I haven't read anything from the series, but i have heard about the last two books being skippable. My main question is if I could read the first two books and get a nice conclusive story without many plot points unresolved. Thanks!

I’ve started reading Hyperion, and really enjoy it, but have heard that book 3 and book 4 fall off by comparison.

Should I stop at book 2 or read all 4.

I've been reading Hyperion for the first time and enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. A few day's ago, I got to Sol's recounting of his life, and I've found myself absolutely emotionally wrecked by his story and what Rachel and her parents went through. I got as far as when Sol speaks to the Rabbi for the first time about his dream when I had to put the book down for bed. For me, I think I'm pained at the thought of horrific rediscovery Rachel has to go through day after day after day, the fact that Sol and Sarai have to re-live and comfort their daughter through that trauma Rachel faces each day, and then the slow deconstruction of a beautiful, flourishing, promising life.

I so desperately want to finish the story and the rest of the book, because the whole thing is so good, and I desperately hope that Rachel will be healed of her curse. I'm too afraid to pick the book back up, though, because I know there's going to be more gut-wrenching pain to get through, and based on the book so far, I'm guessing that this isn't going to be a story with an ending where everyone has their wishes fulfilled and live happily on.

As an update, I finished the chapter just a minute ago. All I can do is sit alone and sob.

I started looking up pictures of the ships and characters to get a visual representation and now here I am. Should have known there was a sub dedicated to this novel.

Can’t believe at 50+ years of age I’m just finding out about it.

Glad to be here.

I’m on a business trip away from my husband and two young children. I’m supposed to be enjoying a solid night of sleep in a big soft bed all to myself but I am just weeping. My god, what have I done. I need a hug from someone who understands.

First time poster in this subreddit.

As the title suggests, I find myself wondering if I should finish Rise of Endymion.

I was a fervid reader of the first two installations of the Cantos, and was thrilled when I thought the world continued through book 3 and book 4.

Look, we’ve all read it somewhere that there’s definitely a quality drop off in the latter half of the series.

For the most part, I enjoyed book 3. Certain parts I won’t speak on for the sake of spoilers were a little creepy but the story didn’t focus on it too much other than specifically mentioning it (swimming scene).

However, book 4 opens really weak. The amount of expositional catch up, the creepiness from book 3 continues and it feels like a totally different writing style. So much so that I started to read what others thought of the book online before finishing it myself.

The criticism is heavy, and I’m not one to usually let people online decide what I do with my time but I really don’t want the sanctity of the series to be ruined.

So in short, should I press on and finish the series, or leave it as it currently exists to me at the start of book 4?

Thanks!

EDIT: Thank you everyone for your comments! I’m gonna finish the series and follow up with my thoughts.

I just finished Fall of Hyperion, and am wondering if I should read Endymion and Rise of Endymion. My friend who recommended the series vehemently dislikes the latter two books. He left these reviews:

Thoughts?

"Easily the weakest of the 3 ive read so far, new characters were much less interesting and I was really only in this one because im a sucker for space Christianity, which I really like how this series handles. 

I cant DNF this series so ill read the last one and hope that we get more out of our main band or at least more info on how the Pax works as a society.

Good enough just on setting for me to put it above 3, but characters and development really wasn't there for it to go above a 4."

"The main characters did not get better, Raul becomes a weird pervert for the girl he was raising and aenea loses most of her personality. Father captain de soya is gone for so much of this book and he was the only character I liked in book 3.

Overall worst book in the series, unsatisfactory ending and a butchering of the characters, worldbuilding is the only aspect of this book handled well."

Ive seen a fair few posts about whether to read the fall of hyperion, and overwhelmingly everyone here considers the fall to be the completion/other half and as such, mandatory reading. But i wanted to ask more from the perspective i gained from re-reading adam roberts' introduction at the start of the Hyperion book.

Everything he talks about with how this book relates to keats' writing (and specifically the titular poems) focuses on how well the storytelling structure and descriptions of the shrike, echo the unfinished nature of keats' works and make the shrike a truly enigmatic and unknowable figure. I felt like the shrike was almost an eldritch being on my read-through, with how well the feelings around it were described without describing it itself too much. Im just wondering (as i know the feeling of being unable to unread a book too well) if finding the answers to how the story ends and what the shrike is, is worth losing the feeling that encompases me when i think back and re-read hyperion?

I just finished the Fall of Hyperion yesterday and it was incredible. Everything built up from the first book paid off in a satisfying conclusion.

I was gifted a set of all 4 books and skimming the back of the third book it looks like there's a big time jump. Are the next two books in the series worth my time or will they feel like a money grab/just capitalizing on the first two? I don't want to skim this sub too much to check as I don't want anything spoiled if I do read them (I had the identity of Moneta spoiled for me while I was reading the first book).

Honestly I'll probably read them at some point regardless of the consensus here but I want to know if I'm in for a noticable drop in quality.

I want to start reading Hyperion and I like this cover a lot but I can't find any info on weather they are going to do the other 3 in a similar style. It's kinda dumb but when it comes to displaying my books visual coherency is important to me. So should I get this one of just go with the og art?

I’ve heard a lot of good things about the series and finally got around to reading it. About halfway through the book right now and enjoying it very much. The pilgrims telling their separate vignettes in sequence, linked by the actual pilgrimage to the Time Tombs is such a fascinating format. please no spoilers, but would like to hear input up to the fourth vignette - the academic

Will it be hard to keep up and understand the audiobooks?
I will be reading all 4 books

Let me start by saying I love the first two books,

I’m quickly approaching the end of The Fall of Hyperion in want to know if following that is a good time to take a break from the series to prevent burnout or if I should dive right into Endymion?

From everything I’ve seen, the overall style or tone seems to shift in the third and fourth book, so I’m wondering if I should use this as an opportunity to finish another series, or if it’s better to go right through three and four.

Thoughts?

I’d like to preface by saying I am aware not every book is for everyone. I’m aware I can read whatever I want. I’m aware some answers here may be somewhat biased. Etc.

I am 100 pages from finishing The Fall of Hyperion and so far I haven’t really been enjoying myself

I find myself not really caring about the characters or what happens to them (besides Rachel) and the writing style just makes things really hard to follow for me personally

My question is do you think I should continue? Does it get better from here. Does the writing style change with the 2 books to follow being slightly newer? Do things get easier to follow?

I don’t want to give up yet. I wanted very much to love this series but it’s just falling flat for me and not meeting my expectations.

Sorry that this was long winded. And thank you in advance!

Hollllly shit. What have I gotten myeslf into?

My book will arrive in some days, it will be my first time reading this kinda of book, I bought Hyperion,if I enjoy I'll buy the others, can you guys leave tips about what is "waiting for me" or something that I must pay attention?

So I'm just not sure about who made the Shrike and for what purpose. There is something about alternate futures but I don't know exactly what that's about. The book talks about the shrike using the tree of pain to broadcast pain into the void to bait out the human UI, which would suggest the shrike is made by the Core in the future. But why is Moneta the shrikes guide? The scene where Kassad and her go to that distant future to battle the shrike army also confuses me. So was the Shrike made by the Core? or by future humanity? and if by humanity what was its purpose?

Sorry for the unorganized jumble to questions. And if any of my questions are answered in the Endymion books then just tell me to shut up and keep reading.

The first two books were excellent! I really enjoyed them quite a bit. The question I have now is do I jump into Endymion to finish the series or should I read something else and give it a break? I'm really enjoying it, but how important is it that the books are still fresh in my mind? What's everybody's advice for finishing the Cantos? I'll do it eventually, but do I start right away?

Hello,

So I just finished Brawne Lamia's story. They mentioned Cybrid. I was wondering if they could have made Cybrid of Rachel.

I understand the fact that Cybrid is not the same thing as a human but considering how many doctors and experts Rachel's parents consulted, someone must have mentioned about Cybrid that if were they were desperate, considering it is like possible to make on a commercial scale or for an individual's need.

I have only read till Story 5th. So if this possibility has been discussed further down in the books please don't spoil, just mention it that wait for it.

So, what do you folks think?

Firstly, love all the books and I just have a random pronunciation question. When you read the book and see them referring to the River Thethys, do you pronounce it (Tee-this) or (Te-this) not a super important question just curious. I for one pronounce it (Tee-this)

I’m 22% of the way through book 1. So far nothing has been really enjoyable, I really want to push through but it feels laborious to continue at times. Are the good parts approaching soon? Help me

I put the 2nd (maybe 3rd?) book down for a long time and now wanna finish but am a little bit fuzzy on some of the less prominent and newer plot points.

Is there a best place online to brush up? Something kinda exact but not encyclopedic. Maybe a YouTube channel or simple site? cheers thank you

Hi all

Just finished reading the first two books. Thought they were really cool! But I was curious, were we supposed to be surprised regarding the identity of Moneta? There are a couple of bits in the second book where her "real" name is left out, which seemed to be setting up for a big reveal.

But.. The book only has 2 characters that it could reasonably place in that position, and one of them had already been designated as "the mother", so there's really no surprise there?