The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Genre: sci-fi

I read it as a(n): paperback

Length: 517 pp

Her Grace’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Fall of Hyperion picks up right where Hyperion left off. The Shrike pilgrims are entering the Time Tombs, war is brewing, and political machinations are at peak levels. The pilgrims are tasked with carrying on, regardless of what else is happening on the planet Hyperion or in the greater universe. The CEO of the Hegemony, Meina Gladstone, is working furiously to prevent a full-scale war with the Ousters while simultaneously trying to decide what choice to make to save humanity. Either way, she’s pretty screwed. 

The main focus of this book was less on the pilgrims themselves and more on the political climate as a character in itself. War is looming, then erupts, Hyperion is getting a raw deal both in terms of the war, which is taking place in part directly above and on it, as well as the Shrike going completely ape and raining down terror on the inhabitants of the planet. We get to see a lot more scheming and bargaining behind the scenes in this book than we did in Hyperion. Reading about fictional politics can get boring real fast if not done well; Simmons knows how to do it well. The war and the shocking secret CEO Gladstone learns are just a part of the overall story.

The structure of Fall of Hyperion necessarily does not resemble The Canterbury Tales in space as Hyperion did. I really, really loved the way Hyperion was structured, but I also really, really love The Canterbury Tales. So maybe I’m a little biased. But I also loved how much of Fall of Hyperion was crafted through the perspective of Thomas Severn, a cybrid based on the poet John Keats. Actually, it isn’t his POV so much as his dreams that connect the politics of the greater Hegemony with the goings-on of the pilgrims. So that was nifty. 

There were a lot of themes going on, from religion to literature to environmentalism to technology. I particularly enjoyed the themes of becoming overly reliant on technology and the impact on the environment such reliance can have. The farcasters the citizens of the Hegemony use to travel vast distances instantly are awesome, but it’s revealed they don’t really know how they work. It’s like the Pakleds on Star Trek – they take and use technology they have limited understanding of, and it never works out well for them. Learning the hard way is really the only way to truly learn something and the Hegemony is in the “find out” phase of things throughout this novel. Just like we are in real life, I’m afraid. 

Anyway, Simmons has penned a fantastic book. He’s become one of my favorite sci-fi writers. His work is intelligent, fun, and deep all at once. There’s plenty here to make readers think and discuss. Definitely recommended, and I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series.