I’ve had both, the Hyperion series, and The Expanse series sitting on my shelf for years now, and only ever read a little bit of the first books of both series.
I’m currently re-reading the Lord of The Rings trilogy, but after, I’m planning on reading The Expanse or Hyperion series.
Which should I read first?
Edit: Thank you all so much for your feedback!! The general consensus seems to lean towards reading The Expanse first, so I think I’ll read through Leviathan Wakes and then read Hyperion unless Leviathan Wakes provokes me to directly continue into the second book.
Expanse is like reading an amazing and realistic adventure.
Hyperion is like reading an adventure while high on shrooms.
They’re both very well written and entertaining, but so different in their set-up.
Currently in my life I prefer realistic style scifi over mind bending stuff, so I’d recommend the expanse. .
Not as high as reading Annihilation
The expanse. The end of that story is stupid good.
I mean, the beginning and middle are good too, but the end of The Expanse series wraps up so nicely in book format.
The last few pages of Leviathan Falls hyped me for a sequel that will never come like no other story ever has.
Man me too… and then like two days after I read the series… I read an article that said the authors wouldn’t ever return to it… lol
I mean it’s perfect… But c’mon man! Damnit!
In case you missed it, they released the novella The Sins of Our Fathers in 2022.
edit: the epilogue takes place in the far future after Leviathan Falls.
I think it’s only a month or two after. The far future is the epilogue of lf
My opinion: Hyperion is a beautiful work of art. I was in awe reading it. You get your mind bent in different ways and it was glorious. The Expanse is very good craftmanship. The authors took a lot of what is good about space opera and put it in this series and it is fun to read. You should read both, but Hyperion first. (it also goes better with the epic experience of Lotr)
Put it this way:
- Expanse is a wild and epic ride
- Hyperion is… heartbreakingly beautiful, and stretches your imagination in fascinating ways
Hyperion + the fall of Hyperion -> the expanse -> Endymion + the rise of Endymion
I haven’t read the expanse yet, but Hyperion -> Endymion was way too jarring. I quit the first few times, and loved it after taking a few months long break.
I’m about to go into Hyperion after a suggestion from a friend, just got through frank herbert’s Dune, finished chapterhouse. Before that I got through all of Asimov.
Not sure what hyperions about at all yet, but looking forward to finding the time! Sorry I don’t have a suggestion
Hyperion is about EVERYTHING!
Just jump in and hold on. The story emerges beautifully in book one and only gets better.
Man, I loved Dune so much. I haven’t picked up the sequels yet because I still have so much in my backlog, lol.
Honestly, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t read the sequels. Dune, Messiah, and Children of Dune are phenomenal. The first two moreso. It gets real weird after that, and I don’t mean that lightly. Chapterhouse brings it back around a bit though. Kinda. I’m actually glad they’re stopping after the Dune Messiah movie. Don’t know how they’d make God Emperor interesting or if I’d even want to watch it.
There’s plans for a Dune Messiah movie?
The director recently said that should the 3rd one get greenlit it will be his last. So it’s not confirmed but its been pretty successful so far.
I really hope we get a third one. I’m a big enough fan that I would happily see the full series in movie form, but I get why they would stop at 2 or 3.
Honestly, I’m just incredibly happy that we got one good movie out of it. Even if it stopped there I’d’ve been happy.
I’d have been a little upset considering the first movie ended half way through the 1st book. Lol
True, but even that much was way more than I thought I’d see in my lifetime. Definitely happy we’re getting the second part, though!
Expanse.
First Hyperion book is good but the pedo-apologist subtext that starts in the second book is pretty gross.
