One can quickly understand why this book (series) is mentioned so much in sci-fi community and why it won the awards. It has this feel when you read it, that the universe it shows is really lived in, old, with long history. Author pours tons of details, events (even if mentioned just by name), characters, technology on the pages of this book. Which is at the same time its strong side and a bit of a detriment, at least for me. Personally, i don’t like that much when authors try to pad the background by adding various events, by mentioning them as if reader already knows. Like “It was before that war between x and y factions in the system z”. I don’t mind it that much, but when it is used a lot, it starts to get annoying. Because in my mind i always try to visualize everything and with such limited info it is impossible, so i am just wasting my mind on this. I get it, it is mostly meant to just read past and don’t pay much attention, but i have my preferences. Another thing i usually am not really fond of is when a book has multiple independent storylines. It is not exactly like that in Hyperion as characters are telling their stories in turn and they are related and relevant. But it is still harder to get a cohesive feeling out of the book. Especially if one story is better than the others. These are just a few minor qualms i had with this book. Because it is a really good and unique sci-fi novel. And i am definitely reading the sequel next. Actually, that might be also a negative for someone who wants to read a self-contained novel. Because this book ends on a cliffhanger. Not really a standalone book to read. Said that, now i am doubting whether i should have done a separate review of the first book. But i couldn’t wait until i finish the rest. Now, there is the main story that is going through out the book and is kind of a background to the rest of the events, which are stories told by each member of a group traveling together. And with the very first story it just hooks you and doesn’t let go. Without spoiling, it is such a wild variety of things, like poetry, primitive societies, digital simulation, time anomalies, artificial intelligence, horror, detective, politics, philosophic and theological problems. Intertwined with real events that happened in our past. After completing one chapter you think that the rest probably won’t impress you that much, but it surprises you each time. I am now intrigued how the next book is going to compare. Will it have similar structure? Maybe it will have resolutions to each story in the first book? Will see. The book is not flawless. I have mentioned a few things and another could be that some technologies and entities mentioned in the book are not explained really well. Looking forward to continuation of this story. 8/10

This was a fiasco of a read. Well, not that bad. But in the end i was not satisfied with this book. Which is often considered to be Lem’s one of the best. I guess based on the overarching idea of humanity not being ready or able to communicate with a completely different form of living/intellectual life forms as compared to humans. That idea is being bashed to your head very actively and i would say too much. But my main gripe with this book was the overall disjointment of its parts and questionable story lines and characters. I got stuck really quick with this book while reading the first part on Titan and i just don’t get it why it was there and why it was so long and why Titan’s icy valleys had to be described in so many boring details. I have read in English, maybe i have missed some nuance, but i don’t get it. Then there is again a strange plot angle with reviving some folks. As i have read one critic on the internet, it doesn’t seem plausible that a very important and expensive expedition to another star system would halt to revive some unknown person, who also might not have any memory in the process. It’s like author haven’t come up with any better way to tie in a shadow of a character from the first part into continuation of the story. And it is not like this character was that important to the whole story. And then the expedition to that system with probable civilization. This is where it starts to get more interesting, although again, some say all the gravitational tech described is complete fantasy. But as i am not a scientist, i bought it and it sounded interesting enough. Also, it was interesting to read about challenges dealing with onboard AI, in the light of all the AI craze in our world now. There were points where it seemed like arguing with ChatGPT and dealing with its hallucinations. The last part with alien civilization and their planet was alright i guess. At that point i started to feel that we will never actually get to see or interact with actual aliens. The whole thing with humans trying to force communication at all costs is although somewhat expected, but for the most part not very believable, especially with blowing up stuff and the last pages of the book. Ending also felt abrupt and i had to reread it a few times and go to the internet to confirm i got it right. Not a satisfying ending (not because of what happened, but how it was presented, written). And not a really satisfying read. 6/10