Today on Classic Science Fiction books: The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons review

The OG space opera (am I using that term correctly?)

*Image taken from the amazon.com website. No copyright infringement intended.

April 7, 2025

Categorization: Science Fiction

Where read: On Kindle and very old paperbacks

Not really a review but rather an offering to the shrine of Dan Simmons, so no spoilers.

So I just finished Endymion, which is the third book in the Hyperion Cantos series (for the n00bs, the chronology is Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and The Rise of Endymion), and I am now in this lovely, satisfied mental place where I am filled with awe and at peace with the world at large.

This is probably my fourth time to read the Cantos and I have realized that I will never tire of it. I love it so much that this is my second blog post raising my hands to the heavens in worshipful praise of it - the first post you can find here. To me, and I do not say this lightly, this series is the best Space Opera ever written. It is perfect in every respect. It transcends worlds, time, and cultures, and is simultaneously exciting, moving, and thought-provoking. This holy trifecta of Science Fiction is rarely achieved by even the most gifted writers of our time.

The Cantos is one of those series for which reviews (or a review-adjacent article expounding on its genius) should be superfluous, like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, except that I do believe this series has quite been forgotten in recent years – see my blog post on the need to revive interest in classic Science Fiction and Fantasy here.

So to all the yougins out there (and fellow elder goblins if you somehow missed this series in your Science Fiction reading life), if you love Science Fiction and want to read something truly epic, you need to pick this up. Just start with Hyperion, which is written Canterbury Tales style – that is, a group of travelers go on a journey to a mysterious world and reveal their personal tales that unwrap the stage that the space opera is set in. The tales are so unique and emotional that you immediately fall in with the storytellers' personal dilemmas, and at the same time the tales unravel the universe where the stories are set, so that before you know it, you are completely sucked in.

One small (tiny, miniscule) caveat - I first read the Cantos when I was about sixteen, and while I was immediately fascinated by this book, I thought the way it is told was confusing; however, Simmons’ world-building ability is so powerful that it can pull you in even if you are not fully understanding what is happening. After reading it several times over the course of decades (ok, by now “studying” and “obsessing” about it, would be more accurate), I can see that the non-linear storytelling is part of his genius. Not to worry, you’ll eventually get it on your second or third re-read.

And while (bowing to greatness) I concede that all the books are necessary (i.e., the events in The Fall of Hyperion are just not as memorable to me as the other books), I of course have my favorites. Hyperion, for the reasons I already described, and Endymion, for being an incredible adventure through space and time. Endymion is told in the more traditional hero-goes-on-a-quest style (the hero in the book ruefully refers to himself as the Hero, even), but it is the most amazing quest through space I have ever been on. Each world visited and explored tells you something about the universe and about humanity, and what has been done and what can be done with it. Endymion is therefore introspective and imaginative at the same time, which is why the Cantos, for me, is the greatest space opera ever written - the universe and the events in it are expansive as a reflection of what is possible for humanity, and not just as a fun place to explore video-game style.

After reading the Cantos for the nth time, however, my thoughts about it ever being translated to the big screen remain the same as when I first read it twenty years-ish (who’s counting?) ago. While certain aspects seem like they would lend very well to the creation of a TV series (one Canterbury-tale per episode, for example), I don’t know if, in this day and age, the central bogeyman in the series would feel played-out to the masses. Granted, the Cantos was written decades ago, so dismissing it as a rehash of modern science fiction plot points would be totally unfair, but this distinction would probably be lost on the average Netflix-watcher. I also fear that the role that Catholicism plays in the later two books might be considered offensive if taken on its face. I do believe there is a way to do it, but I also don’t know if the people translating the books to a movie (how?) or a series (this, at least, has a lot of material to milk) would have the cleverness or delicacy to walk those lines.

And yet, despite all these overthinky obstacles, a part of me yearns to see my favorite and the more colourful parts of this series translated to the big screen. It creates such a powerful impact on one when what you see on the screen is better than your imagination (like LOTR, Ender’s Game, to some extent, The Witcher and the Shogun series that came out recently). Merin and Siri’s tale in Hyperion, for one, is my favorite in the book, and just begs to be ported to the big screen, where I can see the roving islands, dolphins, and flying carpet in all their glory. Sol’s tale is another tale which I think would be tricky but wonderfully moving if done right. Kassad’s Johnny Quest type tale? Another one that I think would translate beautifully. Even the first tale told by the priest about the Bikura - I can just imagine it being narrated in the first person on-screen just as it was told in the book – would be absolutely thrilling if done right. And having just read the Sol Draconi leg in Endymion (my favorite and the most memorable leg, in my opinion), I feel that a TV episode on this far-out but immensely believable story of human adaptation to adverse environments would knock everyone’s socks off. Not to mention, whenever I read Simmons’ vivid and meticulously-described hand-to-hand-combat scenes, a part of me cries a bit for how incredible this action would translate on-screen.

So to end this post (I am manifesting my desires onto the universe and Netflix!!), here is a list of my dream cast (favorite characters only) for the Hyperion Cantos series. I am bad with names so you will excuse the way this old auntie goblin remembers some of the actors listed below:

1.        Kassad – the actor who played Jafar in the real-live action Aladdin

2.        Sol Weintraub – Liam Neeson

3.        Brawne Lamia – The actress from Jane the Virgin

4.        Raul Endymion – Henry Cavill (clutches pearls) but it is more likely to be Timothy Chalamet

5.        Aenea – Zendaya

6.        Father de Soya – Henry Cavill

7.        A. Bettik – The guy who played Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer

8.        Gregorius – Terry Crews (please!!)

9.        Moneta – Gal Gadot (obviously) or Angelina Jolie (go big or go home!)

10.   Merin and Siri – Michael B. Jordan and Natalie Portman (is it hot in here? fans self for a bit)

Anyone who wants to fight me on this list needs to read all the books first and send me a 500-word essay on why Teilhard de Chardin was probably right.