Hacker News Reader

In contrast, getting through Hyperion was hard for me (some of the character stories I LOVED and some felt like a slog), but I really loved Fall of Hyperion.

Yeah, Hyperion had an interesting structure, but the second book was quite basic compared to that.

If The Fall of Hyperion were 1/3 of the length and part of the first book it would be perfect.

I did find the transition from Hyperion to Fall a little jarring. It has a completely different narrative structure for a start, but more importantly the scope goes from a single group of people doing a pilgrimage to a huge interstellar conspiracy. I think it works best if you read each book slightly separately rather than as one huge work.