Unlike most traditional sci-fi, Hyperion Cantos starts as an anthology of stories bundled in an overarching narrative of discovering the last known mystery in the universe. Similar to Canterbury Tales, the pilgrims are headed for a meeting with the Shrike, an unknown being that each traveler desires something from. For those that enjoy a good mystery novel, this readily fits the bill.
Notable Quotes:
“It occurs to me that our survival may depend upon our talking to one another.”
― Dan Simmons, Hyperion“Words bend our thinking to infinite paths of self-delusion, and the fact that we spend most of our mental lives in brain mansions built of words means that we lack the objectivity necessary to see the terrible distortion of reality which language brings.”
― Dan Simmons, Hyperion“After fifty-five years of dedicating his life and work to the story of ethical systems, Sol Weintraub had come to a single, unshakable conclusion: any allegiance to a deity or concept or universal principal which put obedience above decent behavior toward an innocent human being was evil.”
― Dan Simmons, Hyperion“I now understand the need for faith—pure, blind, fly-in-the-face-of-reason faith—as a small life preserver in the wild and endless sea of a universe ruled by unfeeling laws and totally indifferent to the small, reasoning beings that inhabit it.”
― Dan Simmons, Hyperion“Evolution brings human beings. Human beings, through a long and painful process, bring humanity.”
― Dan Simmons, Hyperion“Words are the only bullets in truth's bandolier. And poets are the snipers.”
― Dan Simmons, Hyperion“Prison always has been a good place for writers, killing, as it does, the twin demons of mobility and diversion”
― Dan Simmons, Hyperion“It no longer matters who consider themselves the masters of events. Events no longer obey their masters.”
― Dan Simmons, Hyperion