Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons

The books tell the story of a planet, its dark secrets and how it is central to the survival of the human species in the distant future. Seven strangers are selected by the Church of the Shrike, a mythical murderous creature, to embark on a pilgrimage to the world of Hyperion for reasons they don't understand. Each one of them has had some time of past encounter with the Shrike and since no one knows much about this creature they decide to share their tales to try to learn something from each other. These six incredible tales are interwoven with the central story to make up the first book, which has been awarded a Hugo.

The awe inspiring Shrike, which now and then surfaces from a dark background to sow murder and mayhem, are the connecting link to all these tales and hold the key to the mystery that will keep you turning page after page. If the first book falls short on anything, that would be "closure". The last page is a cliffhanger in the best style of those TV shows that leave you waiting the entire summer for some conclusion. But fortunately, this has been published a while ago and you can pick up a copy of The Fall of Hyperion and continue right away.

The second book is written in a totally different way from the first and with it Mr. Simmons shows he can master a number of styles. This book is heavily and heavenly laden with the poetry of John Keats, who to anybody's surprise make more than a passing apperance in the story.

The series consists of four books, these first two plus Endymion and The Rise of Endymion. From what I've read so far, this is bound to be one of those major sci-fi epics like Dune and Foundation, but written in a dark tone mixing up the poetry of Keats, time paradoxes and a carefully constructed and original vision of the future.

If there is anything to criticize about these books is the misuse of an old idea: that technology can be used to predict the course of history. While Asimov has been careful enough to define his psychohistory to apply only to large universes over long periods of time, Dan Simmons talks about computers being able to pinpoint specific variables that can tweaked with to change the course of events in a short timespan. Much less plausible, in my opinion: science-fiction should stay within the realm of scientific possibilities, but anyway, who is to say what will be a possibility in the distant future ? Certainly not me.