I really don’t know what to say about this book. Dan Simmons is such a gifted writer, with such a sweeping imagination, that it seems almost a crime to complain about the novel. At the same time, I have never read anything so well done and interesting that so completely failed to hold my attention. It sounds almost like a paradox – if the novel is interesting, why wouldn’t it keep the reader interested? – but that’s exactly how I felt about it. Practically every page I read I’d be swept up in the story and shaking my head in frank admiration of how amazingly well-drawn Simmons’ universe is, but every time I’d put the book down – and I did this frequently – I never felt even a slight pressure to pick it back up again. I had to remind myself to do it. I liked the characters, I sympathized with their various plights and challenges, but I had virtually no real interest in seeing what happened to them or how the story turned out.
Why? Damned if I know. But it’s taken me months – literally – to finish this book.
One other small complaint about the book is how cute Simmons got with some of the writing, character names and so on. (These characters appeared in Hyperion as well, of course, but somehow it didn’t bother me as much there.) Are we really to believe that a Keats persona, one that supposedly has all of the original poet’s memories, will fail to comment upon a character named Leigh Hunt or Brawne Lamia? Simmons probably felt that most of his readers wouldn’t know of Hunt, but if you write something that can rightly be considered literature, you have to assume a higher level of background knowledge of the people who will read your work.
Still, this is a minor quibble. Aside from the problem given in the first paragraph, The Fall of Hyperion is every bit a worthy successor to Hyperion. The writing is uniformly excellent, the plotting and world-building on a par with such acknowledged classics as Dune and the Foundation series, the concepts and characters original and interesting.
My advice for people considering reading this book is two-fold. First, be sure to read Hyperion before you tackle this sequel. Second, reserve a lot of uninterrupted time to devote to the novel, because you’ll need it. This book would make the perfect companion for someone stranded on that mythical desert island for a week or two.
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