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The sequel was less-satisfying than its predecessor, but these days (and even those days; The Fall of Hyperion was written in 1990), that hardly surprises.
I borrowed the book for free from a friend, so I can’t complain about the cost. And I read it on the Muni, so I can’t complain about lost time.
(Spoilers ahead.)
The Fall of Hyperion combines the boring elements of Star Wars (I-III) and The Matrix. And like the two cited movies, those failings don’t necessarily doom the production to failure. The story starts out in a space-operatic way, continuing the intergalactic war left behind at the end of Hyperion, full of diplomatic intrigue (Stars Wars I-III). In the end, it turns out that sentient organic life forms are needed by other life forms as a farmable source of computational energy (Matrix).
The ending itself is fine. The problem is that the Core (the artificial intelligence lifeforms) was basically not developed at all as an entity in the story until it comes out of nowhere at the very end. It is too much deus ex machina (figuratively, although I suppose in this discussion it could be taken literally) for my liking.
#1 by Rich on Tue Nov 6, 2007 - 3:51 pm
(more spoilers) Been a little while since I read this, but I don’t remember feeling like the Core was undeveloped at all.. their presence is felt throughout both novels as part of the technology of the time. And I thought the build-up towards the eventual revealing of the Core as the enemy was very well-done, and did a great job explaining about the events that had happened in the first book, and their relevance. I still don’t get what the Shrike is, though..
And I remember the ending totally blew me away – ‘The Core is your enemy.. You now have 10 seconds..’