Hey bookworms! I'm so happy to finally cross this one off of my reading bucket list. It truly helps that it was superb.

Better than Dune. Fight me.

The priest's story is number one for me. Read this about 5 years ago and the ending of that tale is still seared in my memory. Unforgettable. Amazing book, still need to read the Endymion stories.

I've only read the priest's tale so far and it's had a sort of awakening effect on me. What I mean is, Dan Simmons has awakened me to the possibilities of what can be achieved through the use of the written word.

Loved how each tale was pretty much a different genre too, it kept the book fresh and exciting. The Scholar's tale was definitely my favourite.

For me the stories go: 1. Priest 2. Poet 3. Detective 4. Scholar 5. Consul 6. Soldier It is my favorite book and it has been since the very moment I finished it. The Fall of Hyperion has some issues (that I hope are resolved in the next two books, have not read those yet) but the plot twists in there are INSANE.

I loved the book, so glad you gave me the impetuous to finally read it! I was honestly stunned by some of the reveals, incredibly powerful. The scholar story wrecked me and I don't even have kids. It's definitely one of my new favorite sci-fi books. The cliffhanger is real, definitely glad I had Fall on hand to roll right into. So excited to finish!

Awesome to hear your thoughts on the long awaited Hyperion, Mike! I'm not so well read in science fiction, but this was a winner for me when I read it years ago. Your discussion of it reminded me why I loved it so much -- thanks!

Starting in Fall of Hyperion the mind blowing factors increase by orders of magnitude. This first book is like an elite, delicious appetizer, the following serves you mind blowing ideas and heart shattering action

Lots of folk are comparing both Hyperion and Fall Of Hyperion but to me they are the same book, one great story! Its only the publicist that wanted it as 2 books.

I'm so glad you enjoyed this! This is one of my top few science fiction books, along with God Emperor of Dune and Fall of Hyperion. Speaking of which, you're going to love Fall. Even though the very end perhaps isn't the most brilliant thing in the world, the majority of the book is devoted to giving incredibly satisfying answers to all of the questions that were raised in the first book, and many of them are very clever and interleave in incredibly interesting ways.

Got to the end of the review and I 100% agree with the Scholar's story. I've got young daughters and his story actually made me cry. Manly tears...

I love the entire Hyperion series.

I felt like Fall of Hyperion was even stronger, if anything. But the two are really two halves of a single novel.

Great book! You definitely need to jump into 'Fall is Hyperion' to get the rest of the story. Endymion is coming up on my reading list.

One of the best books I've read in any genre. Sci Fi Stuff never really overshadows good storytelling and that's what makes this amazing. In the end, it's a book about people

Glad I bought the four of these used for a combined $7 from goodwill and other thrift stores. Look forward to them.

Your description of this novel is the best I've ever seen, you summarise each story beautifully well and concisely.

Now that you’ve finished his sci-fi masterwork, consider checking out his horror masterwork, Summer of Night!

Man I so happy you enjoyed this series!! I remember being one of the people who recommended this all those months ago. My first book ever, this definitely holds a special place for me❤️

I remember closing this book for the first time and trying to write a review for it. I sat in front of my computer for about 10 minutes and then just typed "I think this is the best book I've ever read, and if not - it's too close to be able to tell." And that was pretty much it. haha. I agree with all of your points, Mike. It's not perfect, but holy hell is it good.

What an all-time classic. I'd love to dig into all the Keats references someday.

This book's one of my favorites. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the rest of the series.

I think the Scholar's Tale is one of the best in the book. Every time I reread the Hyperion Cantos, I cry during the scholar's tale. It's just that powerful.

I liked Hyperion but I liked The Fall of Hyperion even more! It's on my list of the top 10 sci-fi books I've read so far: 1. House of Suns - Alastair Reynolds 2. Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut 3. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card 4. The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons 5. 1984 - George Orwell 6. Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke 7. Spin - Robert Charles Wilson 8. The Martian - Andy Weir 9. Dark Matter - Blake Crouch 10. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

I had also been thinking of reading this for years, but never got around to it until I saw your video. I finished it two days ago and loved it. All the stories are brilliant and it's difficult to rate them in order. Yes more Si-Fi please.

I didn't click with most of the stories here, but I finished Fall of Hyperion few days ago and it's one of the best books I've ever read. Amazing.

I blasted through the whole series over the last couple of weeks and my brain is still spinning like a giant flywheel! Wow... If only I had 1% of his talent.

Had this one on my TBR for several years now and because of your HYPE it just got boosted to 1st place, stopped my seemingly never-ending and constantly drudging escapade in the Witcher books (stuck at the penultimate book right now), read it and loved it. Thanks, Mike, for the boost! I sincerely think you're an inspiration, man. Cheers!

I just finished reading Hyperion this week. I loved all of the tales. This one's for sure in my top 10.

Great review! This is my favorite book and I love it so much. Fall is really great too and the themes are so mind bending and brave.

Just finished the 3rd story of the book, I'll get back to this video when I've finished the book

This is next on my list after the Dune series! Great review, Looking forward to it. I'm intrigued by this style of the individual character stories.

I was super hyped for this review and I'm super excited to give it a go! It's next on my list. Thanks for the awesome review as usual

Just finished and loved it. I’d say the narrative structure adds intrigue, rather than being a distraction. The detectives tale did lose me for a bit... until I realised some of the straight-up answers were being presented so I best pay attention!

I like the Second book even more. I also liked the last 2 books. They start many many years after the first two but start too weave together and give you your barrings. Such a good series of books.

I'm just happy you finally read hyperion, even happier that you enjoyed it

Well, this has been on my shelf for awhile, but your video just bumped it up in the reading order! Great review!

Mike-keep up the great work! It’s been a while since I’ve joined the discord or the Patreon chats. Been busy with work, my podcast, writing articles, and working on my own fantasy novel. I still make time to watch your videos, though. Thanks for covering Hyperion.

Hey Mike. That sound so cool. I love it when authors mesh lots of different genre's into their books. I know that Diana Gabaldon does that with her Outlander books, so I am looking forward to getting into this series just based on your summary of it. I have now started listening to and reading Winter's Heart, but I had to stop since I got sleepy. I may wind up reading some manga in between reading this book.

Another one to add to the TBR, haven't been disappointed by Mike recommendations yet

Great review, captures my sentiments on the novel almost perfectly. I actually fell in love with Canterbury Tales style of storytelling reading Hyperion. My favourites were the Consul's and Soldier's tales. I didn't exactly have any trouble keeping track of characters and events in the highly non-linear storytelling, although it took me a while get through it.

Starting this book soon. I wanted to watch a few videos on it. Just to understand a little bit before I start Reading. Thank You

Awesome content as always!!!

Love this book. The priest's tale is still the most terrifying thing I have ever read, beating Pet Semetary. Such an intricate story, weaving many tales together. And it's chilling how close some of the stuff is to real world we live in

Starting this book soon. This really makes me excited for it!

I love Hyperion to death and back, and, personally, I thought Fall of Hyperion was even better! It has a very different structure. Anyway Mike, speaking of Hyperion's influence on sci-fi, it's had a great influence on Red Rising (per Pierce himself and through observation). Red Rising spoilers beyond, for the whole series: 1. A subset of humans who left society and lived out in the void, now returning to invade after having evolved to better fit zero-g and vacuum. (Ascomanni vs Ousters) 2. Age rejuvenation therapy that extends life and causes blue-purple veins to appear on the patient. (Poulsen Treatment in Hyperion, also present in Red Rising à la Volsung Fa) 3. Mistakes of old earth lead to a new society that operates on romantic ethical codes/cultural influences from humanity's past to avoid fucking up everything again, also: starting a new calendar from the time of the revolution or whatever 4. Tech oriented subset of humans who are super weird in the real world and are used to the speed at which they can communicate when 'plugged in' (Blues in Red Rising, essentially, versus cyberpuke in Hyperion) 5. One of the characters being a poet; verse, song, classical instruments and the trappings of classic literature having an influence on the culture of the world and the narrative in a futuristic scifi setting (Roque vs Martin Silenus) 6. I'm pretty sure Kassad describes some Iron Rain-esque attack on Bressia? Other stuff I thought of while reading and cannot recall for the life of me. Thought you might find this interesting! Anyway, great video as always!

I read Hyperion 25+ years ago and the Priest's tale is one that has stuck with me and that lives in the back of my brain a little. I wonder if I had read this after having my kids, would I say the same about the Scholar's tale?

Loved the book, personal ranking of tales: Scholar, Priest, Detective, Poet, Soldier, Consule.

Yup, brilliant book! Happy you enjoyed it!

awesome Mike! I found ya when searching for some help in Deadhouse Gates, and am about to read Endymion and was looking for a refresher, and was stoked to see this. Cheers!

I’m on the poet’s tale, I haven’t started it yet due to being busy. However, I cannot wait to get to it.

One of my favourite book of all time. Still have tears in my eyes from Sol's story ...

So happy you're reading the Cantos. It will be interesting to see whether it will dethrone Dune in your ranking once you've gotten through all the four. Don't let the Endymion detractors get to you: Endymion and The Rise of Endymion have really really cool stuff...

So glad you enjoyed Hyperion. Definitely my favorite novel of all time. Probably need to read it again soon.

Good review, I agree totally. There really is something for everyone here, even though the narrative style may turn some people off, it likely will pull just about anyone in. The Scholars Tale was absolutely brilliant and heart wrenching. Priests Tale is my second favorite as well; brutal. I’m currently blowing through Fall of Hyperion like I did with the first-it’s more of a straightforward narrative, but it’s awesome. Unless something majorly crashes into the shithouse at the end, I’ll definitely be reading the Endymion cycle. Never been huge on science fiction, but this has completely sucked me in. It’s been almost a year and so much of the first book has remained vividly in my head. Definitely my favorite Simmons I have read

didn't even know you did this review. I'm reading the series again after a 20 year break. it's still great.

The scholar's story is by far my favorite one in the book. It's horribly tragic, and something that I don't think could be retold in a better way. Hyperion is tied with Dune for my favorite fantasy book. I'm about halfway though rereading The Fall of Hyperion, since I had such a good time rereading Hyperion. I absolutely hated it the first time, but its not as bad this time around. It's definitely the worse of the two first ones, but it's not nearly as bad as I originally thought.

Great review! I read the whole Cantos twice..but it was many years ago. You're getting me excited to check it out again! Also, I saw that you enjoyed Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. If you're into that type of fiction, check out The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsh..a dark CSI detective-like yarn set in multiple dimensions.

Awesome book. I should probably read the whole series again. I read the series sometime in the early 2000s when I was in school.

Dan Simmons is great. If you haven't read The Terror, it's a brilliant mixture of historical fiction and horror fantasy. Loved it.

1/4 of the way through! I'm glad to hear that it doesn't drop off. High potential to be my favorite sci-fi novel by the end of the run!

The audio version up on audible is amazing.

Sounds awesome. Good suggestion 😁 cheers mate.

To me the scholars tale and consuls tale are up there for two of the best pieces of fiction I’ve ever read. Even if I thought the entire rest of the book sucked (which I don’t) I would still highly recommend the book based on those two tales alone.

I randomly got a bunch of recommendations for videos about the Hyperion Cantos a few weeks ago, and immediately bought all 4. Just finished the first book tonight, and MAN was that good stuff! For how completely non-linear the storyline was, particularly the Consul's story, it still just always made sense to me. Very well done, and in addition to that, the blending of genres made this book pretty much non-stop novelty and excitement. I'm definitely not going to say it's better than Dune, but it might be 2nd in line for me. That cliffhanger though!! Definitely intended to be a single book with Fall, but that's ok. My favorite storyline was probably Martin's. It was just so well written and so entralling. The most exciting was surely Brawne's, just so much action and mystery. I cannot wait to dig into Fall tomorrow to see where this ragtag group of misfits ends up. Also, I love the channel and will probably be going through some of your other recommendations after I finish these. I also have Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn Trilogy in line, have you ever considered that one? I've heard that it is the most accessible Warhammer 40k book, and reads more like sci-fi noir than anything else. And that it stands alone far better than the other 40k series.

And yes.....The Scholars Tale...goddamn.....hits close to the heart.

Great review 🙂🚀

I thought all of the stories had their moments, but for me the strongest (in no particular order) were The Priest's Tale, The Soldier's Tale, and The Scholar's Tale. I actually didn't care for Martin Silenus too much after the first book, but after finishing the series he became my favorite character. I do have complaints with the series overall and I think a few loose ends never got resolved, but all four books kept me engaged. I think the 1st and 3rd books are the best.

Sold! Looks like I'll be adding this to my TBR. Probably sooner rather than later. 😃 I'm very new to sci-fi and this has me very excited. Maybe Dune after.

Thanks for introducing me to great books

OHHHHHHHH YES!!!! I have that omnibus copy. And let me say, go straight to Endymion.....and finished it up. It affected me for a week. I mean, it's amazing. I'm enjoying your books.

You should check out Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. Really excellent horror novel.

the best book ever period.

Still gotta check this one out! I'll consider this my final push.

Great series of books!

Loved how you described the priest's tale as "so sci-fi" - it was absolutely my reaction!

Just finished it. I liked alot . I loved all of the tales

SOLD

A masterpiece of writing!

Nice review. This book was so great. Anything that it fell short on (which isn't much) is picked up with the sequel. The 1st book sacrifices a little in action and quick-readability which enables it to lay great foundation and world building and really showing us some brilliant brilliant character Because of this, the 2nd book can humm a long quickly and give us great space opera and great resolution and surprise moments. The 2 books so completely compliment each other

I read the whole series as a young adult. Everytime I mentionned it to friends and someone had read it, it was an important read for them. I'm currently reading it all again 20+ years later and I appreciate it in a whole new way. Thank for sharing your impressions!

you made me want to reread this book! later alligator oh boy that hurt! The priest one was the one that was just insane with the ending.

Ah man, I've had the first two books on my shelf for the past 2 months but now you emphasized "adult" and "dark" and I'm pushing it right up to the top of my list.

The scholars tale tore me up. I totally agree that that's when the book turned for me. It went from good to excellent.

Squeeeeeeal. Long time coming. I was so excited to see this pop up. I just got a brand new copy and am going to read it soon!! ♥

Hyperion? More like HYPErion. This is the most important book for me ever, I read it the first time when I was 10, I might've been a bit too young to fully understand everything but the world and genre switching and especially the characters took hold of me, that was around 25 years ago and I'm still obsessed with the first two books. Hyperion is a true 10/10 scifi masterpiece. EDIT: I don't remember what story was my favorite as a kid but now as an adult Martin Silenus' story is my favorite, just amazing, what a character! I really hope they'll cast Danny DeVito to play Martin in the upcoming film adaptation. He has the charisma Martin has and Frank Reynolds proves he's willing to go all in and that's what that character needs.

My list, but all of them were great. 1. Poet 2. Detective 3. Consul 4. Scholar 5. Priest 6. Soldier

Brings it all back. ;-)

I just finished the first chapter and oh my god that was amazing

I will be reading this book next year I have so many books on my tbr right now 😳🤔🤨

Loved this video, Mike! It's hard to talk this coherently about something as vast as Hyperion. I have a question about Ender's Game though. Could you help me understand why it's held in such high regard? Compared to Hyperion, Ender's Game felt like a juvenile book, devoid of any big ideas. A solid scifi to be sure, but nowhere near the levels of Dune or Hyperion. Am I missing something? Should I reread it?

The Consul's tale, even though ranked last, is the most important story.

I’m so torn between this and cixin liu and the all time best; it’s challenging!

I mentioned in Hyperion vid previously that I grabbed a Keat's poetry book to read along with the book. Opened my eyes to poetry. Have you tried the Culture Series? 3rd never got over the 3rd book (the use of weapons). That is top quality stuff. Also, didn't know Hyperion was a series when I read it.

Huh... I’m not really into sci-fi, but this does actually sound interesting! The different tales make it seem kind of less intimidating, thick as it is.

I read all 4 books and love all of them. Somewhat different... the ending of the series made me cry a lot. It was awesome.

man I love this book, nearly finished. But I loved Kassad's story. So funny at times as well

I read this not knowing about the cliffhanger ending and that dampened my feelings for it. I reckon on a re-read and knowing the flaws and what I expect I’d enjoy it a lot more. And your comments on Keates? Just wait until book 2 😉

The priests tape was the perfect first backstory to hook the reader. Scholar and poet stories were good but I didn't give a crap about the others.