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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic concluding omnibus, 6 May 2006
How does a novelist follow up one of the most incredible, awe-inspiring and enlightening SF books ever written...?
Dan Simmons does it by taking the formula of Hyperion (another journey this time through the River Tethys and its farcasters, the manipulation of humankind by the TechnoCore, the reappearances of the strikingly memorable shrike), but placing it in a very different post-Web universe. The Christian society known as the Pax has taken over most of the fallen worlds, and rules ruthlessly and unforgivingly, rather than the vast Capitalist government seen in the Hyperion omnibus.
Anyway, that is all irrelevant, you will read all of this when you buy the book. WHEN (not if) you buy the book.
For ease of explanation (and to limit my waffling on about the greatness of the two books), I will review the omnibus as a whole rather than two seperate novels:
Simmons' narrative is, again, breathtaking. It is often common for SF to be this descriptive and expansive and absorbing, but never since Hyperion have I read a book that can convey so much emotion, and completely involve me in that emotion (especially with regards to the main characters, who you inevitably relate to and hope for). Love, hatred, fear, anger, are all put across with unfailing brilliance, and the book ranges from the deepest pits of despair, loss and pain up to the highest reaches of ecstasy and glory, exuberance and vibrance - and everything in between. Even if you are not a fan of SF, you should read these books just to experience the literary genius of Dan Simmons. The man is awesome.
There is always the risk that having read a review that quite clearly "brown-noses" a book, a reader of that book may feel it is incapable of living up to the surrounding hype, so there is perhaps something you should know. If you want to follow straight on from Hyperion, if you want immediate answers, you will not be satisfied. These books are set two-hundred and seventy-four years after the fall of the World-Web, and follows a set of new (brilliantly conveyed) characters, and we all know no human can live for two-hundred and seventy-four years...
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As good as it gets, 22 Dec 2006
Its hard to think about the two books here without bringing in the two included in the Hyperion omnibus. The saga as a whole includes glimpses of an imagined past and future which I still don't understand having read the whole Cantos through twice, and I'm still not sure exactly who, what, why, how and when the Shrike is. I'd love Dan Simmons to release some notes or reflections on the whole thing which tidies that stuff up. That criticism, however is only a minor one, and I make it only because the four books as a whole are so involving that you want any gaps at all filled in. The four books are imaginitive, uplifting, gripping and the last book is profoundly moving. Yes, there are times when the plot slows down a bit. But when it delivers, boy.....
I'll probably read these four books again once every 2-3 years from now. The only other book I do that with is Tolkein's Lord of the Rings. Okay, so I'm a Tolkein geek, but don't let that put you off if you are not. It doesn't get any better than this.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Yin & Yang with Hyperion saga, 13 Jun 2009
First of all, I think this is a great read. The 900+ pages of this omnibus edition compel the reader not to put the book down. What is this saga about? It is a story about a semi-messiah, Aenea, told from the perspective of her guardian and lover, Endymion - Raul Endymion to be exact.
It is a story about religious ferver, in the sense that the Catholic Church has risen to almost omnipotent status amongst what used to be the old Human Hegemony. It is a story about deceit, lies, and the realisation that the truth of the Technocore, PAX, and the Shrike is not what it first seems. It is a love story told through space and time. It is the Yang to the Hyperion Yin.
However, a number of givens taken from the Hyperion saga have been twisted to suit the plot of this story, e.g., the enigmatic Shrike is at first not what is seems; the three factions of the Technocore are revealed to be something else; the doomsday actions of Meina Gladstone in Hyperion, whilst great for the ending sequences of that story, are cast in a much different light. I suppose Dan Simmons was using artistic licence to complete the saga what is in reality four books, including the Hyperion novels.
That said, the story was engaging, and one I thoroughly recommend.
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