The Fall of Hyperion

This one is so tough for me to review for 2 reasons:

1. I read it over the span of 10 months. I read the first third or so, thoroughly enjoyed it, but then took a break, procrastinated, and never got back to it until I was 5 days away from not getting to my January goal of finally finishing it. So my memory from the first bit is not so crisp.

2. This book’s ending.

I can’t stress enough that, for most of my reading experience, I was deeply in love. There is so much interest and intrigue, so much to say, so many strange, awe-inspiring, unknowable forces. I was practically drooling over it every time I picked it up. I was already writing the most glowing review of all time in my head.

Then I hit the last 40 pages or so and I don’t know what to say. It’s baffling.

So many plot lines are contorted to make sense at the end. Everything has to be explained. But Why? The only major part that isn’t fully explained is future society deus ex machina, which I think is dumb but arguably works, given the context. The mention of the paradox board made my eyes roll back into my skull. I think that making everything make sense is an impressive feat. But I don’t know why he felt compelled to do it.

And let’s not forget the shrike. The shrike is one of my favorite literary concepts of all time. And Simmons just completely neuters it at the end. This was the most disappointing. By the end, I wasn’t rooting for the pilgrims to win anymore. I realized that I was invested primarily in Gladstone and when her arc ended, I was satisfied.

It also gets very preachy at the end, which at this point I had gotten used to, but it felt more and more like Simmons himself was speaking directly to me instead of letting the characters bump around and get to those ideas on their own.

Well anyway, I want to believe in magic and the unknown. I want to believe that maybe the shrike isn’t pure evil. I want there to be that bit of ambiguity and mysteriousness and fantasy.

Simmons is great at birthing ideas and vignettes and moments, but not at gluing the pieces together. Work to your strengths. Overall, a huge bummer because I can’t state enough how much I adored the middle 300 pages. Still 9/10. Go read it.