Simmons, Dan: Hyperion
Hyperion
Writer: Dan Simmons
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 482
This is an insanely hard book to review. It’s taken me weeks to process it, and I realize the biggest reason it’s so hard to review is because despite all appearances, Hyperion is not a book. No, it’s nearly 500 pages of pure set-up: we meet the main cast of characters, we learn their stories, their relationship to the planet Hyperion and their connection, if any, to the infamous Shrike. We learn how the human race expanded to the larger universe, what happened to Earth, and who our enemies really are. And by time the chess pieces are assembled and the reader has a decent sense of what’s going to happen, the book ends, right where the real story begins.
Mind-boggling. What’s unfortunate is that in January, the SF/F/H writers of the Seton Hill program were given a ballot with five different science fiction books on it. We were told that for the next residency, the whole program would be subjected to reading a science fiction novel, and based on the descriptions of the books on the ballot, we got to decide which book that would be.
Of all the books on the list,*** Hyperion was the only one published before 2000. It was one of two books whose summaries CLEARLY stated that the book wouldn’t resolve, that to get the full story, one would have to read the next book in the series. I didn’t vote for it, Hugo be damned. I’d heard too much about this book already, how a reader must be invested for four books, and I just wasn’t ready to pick this sucker up for myself, let alone inflict it on my classmates, most of whom aren’t science fiction readers.
My fellow SF writers voted on it anyway (SHAME! You know who you are!), and from a residency read perspective, it’s a poor choice. Not only does it not represent the science fiction genre well (the book’s original, I’ll give it that, but when you’re introducing non-SF readers to the genre, COME ON!!), but it gives no satisfaction, no resolution. Like I said, it’s all set-up.
So, poor choice as a residency read. However, great choice for SF readers, because once I got past the first 20 or so pages and finished “The Priest’s Tale,” I was completely and totally hooked.
From an English Lit Geek POV, this book is pure candy. First, it becomes really obvious, really fast, that Hyperion is Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales set in space. You’ve got pilgrims making a “religious” quest. Each pilgrim tells his or her tale, and each tale is listed like so:
The Priest's Tale: "The Man Who Cried God"
The Soldier's Tale: "The War Lovers"
The Poet's Tale: "Hyperion Cantos"
The Scholar's Tale: "The River's Lethe's Taste is Bitter"
The Detective's Tale: "The Long Good-Bye"
The Consul's Tale: "Remembering Siri"
Other juicy allusions and parallels stem from Beowulf, Shakespeare, and the most obvious (and unfortunately, the one I’m least schooled in), the poetry of John Keats. John Keats is the cornerstone of these books, for reasons I’m not entirely sure of, except his poetry and even character figure prominently through-out the book/series. Indeed, the very title of Hyperion should ring a bell in the poetry majors among you.
And Simmons doesn’t let allusions and parallels end there: while I’m admittedly not as well read in the SF genre as I should be, even *I* recognized the blatant parallel to William Gibson’s Neuromancer in “The Detective’s Tale,” though I haven’t yet read the book.
So the parallels were a lot of fun to spot and figure out. I know I only found the tip of the ice-berg, but even so, the allusions and parallel structure definitely makes Hyperion a unique breed of SF.
Now, the pilgrim’s tales themselves: each is written in a slightly different style, so kudos to Simmons in that regard. Of the six pilgrims’ tales we hear, those that stood out most were the priest’s tale, the soldier’s tale, and the scholar’s tale. The scholar’s tale just about broke my heart, and it was with that character, Sol, and his daughter, Rachel, that kept me invested and interested in reading the next book. The other tales were interesting, some well-done, some funny (I laughed so hard I nearly cried while reading the poet’s tale where he recounts his limited word-use after a stroke--trust me, it’s funny). And while all the tales relate to the planet Hyperion, its Time Tombs, and the Shrike in some way, it isn’t until we get the consul’s tale that we see how everything is connected.
In a way, it’s kind of like watching the television show Lost. You’re dropped in this strange, crazy setting with characters who seem to be bland, flat, and stereotypes, but as you get their stories, they flesh out, and you learn how everything is connected. And for further Lost parallels, I couldn’t read the character of Kassad without picturing and hearing Sayid. Yes, I am a dork.
And the Shrike, I must admit, makes for a fantastic horror. And weirdly enough, I’m staking claim to that name: one day, I will have a cat or dog that I name “Shrike.” Mark my words. It’s an awesome name. I just hope the animal doesn’t live up to it. ;)
But in all seriousness, Simmons does a fantastic job of world-building, and it’s obvious he relishes in it. Everything from the Shrike itself, to the nature of the Time Tombs, to the Ousters, to the planet of Hyperion with its sea of grass (I wonder if writer Matthew Hughes wasn’t inspired by this element, let alone story) and its tesla trees (very. cool.). Sometimes the description and setting felt a bit much, but given the time this was written and the expectations of the general SF reader, I can’t fault Simmons too much. It’s obvious he knew what he was doing, and it was abundantly clear the writer’s smart as hell, as far as how he handled his allusions and parallels and the obviously juggling of the various storylines in play.
And this is more than an adventure story (rather, set-up) in a coming interstellar conflict. The themes that radiate in this book are fascinating, and I was particularly engaged by Simmons’ exploration of the Christian faith and what it had become in this far-future. The use of religion as a whole--the Church of the Final Atonement (aka the Shrike Cult), the Templars and their trees (which I didn’t get a grip on as much as I’d like), and even the references to Zen Agnosticism, all of this created a very complete and religiously diverse picture of humanity, and it engaged me because I find too often, SF writers ignore religion or the evolution thereof in favor of science. I often hear the accusation that humanity should “grow out” of religion, and that always strikes the wrong chord with me. Whether humanity continues to follow the religions we know today, or whether those religions fade away, evolve, or new religions are created, or whether we stay more focused on a Zen-like spirituality, I personally think religion and spirituality will always play a part in humanity’s future, no matter what scientific advances are made.
But that’s me, and I apologize for getting on a soap-box. My point is that I was thrilled to see Simmons’ explorations, because nothing is black and white in his universe. And in the consul’s tale, that becomes abundantly clear: his story is what glues the book together.
So while I’ll stand by my claim it was a poor choice for the WPF program to read (I’ll be surprised if many non-SF readers will be remotely inclined to seek anything else in the genre out after this), for those of us who actively read and enjoy SF, it’s a great read. But be warned: do not, under ANY circumstances, read this book without the immediate sequel, The Fall of Hyperion, on hand. Trust me. I’d heard this warning at least twice from at least two different readers, and once I was a hundred pages from finishing, I believed them, and bought the sequel as soon as possible. And when I finished Hyperion, I read and finished the sequel as soon as possible.
And I’ve got books three and four, Endymion and The Rise of Endymion waiting on my shelf. While there are some threads of story and certainly, plenty of ideas that need resolving (which will hopefully be done in these two books), the central characters’ tales and overall story comes to an end in The Fall of Hyperion, which makes Hyperion at least a two-book commitment.
But that’s another review. As far as Hyperion goes, it’s unique and original in structure, it’s ambitious, and a must-read for SF readers. Or, if you dabble in SF but happen to be an English Lit Geek? Oh, have fun with this. And when you’re done, tell me about all the parallels and allusions that I missed, okay?
***For those of you interested, the books we voted on were: Chris Moriarty’s Spin State (which got my vote), Peter Hamilton’s Pandora’s Star (another poor choice for the list, given its cliffhanger ending and its insane length), Vernor Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky, Michael Flynn’s A Wreck in the River of Stars, China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, and of course, Dan Simmons’ Hyperion.