The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

The Fall of Hyperion, read by Victor Bevine, this sequel/conclusion/part two of the series neatly ties up the ends of a huge, sprawling epic story of war, pain, AIs gone amok, men gone mad, women gone suicidally sane and poets gone, well, god-like.1

Yeah, it’s confusing to hear me tell it; that’s why you need to get the audiobooks (both of them) and set aside your commute for three weeks to listen to it, driving slowly and carefully.  Seriously.  You really don’t want to miss any of this, or your exit (like me).2

The story of pilgrims on a quasi-religious trek to meet the Lord of Pain includes a female private detective carrying her late client’s baby, an exceptionally (and egregiously) foul-mouthed poet, a time-travelling military hero, an academician father whose daughter is aging backwards (and is now near birth),a treeship captain (I am not going to explain that; read the book), a pain-wracked Catholic priest and a traitorous diplomat telling their incredibly strange stories to each other (I reviewed Hyperion earlier) is, amazingly, fully assembled into a coherent story which is moving, human, funny, charming, gut-wrenching and tragic by turns.3

I understand there are more books in this series, but I am currently reluctant to read them, since these two books are nearly perfect as they stand.

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1. I doubt I will ever forgive Dan Simmons for injecting meaningful poetry into what should be “ordinary” science fiction. Shame it works so well—but I digress.

2. No, really.  I might have ended up in Santa Rosa.

3. Curious as to how he does it?  Get the books.  Listen to and/or read them.