About this title: The second half of the "Hyperion Cantos". While the universe teeters on the brink of interstellar war, a group of pilgrims--having reached the Time Tombs on the planet Hyperion--prepare for their eventual reckoning with the Shrike, a mythic creature also known as the God of Pain. The follow-up to "Hyperion", this novel was a finalist for both the Hugo and Nebula awards.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780385267472ISBN:0385267479
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Spectra
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780553288209ISBN:0553288202
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780553288209ISBN:0553288202
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Signed by previous owner. some wear to cover edges; no marks or writing within text; RTB581. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 528 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780553288209ISBN:0553288202
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Light edge and corner wear. Cover creases. No marks. Tight, square book. Light tanning. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 528 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Spectra
Date Published: 1991-03-01
ISBN-13:9780553288209ISBN:0553288202
Description: Good. Mild shelf wear; Mild bumping\wear to corners and spine ends; Tanning and mild soiling to page edges; Mild spine creases and bow; Mild rubbing\wear to covers and spine; ** Free USPS tracking and confirm on US orders ** read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780553288209ISBN:0553288202
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 528 p. Audience: General/trade. THIS USED SOFTCOVER EDITION CAME FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION. COVERS HAVE MINOR EDGE AND CORNER WEAR. BINDING IS TIGHT. STORY PAGES ARE FREE FROM MARKS AND TEARS. read more
"After talking with Ward I picked it back up - finding that I had left off with just 200 pages - and remembered why I like Dan Simmons. He's a non-sci fi writer masquerading as a writer of the high-brow masquerading as a sci-fi writer. Based on the path of his career and things he's said, he's contemptuous of being labeled as writer of science fiction, but the Hyperion Cantos elevates the genre - or at least expands its contours. Cool ideas here: emergent behavior that becomes a deity and consciousness in the cloud (an idea he didn't invent but uses in a new way). The last third amounts to a bunch of fluttering and flashing lights, but it's a satisfactory conclusion to an ambitious undertaking.
I tend to agree with Ward's opinion of the first book but agree that it did deserve the Hugo. Hyperion is a strong argument against the notion that sci-fi values ideas over execution and recognizable types over development. Hyperion is a fully realized world - who's inhabitants and places aren't overly familiar, and in some cases, grotesquely original (the labyrinths and the Shrike's Tree of Justice).
I'll never read the next two books in the series and hope to get them at the next book sale."
"When I was young my grandmother used to come visit and I played Scrabble with her. She'd sit at the table for what seemed like hours, lips pressed together, arranging and rearranging her tiles. Finally with an expression of triumph she would lay down most of her rack of tiles to form some absolutely beautiful word that netted her, oh, ten points or so. Dan Simmons finally gets around to letting us in on the mystery surrounding Hyperion but too often he is writing beautiful passages instead of winning the game. This triumph of style--and he is good--over substance leaves the characters falling short of qualities that allow reading empathy and identification and make the aesthetic digressions tedious to bear. The material in this book and the preceding Hyperion would have made one fine shorter novel; as it is it's like a beautiful Christmas tree with too much glitter and lights."
"While the first book, Hyperion, was far more innovative and exciting due to the structure and wealth of invention, this book has the unpleasant task of somehow resolving the myriad plot threads that began in the first volume. There is a framing device at play, though a less obvious one and at first it feels clumsy until you begin to understand what Simmons is doing.
If the first book was essentially a collection of origin stories for several characters, what happens here is there adventure finally begins in earnest. The feel shifts to that of a more typical space opera. Perspectives shift by the chapter, and sometimes several times within each chapter, but this lends the book a more 'typical' feel, since now most scenes are left with some kind of vague cliff hanger, and we may not return to character for a few dozen pages or more. The effect slows the book to a crawl at the beginning, and there are several chapters where Simmons seems to be over descriptive for no real purpose -- as if the editors knew he had to hit a certain page count and allowed the fluff, or perhaps they gave him free rein to leave it all in, trusting his new status as science fiction star. Who knows.
But the book eventually takes flight about half-way through, and the revelations come fast and furious. Ultimately the book more than redeems itself, and is easily worth the effort. Its only in direct comparison to the first volume that the sequel seems a shade inferior. (apologies if this review feels redundant, i don't feel like editing either)"
"Thought this was a little better than the first one. The structure has changed in regard to the first one. It is now a straight-forward story without any flash-backs, which serves the story well. Still suffers one of the same problems of the first book, it is a lot longer than it needed to be. I'm all for a little introduction and the writer warming up, but during the first 250-300 not much is happening at all. The story is now written in first person and the narrator is another John Keats cybrit (or however that thing is called again) and really annoying. I just wanted him to go away. When the story switches to other places, he actually drams is...exactly like it is written in the book. Including cliff hangers and all. Yup, don't ask me why. I just don't think that was a good idea by Simmons at all. While the story really gets engaging, Simmons makes some questionable choices (why does he not write about Kassad's battle in the future at all?)and he fails to explain some stuff and somewhere arround the way I got the impression, that he was not sure himself what some of the mysteries are supposed to be (and arguably the biggest one of them all...I won't tell which one). A disappointing end does not help much either. All things considered it was still a worthwile read and Simmons is a good author and if the end would have been better and the first half was shortened I might have given this one 4 stars. But something just did not seem right and I can not point the finger on it. I guess I just was not 'feeling it'. Apparently this is not the last book of the series, but I think I will pass as I can not see much scenarios how this can be continued in a satisfying manner.The whole sci-fi genre does not seem to be for me..."
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