This is a tour de force in science fiction and you better hold tight as they punch it into hyper speed. If you can’t tell by the quote above this book makes you go back and read some things twice. With that said it is truly a creative and unique vision and regarded as one of the best science fiction series of all time. There is so much to the Hyperion world that you barely scratch the surface of in this first installment. In fact this only covers half of the journey towards the Shrike’s temple. I got about halfway through the sequel to this, but for whatever reason it didn’t make me stay to finish it. It could just be that there were other things going on in my life. I could have just gotten bored as I do. I say that because this is truly an inventive book, with a kick ass premise. Although it was enjoyable to peel back the layers of the Hyperion onion and get caught up in the mystique of the Shrike, I just started to fade out of this series. I have a feeling I will revisit this entire four book series and after writing this review may do it sooner rather than later. But enough of the palaver. This was great, and if you have the time definitely knock out all four. Do not try to stretch this along because it is not easily picked back up. You will have no idea what’s happening.