The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #2), by Dan Simmons, 1990

The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #2), by Dan Simmons, 1990

Dan Simmons's The Fall of Hyperion - second book in the Hyperion Cantos tetrology that began with Hyperion - is a deeply complex and panoramic take on humanity, artificial intelligence, love, hate, time, metaphysics, and divinity.

The Fall of Hyperion, which breaks the plot up into multiple threads, one of which is narrated by a ‘cybrid’ who is the reincarnated consciousness of the poet John Keats, but also provides the reader with a more conventional finish to the story and tells us what becomes of the seven Shrike pilgrims now that they have reached the Time Tombs, but it also fleshes out the story of Meina Gladstone, the leader of the Hegemony of Man, as she deals with a coming war with the Ousters that looms large throughout this novel.

The series of novels in this universe continues, but you can read these two book as a duology and get a complete self-contained story.

What’s particularly beautiful about this book is how absolutely amazingly Simmons ties up the stories of the Shrike pilgrims, whose lives turn out to be more connected than the first book let on. And all of the pilgrims, including the cantankerous poet Martin Silenus (one of my favorite characters in the series) get to be heroes in their own way this time around. Characters with fairly small roles in Hyperion–Amelio Arundez, the Consul’s friend Theo Lane, and so on–appear again with expanded roles. Simmons is extremely generous to his characters in ways that feel both natural and dignified–even those who perish horribly are ultimately redeemed.

I give it a 5 out of 5.