Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos #1), by Dan Simmons

  What a strange book Hyperion is. You can immediately feel that this is supposed to mean more than what is on the surface. People say it's written in the style of The Canterbury Tales, hence the "cantos", I guess, as well as the feel of a "magnus opus" of Dan Simmons'. The universe is very well thought out, with just the most limited technical descriptions, so it doesn't feel too dated. If anything, it is the mindset of the characters that betray how long this book has been in work for. Published in 1989, I am sure it was started a long time before.

  To me, of course, not being a reader of Chaucer or John Keats, this reminded me of fantasy more than middle English poetry or science fiction. It's a quest of a group of people, a fellowship if you will, towards a far place where a terrible dragon/wizard resides. During the travels, they share their stories, making us understand the world through their eyes and also explaining their motivations and skillset. This still was a lot of exposition for an ever shrinking part of the book where the ending was supposed to be... however the ending is not there. The book ends before the group reaches their destination. Quite frustrating!

  So many readers I respect loved Hyperion. I've read only The Song of Kali from Dan Simmons before and now with this book it's pretty clear to me that he is a great writer. He just isn't entertaining to me. Probably I should just forget any such expectations and instead try to understand, on a cerebral level, why his work is brilliant, forget about feeling good about it.

  OK, maybe I am a bit mean to the guy. I am going to read the whole series and then fully judge the series. It will be very subjective, though, disregarding the smart literary references or the poetic verses in it or whatever else that is part of the book and I will never understand or care about. So far in the book , I just read several stories that just set up what's going to happen next - hopefully - and got a feel of this brave new world of the future that Simmons saw.