Hyperion

Theme:

Hyperion by Dan Simmons, explores the themes of love, loss, sacrifice, and the pursuit of meaning.

Summary:

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.

Famous Quotes:

“Prison always has been a good place for writers, killing, as it does, the twin demons of mobility and diversion”

“How about,” she said, “that you do the logical thing because it’s the logical thing to do?”

“In twentieth-century Old Earth, a fast food chain took dead cow meat, fried it in grease, added carcinogens, wrapped it in petroleum-based foam, and sold nine hundred billion units. Human beings. Go figure.”

“In such seconds of decision entire futures are made.”

“There is a fullness and calmness there which can come only from knowing pain.”

“Evolution brings human beings. Human beings, through a long and painful process, bring humanity.”

“It occurs to me that our survival may depend upon our talking to one another.”

“You have to live to really know things, my love”

“It no longer matters who consider themselves the masters of events. Events no longer obey their masters.”

“There is something about raising a child that helps to sharpen one’s sense of what is real.”

“Poets are the mad midwives to reality. They see not what is, nor what can be, but what must become.”

Literary awards: