Epic, Space Opera, Pilgrims and pilgrimages, Life on other planets, Interplanetary voyages, Science fiction, American, Extraterrestrial beings, Future life, Good and evil, Jesuits 

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope--and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands. 

Publisher Comments
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope — and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
Review
"A magnificently original blend of themes and styles." Denver Post
Review
"Each of [the pilgrim's] stories would make a superb novella on its own." Gerald Jonas, The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
A stunning tour de force filled with transcendent awe and wonder, Hyperion is a masterwork of science fiction that resonates with excitement and invention, the first volume in a remarkable science fiction epic by the multiple-award-winning author of The Hollow Man.
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the reach of galactic law, waits a creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope--and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
Praise for Dan Simmons and Hyperion
"Dan Simmons has brilliantly conceptualized a future 700 years distant. In sheer scope and complexity it matches, and perhaps even surpasses, those of Isaac Asimov and James Blish."--The Washington Post Book World
"An unfailingly inventive narrative . . . generously conceived and stylistically sure-handed."--The New York Times Book Review
"Simmons's own genius transforms space opera into a new kind of poetry."--The Denver Post
"An essential part of any science fiction collection."--Booklist

About the Author
Dan Simmons is a recipient of a Hugo Award and the author of critically acclaimed suspense and science fiction novels. He makes his home in Colorado. 

Genre/Form: Science fiction
Fiction
Material Type: Fiction
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Dan Simmons

ISBN: 9780553283686 0553283685
OCLC Number: 1038418665
Notes: "A Foundation book."
First published in1989.
Bantam reissue, 1995.
Awards: Hugo Award, 1990
Seiun Award, 1995
Description: 481 pages ; 22 cm
Responsibility: Dan Simmons.