought it was a great book with excellent world building. I like the characters. Maybe people have different tastes and nothing is universally liked?
I’m quiet a big Sci-fi fan. But I agree, I DNF Hyperion, I just didn’t like it. Didn’t like the characters, didn’t like the writing. It’s a shame, because I really wanted to like it.
I picked the series up based on near-universal acclaim here.
The first book I really actually quite liked; the different characters’ stories, told in different voices (and maybe persons as well, been a bit so I may be misremembering), that all meshed together in the end.
It’s pretty wordy and leaves a lot of unexplained detail in the beginning, I’ll agree.
Read the second, didn’t like it as much. Found the metaphysics and poetry a little overwrought. Haven’t read the others yet.
I cannot fathom not liking it as it ranks among my very favorite books ever, but to each their own:).
For what it’s worth, my experience reading it was almost exactly the opposite of yours. It never felt painful. I enjoyed the sometimes subtle connections between the characters.
No hard feelings of course. You note sci fi may not be for you, but Hyperion is different enough from almost any other sci fi that you should consider other options. Maybe Ursula Le Guin is a better place to start.
Love this take, and it’s the opposite of mine. One of the coolest parts of art is disagreeing on it’s merits imo.
Only came to encourage you not to throw the baby out with the Dan Simmons for the whole sci Fi genre.
There’s so much variety it’d be a shame to deprive yourself of all the excellent books out there. If I may ask, what’s an example of the type of story you like?