Simmons true genius is the Ousters. Though human they may be, their appearance, way of life, and civilization are one of the most alien I have ever read of in a lifetime of reading science fiction. The description of the Ouster Swarm in book two is magical.
Fantastic book series. Very well written with wonderful descriptions of the worlds, deep emotional connections and human relations. I hope to see it come alive some day in a very well done (HBO quality) and well funded multi-part series.
I'm a new subscriber. Read Dune, Hyperion, and Foundation series 20 years ago and loved them back then and will love them forever. Thanks for the great content
I've read Dune, I'm nearing the end of the last book of the Foundation series, and just today I picked up a copy of Hyperion from the bookstore to read next.
The dichotomy between Ouster and Hegemony spacefaring/evolutionary philosophy is something that I think about quite often. I recall how shocked I was when it was first revealed in the text that they were human that merely had a difference in philosophy. So fascinating!
Dude. If I ever write a book, I'm sending you a copy! You are the best sci-fi and fantasy hype man in the business. You are the ONLY youtuber I have the notifications on for.
Excellent analysis. I think that's the point that Dan Simmons was trying to make; that humanity had sort of frozen in their development, stopped progressing because they controlled the environment by imposing an antiquated kind of technology. The Ousters used a different technology to adapt to their various environments--but stilled retained a connection to the kinds of environments in which mankind had originally developed. The Ousters loved trees and organic structures as much as any human--but they were willing to adapt their lifestyle to the lifeless environment of deep space. (Deep space isn't really "lifeless." The organic components for life are everywhere we look in the vast gas and dust clouds between the galaxies and the stars.) We can't overlook the influence of the TechnoCore on these differences, though. As you pointed out, the Ousters refused to use the farcaster technology and instead preferred either sublight transports or Hawking Drive spinships which still required a large "time-debt" travelling between stars. Consequently, the TechnoCore couldn't parasitically utilize their brains, their neurons, as co-processors. Every time a Hegemony citizen stepped through a farcaster, there was a time-less interval when the Core could leech off their neuronal capacity and use it for whatever purpose those AI's wished. As Aenea noted, the Core was hyper-hyper-parasitical; fantastically competitive even among themselves because they had no real existence outside the Void Which Binds, the manifold reality of Planck Space. The farcasters used Planck Space to link different worlds and every time a citizen stepped through a farcaster portal, the Core could effectively use their storage and processing capability for an infinite duration, even though it SEEMED instantaneous to the citizen. The Ousters refused to do that because they could sense that it punched holes in the Void Which Binds at a deeply fundamental level. It created a disturbance, a kind of static or ripple effect that resonated throughout the Void and interfered with the existence of the species which inhabited it, the Lions, Tigers, and Bears. So, to the Core, the Ousters were the Enemy because they couldn't be used, couldn't be controlled. The Core encouraged warfare between the Ousters and the Hegemony because they wanted to eliminate what they perceived as a threat. And my God, did they pay the price! I almost wept when the StarTree came under attack and huge portions of it were destroyed when the Pax warships began burning it and blowing it up. Millions of beautiful, unique sentient beings died and the greatest human artifact ever created was horribly damaged. Y'know, I've never hated the Catholic Church so much as I did when I read the Cantos. For the last two thousand years, the Church has been responsible for so much bloodshed and suffering, the sole cause of all the wars in Europe from about AD 800 up to the 19th Century. Simmons just extrapolated the trend. If the Church could offer a real-time version of immortality, serial resurrection via the cruciform parasite--another hand-dandy invention of the Core--then it could control EVERY aspect of human existence, exactly what the Church has done here on Earth for over a thousand years. A pox on the Pax!
The USA was settled by predominantly protestant, 'puritan' christians who despised catholics. Plenty of protestants in Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well. South Africa? Mmm. Protestants have proved themselves to be every bit as violent, ruthless and sadistic and as controlling as any catholic anywhere. They enacted genocide on the Native Americans. They enthusiastically traded in African slaves. So did catholics. The entire European colonial era, where Europeans invaded everyone else's countries and stole their assets, actually occurred from the point of the Reformation ie when Europeans began to break free from the dictates of the pope. I'm not aware the pope had the power to cause the numerous invasions of Europe by Ottoman Turks between 1300 and 1900. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, nope. Maybe read a few factual books rather than fiction.
This is a point which struck me every time when I read Hyperion...that plottwist, that the ousters are the ones who are evolving. Very deep and interesting assumption from Mr Simmons. Thanks for the cool vid!! Cheers from Germany!
At ~4:50 it's mentioned that the Ousters only used 'conventional' methods of space travel. I would hardly call the Hawking Drive conventional as it is described as skipping off the void which binds' (as to farcasters which punch holes) to travel FTL. The Ousters saw it as a necessary evil.
im sooo happy you moved into dune and other sci fi fantasy.....cause i just cant deal with GOT at this point. GRRM will NEVER finish the books while alive...im over it...20 years plus of waiting..and pift..who cares anymore.
All we can hope for is that he’s actually already finish winds and is working on finishing A Dream For Spring so they can release the last two books back to back fingers crossed 🤞🏻 Sadly I don’t think that the case. We’ll get winds for sure but as far as A Dream For Spring goes we really may never get it sadly...
@@beesheer3761 I am not convinced he knows how to finish the series, so having backed himself into a corner with saying there are two books left he now doesn't know how to get there in that timeframe
After The Wheel of Time and GOT, I am done with fantasy books that have a chapter for each single midly important person in the world and thus will need 10 books to finish a story that could be told in 3. Imho, it's actually bad writing when you are not able to summarize and to tell histories from the point of view of fewer characters, who thus either hear from second hand accounts events happening in other places, or by letters, etc. Take Coleen Mc Cullough's Masters of Rome series... it starts in 104 BC and ends with Octavian becoming Augustus. The real Roman history is much more complex and full of events and characters than any Wheel of Time or GOT book. Many events are summarized as letters sent by characters in other places, telling the news. It's very good and it gives a good impression how people of the time would hear of news in other provinces of Rome....
Thanks for mentioning Olaf Stapledon. A friend introduced me to his literature about 30 years ago. It is unfortunate that most people never heard of him. You could take one paragraph from one of his books and turn that paragraph into a book. I suspect many of the great sci-fi writers of the 20th century did exactly that.
Thank you, I am very familiar with Dune and Hyperion. I love your channel. You certainly are indepthly familiar with these literary universes. These novels are so smart by themselves its fun to delve into them in detail. Great Job!
I love the videos. The Dune & Hyperion series are my favorite science fiction books and I’m really enjoying your deep dives into both of them. Keep up the great work!😀
Been watching your work for a while. Just want to say, thanks for all this amazing content. Seriously, in my circles no one cares about this material and your channel is an intellectual and imaginative refuge sometimes. Just signed up for your Patreon!
Ive read the book years ago but the beauty of the Yggdrasil and the chapter where the pilgrims spend time on it is one of the most amazing worldbuilding pieces of sci fi I ever have read.
Literally the only pretty scene was the one where they sat on the table and had their first introduction. The whole tree ship nonsense is hilariously bad. And also more just straight up fantasy than anything sci fi. The cnt doesn't even describe if the ship flies horizontal or vertical I can get behind samurai monks worshipping trees. I stop at them flying literal trees into space
@@godofchaoskhorne5043 Yeah, the entirety of the Hyperion series' prose is pretty uninspired. I found it difficult to imagine anything Simmons was attempting to describe even at the best of times. It hardly helped that the story was nonsensical. While the Shrike is interesting, pretty much everything around it isn't. Hyperion is definitely overhyped.
@@VexJinks Mate, I can go on for ages on how much I hated the prose in that book. Dan Simmons can go Lapis Lazuri himself But yeah it's headscartching how the books are so well reviewed when none of it makes sense and is full of plot holes and very poor allegories. Not to mention this guy genuinely thinks he's this deep philosopher and thinks that "I get it now, God wasn't testing Abraham, Abraham was testing God." Is super profound when it's dumb and complete nonsense. The good guys are space furries and insectoid humans. Akad and the Jewish girl are an allegory for Israël and Palestine. Akad is a "good'one" all the worlds are fine except the Muslim worlds = Nuclear Jihad lol Magic digital alternate dimension / extended AI network .. that is a jungle full of bears and lions that are dangerous AI or some dumb sh. The answer to everything is love Both books end with the cast singing a song together. The second book they sing somewhere over the rainbow. I almost threw my ereader against a wall for wasting my time bothering to read the second one
I’ve never read these, but I love your videos, the exploration of all this Lore is fascinating, and definitely makes me want to delve into the Hyperion universe
Incredible and High Quality Work. Thanks Once Again both the detailed work and discourse on a great series by Dan Simmons. Now how about a Hawkins Drive video?
You should read some of the Revelation Space books by Alastair Reynolds. Particularly the Inhibitors Sequence, a trilogy in this order; Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap. I'd also read Chasm City between part 1 and 2 of that trilogy just because it's so good and prepares you for what happens in part 2.
Wow, you make Hyperion videos, too!?? Not enough Hyperion love (in my opinion) on YT. Glad to see you're making some awesome videos of the Hyperion Cantos, too. Love that series.
You need to audition to narrate some major documentaries; you have an amazing and unique voice. I look forward to someday hearing you narrate a National Geographic or Animal Planet documentary. You have the voice for it.
Really enjoy the videos about these books. I will most likely get them. On a side note, have you read any of the warhammer 40k books? I believe making content about them would expand your viewer base.
I think it was a blend between a Dyson Sphere and a Dyson Tree. Anyway the ousters were a great play on the Pantropia concept, Spomes (Asimov) and Macrolife (Cole). They were what got me interested in the Cantos.
As someone who's been on a journey of self reflection these last few months, and as someone who recently started Hyperion, I think the Ousters are going to be my favourite. They embraced change, they embraced space, and it seems for that, the universe has seen fit to gift them with a flawless sense of development, allowing them to not just navigate the stars, but evolution itself.
I remember I accidently picked up a badly translated norwegian edition of this book. Im talking early Google translate level, i still enjoyed it enough to pick up the sequel.
Finally started reading the first Hyperion book thanks to your videos, I am at the part where they are reading the journals of the priest and I am sold on this series. I can already see bits of why you hold it in high regard
I wanted you to know that your channel inspired me to read all the Isaac Asimov books and the dune series. Your videos made the worlds so interesting I couldn't resist. Thank you for all you amazing work. I wish I would have had more English teachers like you, I would have learned to love books much earlier in life.
Great content again. I have to read this series. I love the foils the hegemony of man and the outsters represent toward each other, THOM seems to still do what humans have always done...change the environment to suite their needs but remaining the same. While the outsters are adapting themselves to suite their environment and becoming more than human.
I love your videos. Do you ever talk about single novels that aren't these huge world-building series? I would love to hear you discuss Bester's "The Stars My Destination" for example. Regardless, thanks! Your content is fantastic.
Thank you for introducing this series to me. I would never have known about it if it weren't for your video on the Shrike. I just finished the series yesterday. The ending was beautiful, melancholic and sad, and the story of Aenea and Raul will be in my thoughts for a long time. I'm still feeling emotional from it. It hit me HARD (even harder than the ending of His Dark Materials). This is such an expansive and creative universe. I think Dan Simmons has an amazing imagination. I know it's blasphemy on this channel but I think The Hyperion cantos is so much better than Dune. It's better written, more emotional and far less pretentious.
Ann leckies ancillary series deals with intergalactic government super well. And furthee introduces interesting division between human groups after the first trilogy
I enjoy your content, and have for several months. You have a rare voice and an excellent grasp of your chosen subject matter. BTW, the mass required to create a Dyson Sphere would likely exceed the materials available in a solar system, making their existance very improbable. Even if such an advanced society had the capability of converting energy into mass, thanks to the formula E=MC^2 we know that the energy required even at 100% conversion efficiency to create such a sphere would consume the entire solar output for a very long time. I did the calculations when I was a teenager so I don't remember the specifics, but the one specific I do remember is that to create a sphere around our sun at a distance equal to Earth's orbit that is just 1" thick would require an amount of steel equal to the mass of the Earth. While steel may not be the optimal material and 1" thickness is certainly insufficient to withstand solar forces it does help to indicate or visualize how much material would be required. Additionally, for the sphere to be a viable temperature it would have to exceed Earth's orbit in volume as it is trapping all solar output and the heat buildup would not allow for liquid water - making things very uncomfortable. But I suppose that is the fiction part of the science, though the concept of combining "science" + "fiction" always seemed rather incongruous to me.
I think you could improve you delivery when reading from a script, it feels robotic. Other than that, great video as always, really happy you are covering hyperion.
@Hrenml they moved from Netflix to Amazon prime, both the books and tv are phenomenal. One of the factions can be seen as the beginning of the ousters for the Hyperion books.
@@martienvandenberg5181 not how I interpreted it to be honest. The ousters are initially portrayed as boogmen of sorts then later you get to see their progression as a truly space faring species. While the belters and even the Martians are painted with a ticking clock once the gates are open Imo. Totally open to your ideas about it.
The only sad reality of Hyperion Cantos is, that there is more storyline written around future of Church rather than Ousters themselves. Ousters are much more interesting..
Loved the bait and switch the story did of making the posters out to be villains, when in actuality they were really the good humans because they hadn’t been controlled by the Technocore.
I live the concept of the Ousters. Humanity that adapts to the environment instead of trying to possess it and bend it to its will, and thus gaining more and creating such increadible worlds. Also love how they are said to the enemies, plotting an attack, while it´s actually the opposite.
Who are we to judge what it is to be human when the ephemeral spark of humanity is one independent of form or biology, independent of belief or creed. To simply live, and grow from the wellspring of life, like that of a tree, with its many branches and hollows. Is that not what it is to be human? I love the Foundation, Hyperion, and Dune series, not are they just work of lovely fiction that entertains, but they provoke many deep thoughts and beg the lessons of many questions. Sadly now I must find Audio Books of them due to failing eyesight, but I happily look forward to rereading them with my ears, so to tread thir grounds in a new way, and maybe stumble on new questions to ponder. Keep up the great work @IdeasOfIceAndFire.
The TechnoCore is a distinct society, as well, complete with its own factions, goals, and individuals. I find the Core to be among the most interesting aspects of the series. It would be cool to have a video series explaining those factions and characters. How the TechnoCore was using and controlling humanity during the Hegemony and Pax for their own ends.
I know that you mainly focus on books. But there's a tv show called the Expanse which is a really good sci fi show. I like how the show displays the changes in which humanity goes through when venturing through space. It's not as expansive as Dune, Hyperion or the foundation but I like how even though when colonizing the solar system you can see the changes in classes and society. Might be something interesting to look into. Plus the show is based of the book series but I have never read the books so I can't tell if they are good or not.
The books are excellent and you should really try reading them. The writers actually get a lot of creative input into the show, so it's very true to the books. However, they also change some things around to keep the show fresh in comparison, instead of just being a Cliff Notes version of the books.
