Look at this – it’s 2016 and I still have some book reviews to finish to wrap-up 2015. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I read Hyperion upon Chris’s recommendation and while that tells us the back story of seven pilgrims as they travel to the time tombs to meet with the Shrike (who apparently will grant one pilgrim a dying wish), The Fall of Hyperion deals with not only what happens to the pilgrims but also what’s happening in within their society as it faces invasion and/or rebellion.
Here’s the thing though, where I found the format of the first book captivating, I struggled with the narrator of this book, a cyborg created as a resurrected John Keats (the poet), who accompanies the head of the hegemony but when he rests, he sees what’s happening with the pilgrims on Hyperion (though they are often in different places from each other). It’s kind of a lame connection and really only used as a means to justify his ability to narrate both stories, plus his own. And I found his story kind of useless or unnecessary and the plot tool unbelievable.
That said, I found the plot intriguing, especially issues of religion, the unraveling of a society and those decisions that are reminiscent of the types of questions asked in situations like Coventry (i.e., WWII). I think though, that the first book set the bar so high, this book had little chance of matching it but you have to read it because not doing so with give you absolutely no sense of closure.
And on the point of closure, you will get a decent amount in this book but not enough. You won’t know much more about The Shrike and there’s what may be a messianic child in the future that’s a tease to keep reading the series (actually, as an aside, this book did remind me of the first four Dune books in this way), but there’s nothing so compelling in it that you will want to run out and read the next book, Endymion, especially once you find out that book takes places 300 years in the future.
So if you read or want to read Hyperion, plan on reading this but just plan on it being not as good.