This was not the book I was expecting it to be. I was expecting some kind of military or politically drama on a galactic scale.

Instead we get a collection of colorful characters that are all on the same voyage and most of the book consists of their individual tales. Like a collection of short-stories with a central theme that links back to the main plot.

The short stories were really good though. Intriguing, emotional, surreal, full of action and always with a sense of mystery, while we wait for the revelation of the link of each particular story with Hyperion and the enigma that is the Shrike.

After almost 21 hours of audiobook, I’ve learned a lot about Hyperion and the Shrike, and yet I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of the riddle.

While reading I constantly had to remind myself that this book was published in 1989, way before personal smartphones & computers were an actual thing. The author got so many things right about our future, and the picture he paints of how society would evolve and spread across the stars, feels incredibly convincing some 35 years later.

I’ve really enjoyed my time with this story, my one critique would be that it’s not able to stand on its own. There’s simply too many open-ended threads for this. On to the sequel we go !