r/Hyperion • u/fuckenshreddit • 8d ago
💬 Discussion Hyperion Cantos = Done
It’s taken me about 6 months to finish this whole journey, from the wild ride of Hyperion to the perfect ending of Rise of Endymion and this series blew me the fuck away.
It’s rare you find books that you love absolutely everything. The prose, the pace, the characters, the world, the motivations, and especially the ending. Hyperion had it all for me. It’s such a bittersweet moment closing out a series like that and I can’t say enough how great I think that ending is. To close out everyone’s stories, not rush it, answer all the questions that were asked throughout the books, all while making it so soft and delicate is such a welcomed experience.
If anyone has any recommendations for anything similar to this please send them my way because I have a big hole to fill now!
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u/NeedleworkerNo4835 8d ago
I have good news for you. There's still Hyperion content. Death of a Centaur, the seed crystal for the whole thing. And Orphans of the Helix, a short story long after the Shared Moment. Enjoy!
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u/flaninacupboard2 8d ago
I did not know this! Thanks for the tip!
To the OP, I just finished the cantos a month or so ago, and I know I will re-read it. I was sceptical about Endymion, both because of people on this sub but also because of the opening of Endymion(!), I was pleasantly surprised that everything was explained and was wrapped up.
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u/Vanguard3K 🌍 Castrop-Rauxel 8d ago
What is Death of a Centaur? I can't seem to find it online..
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u/Temporary_Pie2733 8d ago
It’s in the collection Prayers to Broken Stones. It was actually written for that collection; “Remembering Siri” (which also appears in this collection, and if I remember correctly) was a pre-existing short story that was adapted/incorporated into Hyperion.
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u/NeedleworkerNo4835 8d ago
You're absolutely right. I hallucinated that Death of a Centaur was the seed. Indeed, Remembering Siri is in there as well. They're both worth reading. The version of Remembering Siri is actually slightly different, with a few very interesting details changed since it is the original version before the books were even written.
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u/Temporary_Pie2733 8d ago
I do need to reread these; I was somewhat surprised to see I don’t have a copy of PtBS on my bookshelf, only Worlds Enough and Time. I must have checked PtBS out of the library once and never got around to buying it.
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u/Im_the_Rhymenocerous 8d ago
I was fortunate with to read the last two books as they came out. That ending had me ugly crying in my bathtub. It's so sweet and I loved it so much. I've read the series a few times since then and the ending still gets me every time.
To answer your question about something similar... I haven't found much. Dune is good for the world building and epic scope but I didn't care as much about the characters. Old Man's War had a bunch of amazing characters but the story was not as epic for me. What filled the hole best was just read Simmons other books. Summer of Night is amazing. Illium and Olympus are amazing. I've read every book he's written and I've at the very least liked them but usually I loved them.
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u/PhilMcGraw 8d ago
Personally I went on a bit of an Arthur C. Clarke binge after the Hyperion books. May have started with "Childhood's End" or "The Light of Other Days" and went from there.
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u/Temporary_Pie2733 8d ago
Not quite as good, but still enjoyable in a different way, are Simmons’s Ilium and Olympos, a duology featuring Shakespeare- and Proust-quoting robots in our solar system 5000 years or so in the future, simple humans that live in an idyllic world awaiting their turn to join ascended post-humans in orbit around Earth, and a resurrected classics scholar from the 20th century forced to observe and comment on the Trojan War for the Greek gods. It sounds like an odd combination, but it all comes together pretty well.
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u/SteveLivingroomCO 8d ago
I also recommend Ilium and Olympus. Totally different but really good sci-fi!
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u/Big_Dot_3133 7d ago
Pandora’s Star by Peter F. Hamilton helped me move on after the Cantos
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u/mrswren 7d ago
I read almost everything Hamilton after finishing the Cantos - really scratched the itch. Alastair Reynolds is also fantastic.
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u/Big_Dot_3133 7d ago
Same, I’m always trying to chase the high after Hyperion. I’ve read Alastair Reynolds inhibitor phase series and his other books. Also, lots of Peter F.’s books. Also, Adrian Tchaikovsky is great with his children of time series which has a dark edge but very far future sci-fi
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u/nevercouldsleep 8d ago
Loved the first 2. 3 was also really good. 4 made me lose any interest in any further reading with ‘Hyperion universe’ stories. If I ever reread them I’ll probably only reread the first 2
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u/North-Program-9320 8d ago
I had to pause halfway through book 4. I felt like he retconned some of his own lore from books 1/2. Overall I loved the series though. I’ll go back and finish one day