What a follow-up! After reading Hyperion, the first in the Hyperion Cantos, I immediately moved into the second! So glad Alex gave us both of them or I wouldn’t have known what to do, or I would’ve gone out and bought it. Although the style changed from the first novel, this one was just as strong and incredibly intelligent. There are definitely spoilers after the next paragraph so you’ve been warned.
The start of this book was a bit more confusing than the first, again it starts in the middle of the story, but with different characters. Rather than immediately going back to our seven pilgrims and their stories, Simmons introduces us to Joseph Severn, another cybrid (originally a John Keats), and brings in the character Meina Gladstone, CEO of the hegemony and mentioned many times in the previous book. There are of course other characters and they all add to the amazing story, but the core group remain the same.
If there is a novel that could make someone fall in love with and/ or enjoy Science Fiction, this is the novel. My friend Alex gave Hyperion and 
Well I finally got bored with the series, but I’m glad I read them (and will finish the series as they are released). The action within the novel was fascinating and the stories only added to the complexity of the overall world, but I wasn’t wowed or taken by surprise this time and that’s how it has been for the past three novels (last two more so).
The first of Martin’s novels NOT to win the Locus award and I can see why. To much was just not there. I understand the uniqueness of trying to split the story geographically, but it definitely left a lot to be desired. I can’t imagine reading this and having to wait nearly 6 years to read the ‘other half’ of the novel. Checking in as the second shortest novel of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series (only the first novel, 
And with the turn of a page some of the characters I’d grown most fond of were murdered. I’m still speechless and I honestly didn’t think he could (or would) do it again, but what was I thinking? And then, 200 pages later HE DOES IT AGAIN! What?!? I mean resetting your cast of characters is old hat, but wow. I’m not sure how many more times this can occur before I lose patience. I almost want to make a list of all the characters that were alive at the beginning of a book and then cross them off as they die to try and see an overall picture.