Appreciate the attention to detail and the influence of contemporary "computers" a la referring to terminals as DSKY's.

Cool frame narrative structure that lets Simmons explore several disparate settings/characters with a familiar pattern.

Some of the expository world building is a bit heavy-handed e.g. characters ~mansplaining things to one another for our benefit, but it's not super abhorrent because it facilitates the five stories which span diverse regions of the world.

Story follows seven strangers on a final pilgrimage towards the Hyperion, on the outskirts of "the web", to visit the time tombs, home of the monstrously violent and seemingly omnipotent Shrike, immediate in the face of impending pseudo-civil war by another faction of humanity which broke off from the hegemony known as the Ousters. The strangers each tell their story about how they came to be selected for the pilgrimage, and a mystery akin to the Murder on the Orient Express unfolds.

"The Man who Cried God": 8.25

Wicked start. Sets the tone in a lot of subtle ways. Unlike many other novels which bite off similarly ambitious amounts of world (thinking of the Hainish Cycle), Simmons keeps most of contemporary culture, but frees himself of irrelevance brought about by the sands of time by relying mainly on established cultural things which likely would still be recognized/relevant several centuries into a human future i.e. the Catholic Church.

This frame narrative is super intriguing, and violent.

"The War Lovers": 7.75

Swinging to the other end of the spectrum of pacifism, we learn about the Butcher of South Bressia and are teased with some time-play, aas he encounters a woman in his dreams who is traveling backwards through time. She shows him "the matrix" and allows him to achieve a brutal victory against the Ousters earning him the carnivorous moniker. It's revealed that she's just a manifestation of the Shrike (lord of Pain).

a creature which defied physical laws and which communicated only through death.

"The Hyperion Cantos": 8.00

Another creature of a character – an artifact of the past who incurs so much time debt that he's a borderline-senile, certainly conceited old man from ages past. Having recovered from a brain injury which limited his vocabulary to only words George Carlin would appreciate, he began work on his magnum opus while working as a laborer. Obsessed with the classics, but surrounded by folks who don't appreciate the finer things in life. Upon regaining his skills and becoming the best selling author (one hit wonder) in the universe, dabbling in theology-crafting (he invented zen gnosticism and then abandoned it), the poet retreats to Hyperion to a kingdom for artists where he continues work on his Cantos with the Shrike as his muse. Seems like the Shrike doesn't care for his work, and obliterates his patron king Billy, destroying much of his work in the process.

I retitled my poem "The Hyperion Cantos." It was not about the planet but about the passing of the self-styled Titans called humans. It was about the unthinking hubris of a race which dared to murder its homeworld through sheer carelessness and then carried that dangerous arrogance to the stars.

"The River Lethe's Taste Is Bitter": 8

A surprisingly tragic story of a father who's daughter gets reverse-entropied while researching a Shrike artifact and starts aging in reverse. The father (a jew who doesn't quite believe in god) has a recurring dream/nightmare where he's implored by ~the voice of God to take his daughter to Hyperion and make an Abrahamic burnt offering sacrifice of her. The dreams drive he/his wife mad – his wife dies, and he runs out the clock as his daughter ages back from thirty through infancy, forgetting her condition every day and breaking her father's heart in the process.

"The Long Good-Bye": 7.5

More of a political conspiracy angle in this one. Brawne Lamia is a PI investigating an AI's "murder" and in the process uncovers a plot within the TechnoCore AI civilization to create an ultimate intelligence.

Some technological shortcuts and stereotypes here that are disappointing relative to the quality of the surrounding chapters, but still a useful chapter.

"The persona went strange loop"

"Remembering Siri": 7.75

More history about the exegesis of the hegemony, the All Thing, and the imperialist nature of the current human condition. More time play.

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