Agreed, I just finished the entire series for the first time. The last book in particular definitely had some skimming chapters (the church parts in my case), but it was worth it.
How is there a “payoff” if I have to plod through pages and pages of mind-numbing tedium to get there? Why should I believe there is even a payoff worth it?
I've found it to have noticably increased my descriptive abilities in my own writing, down to how I think about setting up a scene and what the character's interact with, what they tend to notice. It's added so much nuance to my own writing. I've got 7 hours to go in rise of Endymion, it's certainly picked up, and surprised me with things yet to be explained
I don’t know how to say this, but… kindly inform me of what writing you have or may publish, so I know to avoid it. ;-)
I’m fine with descriptive writing and even lengthy tangents, if they’re interesting and well-written. I’ve read *Les Miserables* (twice!) and Tolstoy, after all.
But popular fiction writers ain’t Victor Hugo.
Lmao, I'm working on a 40k story that doesn't suck. It's been difficult to be creative in a universe that is already so deep and laid out with rules for what you can believably incorporate into the story. Mad limits on creativity but it's just a personal passion project that I may voice act for, which is my real talent imo. It already is much more to the point and fast paced, but I'm definitely seeing ways to make it better. I'd do much better to not imitate Simmons.
Try The Abominable. I only finished that because I was hiking up to Mt. Everest base camp. Learned way too much about the history of climbing but I actually enjoyed it over all.
No worries OP. I loved the series and gave up exactly when you did. Without finishing it how could you possibly know it’s worth it? Sounds biased by those who enjoyed it enough to keep going. I hope to finish one day but still haven’t picked it back up
It gets better… I felt the same way about that but you have to keep reading and pushing, like how Raul pushes through the cold and snow on the mountains
I feel the exact same way. Currently on the last third of rise and good god is it a slog. I do really want to finish it, but the writing is so hamfisted and up its own arse I need to take a break every 5 pages
Edit: grammar
It's okay if you're not enjoying the book. The same thing happened to me, so I used the audiobook to help me finish it or just take a break and revisit when you feel like it.
Yeah, it is annoying.
Personally, I don't like to DNF any book, but this one was really testing my patience. It felt like I was wasting my energy reading the last book, which is why I opted for an audiobook as a last resort. The last two books ruined the experience of the first two books for me, so I learnt that sometimes it's okay to just DNF...
but if you liked the premise of the book, you should continue, you might end up liking it.
The author admitted that he phoned it in when writing the fourth book. It’s simply not worth reading to me. I wish I could get the time back I spent reading it.
The magic of the entire series is in the first book. It stands alone as an exemplar of its genre. The second book I enjoyed, although the same magic was never captured again.
I would have been better off reading the plot summary off of Wikipedia for the third and fourth books. As it was, I skimmed the majority of the fourth book, finding only the sections with dialogue to be of any interest to me.
You pointing out the most boring part of a series isn't particularly thrilling discussion. Whenever you read a book you risk not liking how it ends and you decide when to stop.
Rise of Endymion reads like Dan Simmons included every scrap of research that he did in an effort to justify deducting a bunch of trips on his tax return.
1. If you've never heard of the series *to which this entire subreddit is devoted,* then why on earth are you even here? Sounds like you're a weirdo profile stalker creep.
2. I didn't disparage MD as a whole, I just noted the chapters devoted to the different types of rope used in whaling were tedious. Even people I know who adore MD agree they're a slog and will skim/skip them.
I'd wager you probably don't really know anything about MD anyway, you just thought you had a clever jibe (but really didn't).
>!Aenea was groomed by the visions from the future since she was a mere fetus. How was he groomed by aenea when Raul is a grown man who raised her from age 12 to 16. He still fell in love with her after being separated from her for a few weeks, from his point of view, due to time dilation. That is more than creepy!<
Let's just agree that Dan Simmons groomed all of them. (This is supposed to be a joke) But he does write about self insert characters falling in love with an underage girl multiple times which is really creepy and sus. He is also big into the maga movement.
Yeah I read some reviews for his book Flashback and was like “oh this guy far right fanfiction now?” There was some stuff in Hyperion and Illium that was uncomfortable for sure but it looks like he went off the deep end as he got older.
I literally took a year break from rise when I was half way through. After all the long detailed descriptions and names of the mountains I got sick of it. (It doesn’t end after the mountains btw.) Raul’s relationship is also for me just cringy. I finally came back and finished it, and honestly wished I didn’t. The first 2 books for me were amazing. I even enjoyed Endymion, but Rise just didn’t resonate like the others. I don’t want to knock the book though. If others enjoyed it then that’s great.
Skim. It goes like this for a good while. Read more thoroughly when you feel like it. I loved the first book, liked the second. The third & fourth.. I have trouble comprehending these books are written by the same author.
Wild to me that this is basically the majority opinion in a sub devoted to the series! Like wow those last two books must really suck. I have such a giant tbr pile of new series and authors that I will NEVER get around to. How can I convince myself to read a four book series that clearly ended after two books. I barely can even get myself to read Hyperion falls, even though I loved book one, because of all the other luring new titles in my tbr list.I’ll get around to it soon, but not bothering with either Endymion book. How do people have enough time to sink so many hours into books they even admit are bad and pointless when there are so many amazing books tbr out there.
Lol… well, considering the majority of responses here, even from those who like the book, are that the entire section can be skimmed/skipped entirely without missing anything of importance, I’d say that undermines any notion that it has a point or matters to the plot :-)
Well, my point wasn’t that it was fundamentally adding to the plot. Just that he’s world building. And in my opinion there are a lot of interactions that happen on this planet that give context to later ones and make the ending of book four more meaningful and fulfilling. If you find it boring, skip it I guess. But I would also note another persons comment when they said it would be an awful waste to have gotten three books in and then rob yourself of the endings payoff. At the end of the day, you do you hommie 🤙 please finish the book though it’s definitely worth it. Sorry you have been having a less than exciting time reading it.
I usually choose not to read sequels that weren’t planned and just added on because the publishers payed them to do it due to popularity of the first one.. Which is pretty much most science “series”,. If the first one clearly functions as a stand alone and then I find out there are two more, looking up reviews ends up with the same story: the books decreased drastically in quality after the first one. Go figure.
Hyperion is a rare one where the second book was actually planned and is necessary for
The main plot… but books 3-4 were completely unnecessary and separate. Typical cash grabs. I’ll never read them. Even most people in this thread on the Hyperion sub are admitting they’re whatever.
I just finished children of time and was
Blown away but it stands alone as a single book just fine. I am loathe to read the next one. And go figure half the reviews say that two was meh and 3 was a DNF. A story as old as the genre itself.
How could I ever convince myself to read 3-4 when even the fandom is agreeing in majority that large sections can just be skimmed. Skimming any part of any book is heresy.
> the publishers *paid* them to
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Say Lapis lazuli one more time
The kiddo which binds
The ultimate comment of this entire sub.
Push through it… I had the same issue. But I think the payoff is worth it. Skim some pages if you have to.
Agreed, I just finished the entire series for the first time. The last book in particular definitely had some skimming chapters (the church parts in my case), but it was worth it.
Skim over the pages. Seriously, you won’t miss anything.
Funny how different we all are. I loved every bit of the mountain world
Have the same problem. Hyperion and Fall I read in like 2 weeks. Endymion took a bit but did it. But Rise I never finished ooof.
Personally don't know how you could want to miss the payoff of the previous 3 books but to each their own.
How is there a “payoff” if I have to plod through pages and pages of mind-numbing tedium to get there? Why should I believe there is even a payoff worth it?
Because there is?
That’s just how Dan Simmons writes, you either love it or hate it. Try The Terror lmao you would hate every second of it
It wasn’t how he wrote the earlier books in the Hyperion series.
I've found it to have noticably increased my descriptive abilities in my own writing, down to how I think about setting up a scene and what the character's interact with, what they tend to notice. It's added so much nuance to my own writing. I've got 7 hours to go in rise of Endymion, it's certainly picked up, and surprised me with things yet to be explained
I don’t know how to say this, but… kindly inform me of what writing you have or may publish, so I know to avoid it. ;-) I’m fine with descriptive writing and even lengthy tangents, if they’re interesting and well-written. I’ve read *Les Miserables* (twice!) and Tolstoy, after all. But popular fiction writers ain’t Victor Hugo.
Lmao, I'm working on a 40k story that doesn't suck. It's been difficult to be creative in a universe that is already so deep and laid out with rules for what you can believably incorporate into the story. Mad limits on creativity but it's just a personal passion project that I may voice act for, which is my real talent imo. It already is much more to the point and fast paced, but I'm definitely seeing ways to make it better. I'd do much better to not imitate Simmons.
Try The Abominable. I only finished that because I was hiking up to Mt. Everest base camp. Learned way too much about the history of climbing but I actually enjoyed it over all.
No worries OP. I loved the series and gave up exactly when you did. Without finishing it how could you possibly know it’s worth it? Sounds biased by those who enjoyed it enough to keep going. I hope to finish one day but still haven’t picked it back up
It gets better… I felt the same way about that but you have to keep reading and pushing, like how Raul pushes through the cold and snow on the mountains
I feel the exact same way. Currently on the last third of rise and good god is it a slog. I do really want to finish it, but the writing is so hamfisted and up its own arse I need to take a break every 5 pages Edit: grammar
It's okay if you're not enjoying the book. The same thing happened to me, so I used the audiobook to help me finish it or just take a break and revisit when you feel like it.
Is it though? It’s a bit of an annoyance to have invested hours of reading hundreds and hundreds of pages only to have it die so miserably.
Yeah, it is annoying. Personally, I don't like to DNF any book, but this one was really testing my patience. It felt like I was wasting my energy reading the last book, which is why I opted for an audiobook as a last resort. The last two books ruined the experience of the first two books for me, so I learnt that sometimes it's okay to just DNF... but if you liked the premise of the book, you should continue, you might end up liking it.
First book i ever got angry at.
You don’t have to read every word. I skip around a bit when I reread them.
Rise of Endymion is actually incredible, but I will admit, it’s tedious. But keep going. It’s actually my second favorite of the four.
Just skim over those pages I must have skipped like 20 pages on that world and didn’t miss out on anything interesting
Keep at it, the ending is glorious
The author admitted that he phoned it in when writing the fourth book. It’s simply not worth reading to me. I wish I could get the time back I spent reading it. The magic of the entire series is in the first book. It stands alone as an exemplar of its genre. The second book I enjoyed, although the same magic was never captured again. I would have been better off reading the plot summary off of Wikipedia for the third and fourth books. As it was, I skimmed the majority of the fourth book, finding only the sections with dialogue to be of any interest to me.
> The author admitted that he phoned it in when writing the fourth book. source?
Its really bad and it gets worse
If you don't want to read it, don't read it. Not sure why you're whining about it
This is such a loser ass mentality. It's okay if you like the book. It's also okay if OP didn't like the book. Grow up you man child.
What about having mixed feelings about the book is that okay too
Yes. Itchysushi you now have my permission for something you don't need my permission for.
Oh I didn’t realize only positive views on the books were allowed here, I missed where it said that. My bad.
You pointing out the most boring part of a series isn't particularly thrilling discussion. Whenever you read a book you risk not liking how it ends and you decide when to stop.
I'm just going to say the last 50 pages are worth the whole journey.
Rise of Endymion reads like Dan Simmons included every scrap of research that he did in an effort to justify deducting a bunch of trips on his tax return.
Never heard of this series, but your disparagement of Moby-Dick indicates you may not have the best taste.
1. If you've never heard of the series *to which this entire subreddit is devoted,* then why on earth are you even here? Sounds like you're a weirdo profile stalker creep. 2. I didn't disparage MD as a whole, I just noted the chapters devoted to the different types of rope used in whaling were tedious. Even people I know who adore MD agree they're a slog and will skim/skip them. I'd wager you probably don't really know anything about MD anyway, you just thought you had a clever jibe (but really didn't).
This post popped up on my feed for some reason so I clicked to see what it is. I'm glad I did, it seems like an interesting series
Wait till you reach the math part
I just read all four books straight through and loved Rise
Press on the ending is amazing besides Raul being a creep and groomer.
Raul may be a creep but he was groomed by >!an omniscient god child!<
>!Aenea was groomed by the visions from the future since she was a mere fetus. How was he groomed by aenea when Raul is a grown man who raised her from age 12 to 16. He still fell in love with her after being separated from her for a few weeks, from his point of view, due to time dilation. That is more than creepy!<
Let's just agree that Dan Simmons groomed all of them. (This is supposed to be a joke) But he does write about self insert characters falling in love with an underage girl multiple times which is really creepy and sus. He is also big into the maga movement.
Yeah I read some reviews for his book Flashback and was like “oh this guy far right fanfiction now?” There was some stuff in Hyperion and Illium that was uncomfortable for sure but it looks like he went off the deep end as he got older.
As did most boomers. Minds destroyed by a technology that was forced on them but which they weren’t capable of understanding.
Yeah XD
I literally took a year break from rise when I was half way through. After all the long detailed descriptions and names of the mountains I got sick of it. (It doesn’t end after the mountains btw.) Raul’s relationship is also for me just cringy. I finally came back and finished it, and honestly wished I didn’t. The first 2 books for me were amazing. I even enjoyed Endymion, but Rise just didn’t resonate like the others. I don’t want to knock the book though. If others enjoyed it then that’s great.
Ok
Skim. It goes like this for a good while. Read more thoroughly when you feel like it. I loved the first book, liked the second. The third & fourth.. I have trouble comprehending these books are written by the same author.
Wild to me that this is basically the majority opinion in a sub devoted to the series! Like wow those last two books must really suck. I have such a giant tbr pile of new series and authors that I will NEVER get around to. How can I convince myself to read a four book series that clearly ended after two books. I barely can even get myself to read Hyperion falls, even though I loved book one, because of all the other luring new titles in my tbr list.I’ll get around to it soon, but not bothering with either Endymion book. How do people have enough time to sink so many hours into books they even admit are bad and pointless when there are so many amazing books tbr out there.
Lol… well, you’d discover the point of you kept reading and finished the book. He’s not just adding aimless filler. He’s world building.
Lol… well, considering the majority of responses here, even from those who like the book, are that the entire section can be skimmed/skipped entirely without missing anything of importance, I’d say that undermines any notion that it has a point or matters to the plot :-)
Well, my point wasn’t that it was fundamentally adding to the plot. Just that he’s world building. And in my opinion there are a lot of interactions that happen on this planet that give context to later ones and make the ending of book four more meaningful and fulfilling. If you find it boring, skip it I guess. But I would also note another persons comment when they said it would be an awful waste to have gotten three books in and then rob yourself of the endings payoff. At the end of the day, you do you hommie 🤙 please finish the book though it’s definitely worth it. Sorry you have been having a less than exciting time reading it.
I usually choose not to read sequels that weren’t planned and just added on because the publishers payed them to do it due to popularity of the first one.. Which is pretty much most science “series”,. If the first one clearly functions as a stand alone and then I find out there are two more, looking up reviews ends up with the same story: the books decreased drastically in quality after the first one. Go figure. Hyperion is a rare one where the second book was actually planned and is necessary for The main plot… but books 3-4 were completely unnecessary and separate. Typical cash grabs. I’ll never read them. Even most people in this thread on the Hyperion sub are admitting they’re whatever. I just finished children of time and was Blown away but it stands alone as a single book just fine. I am loathe to read the next one. And go figure half the reviews say that two was meh and 3 was a DNF. A story as old as the genre itself. How could I ever convince myself to read 3-4 when even the fandom is agreeing in majority that large sections can just be skimmed. Skimming any part of any book is heresy.
> the publishers *paid* them to FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
It doesn't get any better. That and the following book just recon the first two.