The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

That's probably my all times Sci-Fi read of all times. Insanely cool stuff.
A book by sir Dan Simmons. Well I say a book but it's a series rather.

I enjoy the first one more. Because I discovered the sick world he created. The following ones I knew the place already so it was less gripping.

Here's what I said about it. Short and sweet.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I agree that Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos is very good SF. I would say it is actually two pairs of books. Hyperion and the Fall of Hyperion are one pair, and should be read together. Endymion and the Rise of Endymion are the second pair. The Endymion pair could be read without having read the Hyperion pair, but really it probably is best to read all four in sequence.

Simmons is an astute and skilled writer. Hyperion, the first book, is patterned after The Canterbury Tales in that each traveler on a pilgrimage tells his story. The style of writing shifts a bit for each tale, to suit the persona of the teller. For example, the story told by Brawne Lamia, a private eye, is told in the style of a detective story.

Brawne's lover is a cybrid of John Keats, that is, Keats mind and persona in a new body. There are allusions to Keats' life and poetry throughout. I just discovered recently the Keats poem entitled Hyperion.

Endymion is a pursuit-and-escape adventure. The third book of the four, I think I enjoyed it the most.

This is a book I have been meaning to read for a long time.

Yeah Buck you should definitely read all of them. You hear that Dan, READ 'EM ALL!!! lol

This sounds really good! Marking it to read :)

I agree with kXnPunk that they should be divided into separate groups because the first and last part of the series are so different, though all very good. The first one - Hyperion - would be in my personal top five best/most influential SF novels. I don't like horror so haven't read any of his horror, though I know he's written quite a lot.

It's my top EVER personaly. Along with The Instrumentality of Mankind, 1984 and Neuromancer. Masterpieces, unforgetable ones.

@kXnPunk - Neuromancer is in my top five personal as well. 1984 I liked a lot - it's top ten material. I have never read the Instrumentality of Mankind. Given that we share a few top fives I'm definitely going to check this out, thanks. Did you like Gibson's later work? I really liked the whole sprawl series as well as Pattern Recognition. Ursula LeGuin's The Dispossessed is up in the top five for me as is Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon (and Anathem is close).

If I can get a copy from a friend of mine I'll start reading this next.

@Heather, yes, I like Burning Chrome, Count Zero and most of his stuff but aside Neuromancer, the one I like the most from him is Mona Lisa Overdrive. Sweet stuff.

Heather wrote: " I don't like horror so haven't read any of his horror, though I know he's written quite a lot. ..."

That makes sense. Hyperion does contain several nightmare inducing sections. "The Shrike" is a very scary guy!

I read this when I was a newly minted father 26 years ago. I was all thumbs are as most first time fathers and the description about Sol and his daughter left me sobbing due to the combination what Sol had to deal with and the resonance of me not being able to figure what to do.

I personally enjoyed the whole cantos, but do agree the last two books are not nearly as good as the first two books.

I'm currently reading the book (75% done) and though I struggled to understand the world Simmons has created, now I'm 100% hooked. Some characters I find very interesting and some others I don't, but I can't wait to get it finished and pick up the next one (as long as the ending doesn't disappoint).

Papaphilly wrote: "the description about Sol and his daughter left me sobbing..."

I used to be a 'daddy's little girl' and reading about them just broke y heart. I obviously don't know what's to happen in the next few hundred pages or books, but I am rooting for Sol and Rachel. You know a book is a masterpiece when you are *this* emotionally invested in its characters and what the outcome will be.

Queralt wrote: "I'm currently reading the book (75% done) and though I struggled to understand the world Simmons has created, now I'm 100% hooked. Some characters I find very interesting and some others I don't, b..."

I read the Hyperion Cantos series between 2016 and 2018 and it was the most impressive piece of SF I had ever read. I'm an older SF fan born in 1947 and generally prefer classic SF written before the New Wave changed things in the mid 1960's. But the Hyperion Cantos was written in a style similar to but with a grander vision than the stuff by Asimov, Clarke, del Rey, PDK, Farmer, Hamilton, Heinlein, Pohl, Simak, Cordwainer Smith, Sturgeon, van Vogt and others I grew up reading.