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Hyperion book cover
Science Fiction · Epic

Seven pilgrims travel to the Time Tombs on Hyperion, each telling a tale, as an invasion approaches

Hyperion

by Dan Simmons

1989Moderate readSteady pace
★ Hugo Award for Best Novel, 1990

Pilgrims tell their stories on the road to the Time Tombs

Doubleday published the novel in 1989, and it is the first book of the Hyperion Cantos. It is set in the 29th century, in the Hegemony of Man, which connects hundreds of planets through farcaster portals. Seven pilgrims travel to the Time Tombs on Hyperion, an outback planet without farcasters, on the eve of an Ouster invasion. The structure follows Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, with each pilgrim telling a tale. The sequel, The Fall of Hyperion, appeared in 1990.

More about this book

Who

The Consul, Lenar Hoyt, Fedmahn Kassad, Martin Silenus, Sol Weintraub, Brawne Lamia and Het Masteen.

World

The Hegemony of Man in the 29th century, and the planet Hyperion with its Time Tombs and the Shrike.

What makes it different

Its structure follows Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. It grew out of the short story "The Death of a Centaur", and it won the Hugo and the Locus Award.

Feel

Layered and grand.

See it on Amazon

Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition

Further reading

About the author

Dan Simmons1 book on Tori Books