Poetry flows all throughout the novel, especially keats and his abandoned epic poem that shares the name of the book. The world-building is phenomenally complex, and each story is compelling. This book is truly a masterpiece.

A group of people on their way to meet the horrifying being called the shrike. Their pilgrimage is to the time tombs on the mysterious planet of hyperion. Each pilgrim takes a turn with their individual tale, where we learn their background story.

Since all the stories take place in the same universe, they all tie together coherently. Extra details are woven further into the story to reinforce and contextualize. The tales are a mixed bag, ranging from anchovy to chocolate sundae.

Then the further you read the more it feels like this book is based on religion; there are christianity themes, islam themes and even buddhism. This book should have been titled the novel or worldbuilding.

The writing is very stylized. Words that are too made up. I almost wish the author would try not to add literary flair. The quality of this mass paper market by bantam books is very poor.

There are pages on pages of needlessly narrated * scenes being told to absolute strangers. The author himself repeatedly writes in very detailed * content that seems to have no place in the story.