A Science Fiction Novel Worth ‘The Hype’
I finally read the Hugo Award-winning sci-fi classic, Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
Wow. I knew next to nothing about Hyperion’s story, other than it’s genre (sci-fi) and its framework (which pays homage to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales). So I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I was dazzled by this work. It feels so wholly unique, so unlike much of the science fiction I’ve read. This is a Frankenstein’s monster of a book, made up of a variety of influences that include, yes, Chaucer, but also John Keats, Philip K. Dick, and William Gibson. Reading it is (mostly) a pleasure. As indicated, there are a few caveats, some flies in the ointment that irritated me just enough and ultimately prevented me from considering this an all-time favorite.
Firstly, if there is anything that dates Hyperion, it is its eye-rolling male gaze, which feels most prevalent in the second of its 6 chapters — a chapter that, admittedly, was going for something violent and steamy and not the least bit kinky, but the constant updates as to the status and appearance of a character’s breasts seemed downright childish. This was by no means a deal-breaker, but considering Simmons’s obvious talents and the high concepts he’s working with throughout, it really feels beneath the rest of the work.
Secondly, while I understand this is part of a series, it ends on a more of a cliffhanger than I expected, leaving me a bit dissatisfied with the ending. Even in a series, as a reader, I want some kind of narrative, emotional, or thematic arc. To be fair, the novel does conclude with a decision made by the various “pilgrims”, and I suspect that will work for many as a satisfying stopping point, but for me, it feels like we end at least a chapter early. These characters never really get to do anything together besides eat, drink, and reminisce. So the “decision” in the end feels too slight to be emotionally or intellectually satisfying in any meaningful way.
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So much of the book is background information: Again, like Canterbury Tales, Hyperion focuses on a collection of characters on their dangerous pilgrimage to and within the planet Hyperion. They are distrustful of one another. There are cosmic politics at play here, and you know that at least one of the pilgrims may not be at all as they seem. So they regale one another with their various stories (the “poet’s tale”, “the soldier’s tale”, etc.), detailing how they got to be on this pilgrimage and why. And as they do, Simmons ingeniously builds his universe and its history, one brick at a time. Since very little actually happens in the “present” storyline, however, you are almost left feeling as if the entire book is one clever, but very entertaining prologue.
Still, I do not want to downplay what you have probably heard over and over again about this book: it is often a masterful work of science fiction, and it is so incredibly rich in theme that — despite my dissatisfaction with its conclusion (or lack thereof) — it is such a satisfying book to think about. Simmons is juggling so many things here: it is a book about ideas, language, religion, rebirth, our relationships with artificial consciousness, and the relationships between gods and their creations. It is a meditation on art and artists (much of the novel is a giant love letter to John Keats). It is a critique of colonization. It is a cosmic work of science fiction, yes, but also a cyberpunk thriller, a mystery, a love story, an adventure of exploration, a tale of revenge, a horror, and, for at least one chapter, a hilarious satire in the vein of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
It is all of these things, and the way Simmons is able to compartmentalize them in some chapters and briefly echo many of these themes in others that follow makes it feel less overwhelming and more whole.
I cannot wait to read the next book in the series.
4.45 / 5 💫
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