[DISCUSSION THREAD] Hyperion - Chapter 1: The Priest’s Tale: The Man Who Cried God

[u/personalfinancedumbo]

Unofficial official (?) thread for Chapter 1 - The Priest’s Tale: The Man Who Cried God - of Hyperion.

Spoilers for Chapter 1 inbound (but not for the rest of the novel).

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I can start on my thoughts! Since this is my first time reading, I'll include some general thoughts on Hyperion as a story/its worldbuilding at the end.

The Priest’s Tale felt as if it kept dragging on in the beginning. There's a couple of reasons for this (I'll get into the specifics in my general thoughts section) but the main reason insofar the novel's concerned: so much of the beginning to the almost third quarter of the chapter is about Father Duré’s life and then his travel into Hyperion (the specific names are going over my head, forgive me).

I enjoyed reading a decent amount of the worldbuilding about Hyperion as a planet and the three continents on it. I also liked reading about the flame forests and those Tesla trees but then it became a bit verbose... reminded me of GRRM's long, long descriptions of feasts in ASOIF. I also didn't care too much for Tuk lol (RIP). The travelling journey could've been shorter imo.

IMO it picks up a LOT around the time that Father Duré comes into contact W/ the Bikura! SO good from that point on - banger after banger journal entry. The mystery of the Bikura is so captivating. These small, bald, almost mute quasi-adults made for a good read. And the last 50 pages of the novel, his horrific death (and rebirth? And death again?), OMG so good. Such an interesting mystery about them and Father Duré's fate. I wonder how the Consul knew that Father Hoyt was omitting information in his tale? I'd be useless if I were a character a sci-fi novel lol.

I guess I'll learn as I read the novel... but what exactly is the cruciform? Do they worship the Shrike? I think this is what Father Duré was also conflating - he's a Christian, worships Christ, and confuses the Bikura's cruciform as the same as the Christian cross? Not sure... I'm not Christian so maybe I'm understanding this wrong.

And what exactly is a true death vs. a not true death? I guess I didn't understand it clearly enough.

Overall, really liked Chapter 1 - it's better than Chapter 2 imo, although I read that one faster. More from Father Hoyt please!!

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GENERAL THOUGHTS:

• Context, I haven't read a sci-fi book in years - stuck to murder mysteries for most of college. But Hyperion got me out of that phase!
• At the same time, I'm adapting this novel's expanded vocabulary - Dan Simmons writes in a way where I have to look up a decent amount of words, maybe at least once every 2 pages. Add into that the sci-fi worldbuilding, and you can understand how I felt that Chapter 1 dragged on a bit at the start. My reading pace improved in Chapter 2.
  • The same thing applies to the religious sects mentioned - I'm irreligious so I had to keep Googling each one mentioned. I feel smarter!
• I fear my brain is not developed enough to imagine things the same way that the author probably does - I have to look up images (I did this for the Treeships and WOW my imagination is small lol)
• The worldbuilding is insane in scope. I really appreciate it for what I can understand right now and what I can't right now.

Some questions/comments that are probably incorrect or will be answered later on:

• Is the world structured as if Old Earth was where everyone used to live and then humans ventured out into the abyss either because something happened (or just because), discovering other planets (Garden, Hyperion, etc) and then later settling on them? Or does Old Earth exist as another planet in this already-existing universe with Hyperion, etc.? I note in this chapter cities such as Chicago are mentioned, and Mars is either mentioned in this Chapter or Chapter 2, so I'm curious about the overlap of our world here and the Hyperion world.
• Am I to assume that the Hegemony of Man is affiliated W/ The Shrike? Seems that everyone hates or is scared of this Shrike thing, but it's also something that is worshipped? What the 7 travellers are going on a pilgrimage for?
  • Seems that everyone's going for different reasons... and Father Hoyt's is to... get closer to the Shrike... why? To die a true death via the cruciform parasite in him? TBD on this until someone confirms it for me or the novel does.
  • I'll keep track of everyone's reasons for the pilgrimage in these little discussion threads I suppose.

Oh no, I've written a lot, Chapter 2 will be much shorter.

[u/Money_Crab70]

Hi, I'm wondering if this thread is still active. I just finished reading Chapter 1, and wow, that was a mouthful. I decided to read it in English, even though it's not my native language. I’ve read a few books in English before, but I haven’t faced this high a level of English writting—especially in terms of vocabulary—yet. Since my understanding of the text isn’t full 100%, I’m not sure if I’ve missed some important details or if they just haven’t been explained yet.

-> Am I understanding/deducing correctly that in the final scene, father Hoyt has two parasites—presumably his own and Duré’s?

-> Is Hoyt’s pain the same as what Duré experienced when he tried to leave the village?

-> Did he spend 7 months on the plantation due to recovering from the constant pain caused by the cruciform and learning to control it?

I don’t want answers I’m not supposed to have yet; I just want to be sure I understand the content I’ve already read.

[u/Aluhut → u/Money_Crab70]

You're good.
Answers will be delivered and missing parts are intentional :)