I've just finished reading Dan Simmons' Hyperion series, and enjoyed it very much. He is good at imagining and describing both bizarre alien races and cultures, and believable social evolution of humanity in a variety of situations. I was also impressed by his ability to weave large plot-arcs, revealed piecemiel, without the story being hard to follow. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good science fiction series.

My one complaint is the end of the series. I found several of the "mysteries" revealed at the very end of the last book to have been painfully obvious (the Observer and the father, for those that have already read it). As I'm not exactly known for my ability to see ends of books/movies coming, it's a pretty good bet that if I thought it was obvious, the hero should have had a clue. So I found the last half of the last book slightly grating, since every time the hero struggles with emotional issues surrounding the mysteries, I had to roll my eyes and say, "Yes yes, poor Raul still hasn't figured it out." I'm not sure if Simmons intended it that way, so that the reader can feel clever, or if it was supposed to be a mystery to all. Either way, my patience with thick-headed heroes is limited, so that frustrated me.

But overall, the real substance of the plot and the ending were open and interesting enough that the above was only a minor annoyance in an otherwise great read, and in no way spoiled my enjoyment of the series.

Category: A & E

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