[vanilla_nut]

Hyperion was a big surprise for me this year as well. I expected it to be good, but the way the first book unfolds a larger universe is incredible. I'm not sure I've read science fiction that feels quite so... planned, and intentional? Especially the way it incorporates Keats' poetry.

Thanks for tipping me off about the Annotated American Gods! I read it ages ago, and I've been yearning to get back into Gaiman lately. This sounds like a good way to do it.

[tsujamin]

Not to spoil too much of the rest of the Hyperion Cantos if you’ve not read it, but I found the way each book brought into question the “reliability” of previous parts of the story super interesting. On the one hand - it can feel like a lazy rewriting of history to suit later stories, but I think it actually works super well because you pretty much have to re-evaluate the entire story multiple times. I came away feeling like I’d experienced 3 different, but equally-compelling versions of the story by the end!

[lotsoweiners]

I love that first Hyperion book so much but haven’t read it in close to 2 decades. The individual stories of each traveler were so interesting.