Review: The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion #2) by Dan Simmons

The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

There are no spoilers in this summary, but this is a review of the second book in a quartet so you may want to check out my review of Hyperion (the first book).

Summary
The time when the Time Tombs are to open grows ever closer. The Hegemony, Ousters, and the Technocore have weaved a web of political intrigue so entrenched in what is happening on Hyperion that none can predict the outcome as the pilgrims on Hyperion face their final confrontation with the Shrike.

Commentary
One bit of wonderful story weaving that I would like to point out. At the beginning of most books which are not the first in a series, there is usually a recap of what events happened in the previous books. This is a great way to refresh readers' memories, but it is often a tedious summary. Simmons works in the recount of events very cleverly in a report of the pilgrims' stories to CEO Gladstone. Bravo!

The rest of this second book, though, was less masterful, and often seemed to descend into a chaos that was very different from the orderly delineation of events which I very much enjoyed in the first book. I could follow the events, but the sensation of being jolted back and forth between the various plot lines was a lot more jarring than I would have liked.

There are a lot of elements which I enjoyed the political infighting and plotting, the visualization of the Technosphere, and of course the weird things that happen with the Shrike. My problem with this book stems from the fact that its predecessor, Hyperion, was simply a far superior story. If you've read the first one, you are probably dying to know what happens in the second one so you should read The Fall of Hyperion. I'm not altogether sure that I want to read the third and fourth though.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

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