Dragons & Jetpacks discussion

I absolutely love this series. The care Simmons takes to craft both tone and cadence with his sentences/paragraphs is impressive.

The twists in this book are stellar. They are foreshadowed well so that they don't feel like hit you out of nowhere which I appreciate a great deal. I like plot movements that are believable versus artificially generated with a deus ex machina like turn of events.

I definitely enjoyed the exploration of Abraham's dilemma through the story of Sol and his daughter Rachel. It added compelling insight into a story that has clearly influenced so much of humankind.

Spoiler warning

I really liked how Meina Gladstone played double agent as the savior of humanity. I feel it is a contrived idea of self glorification to set a hero of humanity as the martyr of society. That she and perhaps a few others could sacrifice so many people (including themselves) for the survival of the species is a difficult story to write that is both convincing of the character's genuinity but Simmons nails it. Meina fully feels the weight of her decisions and does not appear to act aloof or arrogant in her position. It made it feel real!

I also really loved the Consul's continuing story. His character is the perfect blend of humanity mixed with sin and though I doubt this is where the series is headed I think his dynamic character would be the perfect empathetic Godhead of humanity. He encompasses both good and evil and to me embodies the fusion of humanity with the machines - to illustrate: his grandmother is Siri the rebellious leader of humans hoping to live 'off the grid' (humanity), his grandfather is a Hegemony citizen fully entrenched in the com log leeching technocore creating AI world (machines), and the Consul carries the weight of both these souls... along with his own harmonious balance of good and evil. It would be neat to see how these traits could play out within a God(like) figure.

I am excited for the next in the series!

Yay, I'm glad to see someone has continued the series! I just have book four to read now, I'm hoping to read it next month, or at least before August (which is coming up scarily fast...)

It's such a huge series and amazingly well done. So far, Hyperion has still been my favourite but each of the books are really unique.

Just reading book 4 now and loving it. Just loved the whole concept of this series, all the different worlds, the different characters and different races both good and bad. A gripping series overall.

What was your guys' favorite part of book 2?

Adam wrote: "What was your guys' favorite part of book 2?"

SPOILER:
Favorite moment so far: The war meeting after learning of the impending Ouster invasion where Meina Gladstone realized she couldn't control the chaos she had unleashed. But she steeled herself against the coming end of Hegemony civilization with dignity and fierceness. While her joint chiefs buckled under pressure and senators moaned, she took command - she told the generals to defend the web worlds at all costs, the senators were to pass a unified war declaration with no political defectors, and Gladstone told the All Things liaison in a private meeting that she would declare open war against the TechnoCore, no matter if it meant plunging the web into the dark ages - better that than be a slave to the machines or the Ousters. That was her moment to shine.

My friend and I have a weekly podcast - REIGN of Books - where we break down our current read. We finish up the Fall of Hyperion Friday. Feel free to submit comments/questions for the show! https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Rinn wrote: "Yay, I'm glad to see someone has continued the series! I just have book four to read now, I'm hoping to read it next month, or at least before August (which is coming up scarily fast...)

It's such..."

Hyperion was a beautifully told story. I honestly cried twice during Sol's story. (I guess it's the dad in me.)