Be interested to hear about it from the perspective of someone who's just finished the thing. I'll try to remember to check this thread in a few days. Or a week. Or a month. Or however long it takes you to finish books. 
So it's as fresh as it's ever going to be for me.
I liked Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion. I think all of your complaints are perfectly valid, because there was a lot of strangeness in there, but I'd still probably recommend the books to people. I didn't much care for all of the Keats metaphysical stuff, like you, I cared about the War and the Web and such.
I also thought the Pilgrims storyline was boring for the most part, but it took me a while to realize that, because I enjoyed (most of) the backstories that were from Hyperion. I was perfectly fine to read a lot about the Pilgrims in the valley of the Time Tombs, until I kind of thought back and realized they weren't doing anything aside from the occasional crazyness that ended up being irrelevant.
So yeah. I see what you mean and I agree with most of it, but I'd still probably recommend it to my friends that can read fast and move on without wasting too much time on it.
Oh, and I will probably end up reading Endymion, mainly because I picked it up at a used book store for real cheap (there's some water damage). But I'm not sure what Simmons has left to tell in this universe. Sure, it's weird to see all the exotic Ousters and advanced cultures and whatnot, but I don't know that I'll be interested enough. Who knows?
"We feel safe when we read what we recognise, what does not challenge our way of thinking.... a steady acceptance of pre-arranged patterns leads to the inability to question what we are told."
~Camilla
Ghavrel is Ghavrel is Ghavrel
*MySmiley*
~Camilla
Ghavrel is Ghavrel is Ghavrel
*MySmiley*
The Fall of Hyperion (no spoilers beyond what Amazon has in their book description)
- 03/02/2010 06:28:47 AM
587 Views
Keats was the best part of that book.
- 03/02/2010 06:39:54 AM
448 Views
- 03/02/2010 06:39:54 AM
448 Views
Redeem Simmons for you from what?
- 03/02/2010 03:45:48 PM
422 Views
Yeah, I meant from the first book, which I didn't particularly care for.
- 03/02/2010 04:20:51 PM
473 Views
Oh don't worry there...
- 03/02/2010 04:46:34 PM
362 Views
But that's the problem: by sheer word volume, it WAS the primary story.
- 03/02/2010 05:30:06 PM
409 Views
Wow, I'm reading this right now. Little more than halfway.
- 03/02/2010 05:58:48 PM
455 Views
Yeah, definitely!
- 03/02/2010 06:28:16 PM
437 Views
Alright, just finished it.
- 05/02/2010 08:08:17 PM
496 Views
Heh. A lot can change in three centuries.
- 06/02/2010 06:24:58 AM
493 Views