Hyperion by Dan Simmons

 

The time is centuries into the future and all the worlds of the universe are part of the Hegemony.  That is, except for some outriders such as Hyperion.  It has not yet been brought into the Hegemony due to the local inhabitants and the Shrike.  The Shrike is a monster that kills everything it sees and lives in the Valley of the Time Tombs where time moves backward.  After death, it hangs the souls of those it destroys on its trophy tree.

Seven pilgrims have been given the task of going to Hyperion, finding the Shrike and destroying it and figuring out how time can move backward at the Time Tombs location.  There is a famous general, a female private eye, a poet, a scholar, a priest, a government official and the captain of the ship.  They all know one thing; there is a spy among them dedicated to making sure their mission never succeeds.

On the trip, each tells a story.  The general tells of his female lover who shows up during and after battles.  The scholar has a baby with him, Rachel, but she was a grown woman before she visited the Time Tombs and started aging backwards.  The private investigator tells of her time with a cybrid who wants to become human.  The others tell their stories as well and each supplies a clue to the events currently taking place.

Dan Simmons is known as a master in the genres of science fiction and horror.  After he finished university, Simmons taught writing in the public schools for eighteen years.  Since then he has written full time and has won a Hugo, a Bram Stoker, a Locus, a World Fantasy and other awards.  This is the first novel in the four part Hyperion series and the novel he won the Hugo Award for.  The novel reminds me of the Canterbury tales, where seven strangers come together for a mission and each tells his or her individual story.  The stories merge together into the background of the mission and how to move forward.  This masterpiece is recommended for science fiction readers.