Hyperion

The night was dark and stormy. The revelers sat around the campfire when one said, “Bill, tell us a story.” So Bill said, “The night was dark and stormy...”
Dan Simmons is a talented writer and somewhere in this book is a good story but the Canterbury Tales motif is contrived and leaves the reader feeling he is taking one step forward and two steps back. There are compelling passages such as the wickedly funny section where Martin Silenus discusses the nine word vocabulary to which he is reduced after suffering a stroke but these moments are islands floating in the horse latitude of tedium. Beyond that, there is a sense of style transcending substance. The reader is mesmerized by the verbal agility of the writer rather than riveted by the story. Still and all it's worth a read.