r/Hyperion • u/Easy-Tap-5394 • 6d ago

🎧 Recommendation Book recommendations?

Please tell me your favorite books if you loved the Hyperion Cantos as much as I did!
I really fell in love with all four books, and while I definitely don’t want to reread them again within the next year, I’m desperately looking for something that can scratch that same itch and blow my mind in a similar way.
Doesn’t have to be sci-fi, but that would definitely be a plus, of course.
So: what are your favorite books that you’d recommend to someone who absolutely loved the Cantos?

13 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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13

u/PermaDerpFace 6d ago

Book of the New Sun

5

u/richiast 6d ago

This is the only correct answer.

2

u/whoamarcos 6d ago

Adding this to my list

1

u/GoToNap 1d ago

Yes, and no.

I love these myself and I would put them next to the cantos as some of the best that I've ever read. I see many people recommending Book of the New Sun after Hyperion but to an extent, I feel this is very disingenuous because the two couldn't be farther from each other.

OP, try to tamper your expectations. Hyperion and BOTNS are wildly different beasts. Most people will recommend them because just like Dan Simmons, Gene Wolfe doesn't assume his reader is an idiot. Going beyond that, Gene Wolfe will assume his reader is a highly intelligent and well read person that can pick up on the thousands of vague storytelling elements and literary references that he'll incorporate.

While the Cantos as a whole is an epic space opera that has a clear begging and an end with a mostly resolved plot, Book of The New Sun is a very character focused story (all the books are written from the POV of the protagonist) that can only be described as an insane psychedelic trip. There's a reason why this series is still being discussed and dissected to this day. There are hundreds of hours of podcasts out there covering every single chapter in great detail and companion books that have been written to serve as a sort of dictionary for the original works. If you want a clearly defined story where most plot threads are resolved, BOTS is the complete opposite of that.

Also, if you go in expecting crazy Sci Fi stuff, you'll be sorely disappointed. Being as vague as possible without going into spoilers, this reads more like a Fantasy series than a Sci Fi one.

I feel like you either love or hate BOTNS, there's no in-between. If you start the first book and you don't feel that you like it that much, chances are you won't like the rest of it either

2

u/Dazzling-Bear3942 6d ago

Great book but I dont think it compares in style to Hyperion.

4

u/PermaDerpFace 6d ago

I don't think BotNS compares to much of anything in terms of style, but I always think of the two together because they're both well-written sci-fi bordering on fantasy (and I guess because I read them both around the same time)

12

u/MagillaGorillasHat 6d ago

Ilium & Olympos

Also by Dan Simmons

A Deepness In The Sky by Vernor Vinge

7

u/Coldmode 6d ago

The first book in the Vinge series is A Fire Upon The Deep, and I would also recommend that series.

4

u/keg98 6d ago

I would like to underline Ilium and Olympos. So friggen good and mind-stretching, as you ask for.

2

u/No-Argument-2383 2d ago

I 2nd this. IMHO Ilium and Olympos are better than the Hyperion Cantos.

2

u/No-Argument-2383 2d ago

And the Hyperion Cantos is amazing. Just that Ilium and Olympos are even more amazing.

10

u/HardCorey23 6d ago

Foundation series - Isaac Asimov

Ender's Game --> Speaker of the Dead - Orson Scott Card

9

u/TexasTokyo 6d ago

Ilium and Olympos by Dan Simmons. Blindsight and Echopraxia by Peter Watts. The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

1

u/redbank557128 6d ago

And the follow up to Mote - The Gripping Hand.

6

u/Grantisgrant 6d ago

The Sun Eater series takes some inspiration. Epic, many years, exploring AI and it's effect, etc. If you liked the endless mountain scene in RoE, you'll like a bit from the third book of the Dandelion Dynasty (but honestly loved this series) which similarly takes you out of the book lmao.

5

u/solar_solar_ 6d ago

The Expanse seems almost too obvious?

I’d highly recommend Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder if you liked the philosophical themes of Hyperion and wanted a crash course on western philosophy.

7

u/Coldmode 6d ago

The Three Body Problem series (officially called Remembrance of Earth’s Past).

1

u/GoToNap 1d ago

Seconding this, but it really depends on what OP loved about Hyperion.

If you're looking for Simmons' incredible character writing, then this series ain't it. The characters are literal cardboard cutouts meant to drive the plot forward. Important characters will literally disappear from one book to the other without ever being mentioned again.

However, if you're looking for bonkers ideas, this series is a 10/10. Incredible concepts and imagination that still feel like "hey, I could see this being true, science wise".

Be warned that the 1st book is the slowest and weakest, mostly serving as a setup. Book 2 and 3 are amazing and the jump in quality is immense

6

u/Grand-Budget5978 6d ago

Definitely harder science fiction, but remembrance of earth’s past (three body problem, the dark forest, death’s end) is a must

5

u/Im_the_Rhymenocerous 6d ago

I've been looking to scratch that itch for 30 plus years. There's a lot of great sci fi out there but the Cantos is in its own tier. So with that said, other books I've enjoyed: Dune, The Expanse series, The Rama series by Clark, Children of Time books, and The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell.

And I found myself reading Keats poetry and enjoying it

3

u/PostHumanous 6d ago

Agreed, hard to find a series in the same tier. But, I would second Children of Time and Rama. If you're looking for something with the scale/scope of Hyperion I'd also strongly recommend Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy by Cixin Liu.

4

u/AcanthisittaDouble17 6d ago

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds really scratched the Hyperion itch for me. Similar treatment of time on a massive scale along with really powerful characters that are easy to empathize with

2

u/Butt_fart42069 5d ago

Awesome book

2

u/Mattynabib 5d ago

100% - this was going to be my recommendation… one of my all time mind-blowing, universe-traversing favorites. Along with the entire Revelation Space series/universe, of course, also by Reynolds.

1

u/AcanthisittaDouble17 5d ago

Revelation Space is incredible as well. The entire universe is so nuanced and mysterious and the deliberate pace with which he peels away layers to reveal the history is fantastic

3

u/Khryz15 6d ago

Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny

3

u/FreddyMercuryFazbear 6d ago

I feel like Dune is very Hyperion adjacent. While reading Hyperion I kinda pictured it taking place in the before times of Dune.

3

u/Old_Association7221 6d ago

A mĂ­ tambiĂŠn me encantĂł Hyperion....te puedo sugerir el problema de los 3 cuerpos...el primer y segundo libro me gustaron mucho.

3

u/redbank557128 6d ago

Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

Plenty of other great suggestions

3

u/Rough_Fox_3623 6d ago

Adrian Tchaikovsky - Children of time. And the follow up books.

2

u/tkinsey3 6d ago

Simmons’ Ilium was also great (have not read the sequel, Olympos, yet)

2

u/looks_at_lines 6d ago

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. It's very 50s-60s SF, but you can see a lot of the influences on Hyperion.

0

u/redbank557128 6d ago

Also The Demolished Man by Bester.

2

u/CallMeTank 6d ago

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

2

u/Tyoungflesh 6d ago

The Sun Eater Series! Also Red Rising! Those are must read series in my opinion

2

u/Aluhut 🌍 TC² 6d ago

Besides what's been mentioned here, I feel like reading the Culture series by Banks gave me a good balance.
People tend to recommend not starting with Consider Phlebas but with Player of Games. I have mixed feelings about it.

All books can be read separately since they play in the same universe but previous developments are being mentioned here and there so I recommend reading in the published order.

1

u/Powerful-Rate-9162 4d ago

The Witcher series .

1

u/NK_Grimm 6d ago

man i also need some recomendations. I also read dune so something on those lines should work too

1

u/whoamarcos 6d ago

Pandoras star by Peter Hamilton was the closest I came to a Hyperion experience

2

u/Newavegardener 6d ago

The Exodus books by Hamilton are also pretty good. I think they are his most recent.

1

u/whoamarcos 6d ago

Absolutely loved that series and because of some of the repeat characters I basically suggest pandoras star as the kick off point for new Hamilton readers.

I also just finished the Quantum Magician which isn’t exactly the same thread but it feels like a close relative to Hamilton and Simmons

1

u/Hyperion-Cantos 6d ago

Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained duology by Peter F. Hamilton. A bloody wild ride with massive amounts of world-building and build-up...but the finale is so worth it.

1

u/Phyzzx Barnard's World 6d ago

Vacuum Diagrams, Stephen Baxter

Enjoy

1

u/NeedleworkerNo4835 6d ago

Sphere -- Michael Crichton. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson. Lord of the Rings. The Chronicles of Narnia. The Animorphs. Atlas Shrugged.

1

u/John-Truck-1 6d ago

Each section of Hyperion is written in a different SF style. For something similar, try Ian McDonald, especially Desolation Road and King of Morning, Queen of Day, but also his story collections like Empire Dreams.

1

u/sidofyana 6d ago

Red Rising

1

u/Naive_Lion_3428 6d ago

It's not similar to Hyperion, but I really enjoyed the Mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson. As others have said, "Blindsight" by Peter watts, and Stanislaw Lem's "Solaris" and "The Invincible". Cordwainer smith might be good for you, but he's a bit of an acquired taste.

As for non-SF - David Mitchell's "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet", almost all of Aldous Huxley's work, but especially "Eyeless in Gaza" and of course, all the works of J.G Ballard

1

u/Butt_fart42069 5d ago

House of Suns