The Hyperion Cantos 4-Book Bundle: Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion

I had read the first book of this series many years ago, and that book is - in my opinion - one of the top 10 science fiction books of all time. Even today. You might think that something that mirrors the Canterbury Tales would be dry, and boring. You would be wrong. But, I had never read the second through fourth books. Seeing this omnibus edition, I decided to take the plunge - despite the somewhat high price. The author presents a far future, very advanced society. And a cast of interesting characters and several mysteries that are only partially resolved by the end of the first book. Each book continues the storyline, introducing new characters and answers to the many questions that arise in the earlier novels. While some of the characters span all of the books - there is a different cast of characters in the first two books and new cast in the last two books. Read all four books - and enjoy a grand adventure that spans centuries, and asks and tries to answer what is important about being human and the human condition. While the last three books aren't up to the stellar standard of the first, it is well worth the time and effort and to read all four books. I felt that second and third books dragged on a bit at times. But, it must be said - the author does tie up all the questions and story lines by the end. And, I felt the emotional involvement and payoff by the end are well worth the lulls in story arc midway through books 3 and until the middle of the fourth. The ending, and the points made by the end, are worth the slow going towards the end of the series.

I'm 70 years old and have read many different science fiction/ fantasy books since my teen years. This, by far, is the most riveting story I've read , in this genre. Dan Simmons is a very creative and cohesive writer who can manage a huge story with many diverse characters and bring them all together to a coherent conclusion. I just finished the series, tonight and am." blown away". If I could, I would give this series a.ten star rating and highly recommend it to teens/young adults to seniors like.myself. Thanks again, Dan Simmons for many happy reading hours.

With regards to the E-Book itself and not the story it contains, there are some typographical errors I assume manifest during the scanning process, but these are rare and not especially glaring. As far as the Cantos itself is concerned, the story is complex, the characters compelling, and the underlying concepts interesting. This is a collection of four books, unusual in that you can walk away after book one or two and feel completely satisfied without reading books three or four, though I don’t necessarily suggest doing so, the remaining two books are quite enjoyable. There are (very) mild spoilers in the rest of this review. Continue at your own discretion. My gripes about the story itself are threefold ; first, books three and four take place centuries after the first two and center on characters not introduced prior. This is disorienting and it’s bittersweet moving away from the characters we meet in the first half of the Cantos, but it is far from a dealbreaker: Just jarring. Second and more egregious is the obvious and repeated retconning in the final two books. The author twists events and concepts presented in the first half of the story in ways he obviously hadn’t intended at the time. Events aren’t changed, just unpleasantly altered. Again, this is a largely insignificant complaint, but again, it was jarring. He does this several times, especially in the last book to disappointing effect (looking at you, Tree of Pain, Lord of Pain). Third and final, the story really starts to drag in the early/middle parts of book four, and sporadically at the end. The story is still very worthy, and would be appreciated by any fan of high concept science fiction, it is just not QUITE up to par with the real legends of the genre.

I love this series of books. There are a few disconcerting typos in the e-reader version, which are, I assume, an artifact of scanning it into electronic form. However, the flip side is that the e-reader version allowed me to easily look up the definition of a lot of words without interrupting my reading. Simmons is a master at his craft, and this book is enriching on many levels. At its core, it is a classic sci-fi hero/quest story, but there are elements of horror, mystery, space opera, romance, humor. With mysticism and poetry built in, to boot. There is a reason this series has won a pile of awards.

Hard to write this review of the 4-book Bundle. There's a clear content divide between the Hyperion and the Endymion books. I try to be as non-spoiler-y as possible below. Hyperion is a very easy read (took me a while to get over Lenart Hoyt's story, and it is funny because that's the story that follows you over the entire cantos saga) that starts quite slow but picks up speed early on and leaves you desiring you had the second book close by...which in this case you do because you bought the 4 book bundle! Fall is probably the worst of the 4, but I believe that's because it has the difficult task of "closing" hyperion before moving forward with Endymion. The Keats* stories are the best part of this book for me. Endymion represents a switch to an almost different environment, but all well connected with the previous stories. There's something special about Aenea, and I think that SImmons really achieved his goal(?) of creating a childish but deep character. Same thing applies to Rise of Endymion. Best thing about the books? The soft sci-fi feel of undeveloped-ish future with a BIG role for time (instead of space) as a central theme. Oh, and religion appears in sci-fi, woah!

I read these books when they first came out and recently felt the urge to pick them back up again. Still enthralling, and if anything more urgently prescient than when they were written.

I’m not given to glowing reviews. I am here. The story arc across books is a collection of different techniques & styles. At times hard science fiction, horror, dreamlike words painted or sung. An homage to great poets, scientists - a love letter to humanity in all its failings & glories. A roller coaster of life.

An interesting blend of sf, fantasy, philosophy and religious musings. If you want your technology (genetics, space drives and what not) described and explained in detail, you may be disappointed; on the other hand, if you like uncommon ideas about humanity, the purpose of life and such, or views of diverse planets and living conditions, this might well be for you. One star is deducted, since I sometimes find descriptions and arguments unnecessarily longwinded and pointless.

Hyperion and the Fall of Hyperion are amazing. Easily amongst my favourite SF books. Relatively slow paced, but never boring or predictable. Very unique Style as well. Endymion is a big step down. Not bad, but not suprising. The Stroy "twist" in the first one is completely predictable if you paid any attention in Hyperion. Still, not bad, mainly constisting of a trip, thus giving some Long Earth or Ringworld vibes. Edymion 2 sadly is then bordering an bad. Massively overstretched. Half as much pages and it would be slow paced. And there isn't even a storytwist. The few things that happen between pages with endless descriptions, arepredictable and uninteresting. Still. Hyperion makes more than up for it and so it's 5 stars all the way down.

Wonderful. Awesome. Amazing. Really. More planets, space ships, space battles, deaths and Catholic Church than I am used to. Especially the last category. Complex to the nth. Well worth the many detailed descriptions of odd planets, plants and animals. And poetry. So many words, and so much time. Thank you.

It’s a page turner full of action ,anticipation but also poésie and love

It is one of the cornerstones ever.

I started reading The Hyperion Cantos in search for space-opera-type SciFi similar to the amazing Culture-series of Iain M. Banks. I was not disappointed. Especially the first two books were amazing. I felt that the last book somewhat lacked depth, but I still enjoyed it.