Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1) by Dan Simmons Narrator: Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, Jay Snyder, Victor Bevine
Series: Hyperion Cantos #1
Published by Audible Frontiers on December 22, 2008
Genres: Science-Fiction
Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
Format: Audiobook
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Overal Rating:
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it.
In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope - and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
This book has been on my TBR pile for many many years and I finally took the plunge. I knew from the start that it’s one of those treacherous books that end on a cliffhanger, and that it would only make sense to read if you were going to spend time on the next book too.
As my brain cells aren’t cooperating much lately, I decided to go for the audio version, while I use my Kindle for more accessible books (and because “too many books, too little time”). I listened to the multicast version, which was just okay. As multicast narrations go, this wasn’t the best but it definitely helped to have distinct voices for the characters. I found the interpretations not very expressive, but I also have to concede that the writing style felt at times more declamatory than natural speaking.
As many of you know, Hyperion follows a similar structure to The Canterbury Tales, with several tales within a tale. We learn about the ending of Earth, Hyperion, the Time Tombs, and the Shrike. We get six different tales, each from the point of view of a character. While my favorite stories were Father Lenar Hoyt’s and Sol Weintraub’s, I particularly despised Fedmahn Kassad’s and parts of Martin Silenus’s. Brawne Lamia’s story just bored me, and the Consul’s felt very confusing at first. I think if it wasn’t for the two stories I enjoyed, and the mystery that the Time Tombs and the Shrike are, I would have (figuratively) thrown the book against the wall.
Kassad’s story is just a recollection of wet dreams of a misogynistic cis man who encounters time and again a wordless sex nymph that turns out to be the Shrike, and Martin Silenus’s description of a woman:
“a beautiful girl, long blond hair too soft to be real, a fresh-picked-peach complexion too virginal to dream of touching, a beauty too perfect to believe: precisely the sort that even the most timid male dreams of violating”
Just let me vomit before continuing reading.
This kind of writing is the one that usually makes me abandon books, relegating them to the pile of “never again”. I continued reading because I was profoundly curious about Hyperion’s mysteries, which is what led me to pick the next book. I still don’t know if I’ll be able to finish it; only time will tell. I already know I won’t go further than book 2.
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My name is Elena. Since I was a little child I loved science fiction and fantasy, and I can’t resist a good novel. In 2015, while wait I started to listen to audiobooks and I discovered the pleasure in being able to read while doing my daily tasks, so there’s always an audiobook playing on my phone. If you see me with my Bluetooth headphones on, please be gentle, I get easily startled.
I live with my boyfriend, which I met during my six-year stay in Belgium, four cockatiels, eight lovebirds, and a hamster in Madrid, Spain; and I like to spend my free time knitting and sewing while listening to audiobooks.
