Simmons, Dan: The Fall of Hyperion
The Fall of Hyperion
Writer: Dan Simmons
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 517
With Hyperion’s ending as abrupt (and odd) as it is, I didn’t have much choice but to read The Fall of Hyperion if I wanted to get the rest of the story. I was a little concerned too: I had no intentions of reading Endymion and The Rise of Endymion as well, at least, not right away. But I was assured that the main conflicts are resolved in The Fall of Hyperion, with characters’ various stories coming to a close. That’s what I wanted, so I read away.
Whereas Hyperion is nothing but set-up, The Fall of Hyperion is nothing but plot. Oh, there’s still some of the same unique, allusive flair that drives Hyperion in this book, but the focus on this volume is to bring the characters to their fates, and the greater fate of humanity. War is the major driver of this book, and by end of it, I kept shaking my head and muttering, “I’m so confused, I’m so confused, I’m so confused…”
But it makes sense. Eventually. This book is less polished than the previous, but the reward of resolution is more than worth the effort.
Fall of Hyperion also uses a frame structure, which is a little infuriating, especially at first. I picked this book up as soon as I finished Hyperion, but I don’t get the next scene of the pilgrims, but a new character instead, and a whole lot of war talk.
The real story is this: a second John Keats cybrid has been created, and he dreams the adventures of the pilgrims thanks to Brawne’s neural socket containing the other Keats personality. It turns out, the entire story of Hyperion has technically been through Keats’ dreams, and he’s been hired by the government, CEO Gladstone, to report on the events on Hyperion while she conducts her war with the Ousters. Clever tactic of structure, but ultimately frustrating. The first third of the book we only get snippets of what’s happening to the pilgrims, and then amidst all the war talk, Keats has to repeat his dreams to Gladstone. Let me tell you exactly how annoying this is: we read about the pilgrims in one chapter, and in the VERY NEXT CHAPTER, the Keats cybrid is explaining WHAT WE JUST READ to another character. Sloppy, sloppy. Because these parts of the book aren’t even the confusing ones, but the latter parts of the book, where the Keats cyrbid is no longer able to report to Gladstone, I would’ve killed for his interpretation.
And I must say, for this reader, the war talk was boring. I smelled a trap a mile away, and while other characters seemed to think something might be amiss, they still made stupid decisions. My investment, despite my minor interest in what was going on with the Keats cybrid, lay with the characters from the first book. I wanted answers.
Slowly, we get them. Figuring out the timeline which Moneta and Kassad meet each other took more than enough head-shaking to figure out, and even by the end, I’m still curious over one fact, although I think Simmons tried to explain it: why and how did Moneta turn into the Shrike in the first book? Unless it was meant to infuriate and frighten Kassad at that time, so he would prove his status as a warrior to her when she first meets him, I’m still pondering over that puzzle.
Moneta and Kassad’s story, their romance, such as it is, is a sad one. Torn apart by time and fate, it’s heartbreaking that Moneta doesn’t know Kassad to love him the way he loved her in his past, because his past was her future. She only knew how to love him when he didn’t know who or what she was.
Learning more about the Ousters was fantastic, though I got a little overwhelmed with the description. I enjoyed how the Ouster society is truly different from humanity as we know it. Simmons takes great care to paint two different evolutions of human society: one where we are dependent on technology, letting it rule our lives, and another where we control it, and evolve as necessary. It's a nice contrast, and I was pleased to see this Ouster society was a people worth fighting for and saving, because it became increasingly clear, for me, that the Hegemony really wasn't. Not that it was wholly bad, but it was very, very flawed, and the decisions made by the government only reinforced that notion.
I think the most satisfying conclusion was that of Sol and Rachel's story. I think I figured it out a second before it was revealed, and while I question the convenience of the Shrike's taking baby Rachel away in SUPER-SLOW-TIME so that the Keats cybrid is somehow able to rescue her, I loved, loved, LOVED that Moneta carried baby Rachel out, that Moneta is the woman baby Rachel grows up to become.
So certainly, there's lots of nice moments, and even more set-up in this book. All this talk of Lamia being some kind of holy figure had be curious, and what will become of her baby is another question I must wait for. Her story was a little confusing in how she defeated the Shrike. A little too supernatural, fantastic for my tastes, so I'm hoping that Simmons sheds light on her abilities in the later books. There's certainly room to do so, since the next two books focus on Lamia's daughter.
There were also some inconsistencies. I loved that Duré grew out of Hoyt's body, but I'm confused when he had his encounter with the Shrike: it sounded as though the Shrike removed Duré's cruciform, but yet, it implies the cruciform is still there. Another confusion on my part: the labyrinths: my guess is that Duré walked through the future labyrinths, were the Ultimate Intelligence was using up humanity to fuel its power, but that was unclear. My confusion may stem from my own ignorance, since I see to want to confuse the labyrinths for the Time Tombs, but still, there's questions about Gladstone's decision to give the UI a new kind of fuel. Perhaps that too will be explained in other books.
Other questions, other seeming inconsistencies, little things that made me go "Huh?" Like the closed door with all the screaming behind it. We never do see what was happening to whom at that point, though, again, it may be revealed in a later book.
Overall, it was a satisfying read. Simmons tied up most of the major loose ends, tied together elements of the first book beautifully, and left this reader with a satisfying ending and anticipation for the next two books. Not that I'm in a hurry to get to them. I found this particular volume to be a bit sloppier than its predecessor, and I spent much of my reading time shaking my head in confusion. It was a good confused, but I'll tell you what, the Lost mythology has NOTHING on this one. Sheesh!
Easy to recommend, only if you've read the first. The book's worth it just to see the conclusion of Sol and Rachel's story, as well as getting glimpses of who and what the Ousters really are. The Shrike wasn't quite as terrifying this time, and I'm not sure why: maybe it's because he felt like an instrument of the plot, showing up and acting where he was needed, not out of some kind of deep, internal motivation. Granted, the Shrike is a monster, but even I like my monsters to have some depth. I'm looking forward to seeing just how far Simmons explores this fantastic creation in the other books, and fans of Hyperion should too.