Hyperion is not like any other book I've read before. It puts together a lot of disparate events and individuals, and you sort of need to let the story happen as it's not entirely clear at first what is going on. I love it and recommend the sequel. The third and fourth books for me were more difficult reads but they were still good. They were more traditional in the way they told the story. I liked the first two better, but I recommend the whole series.

Definitely be proud of reading Hyperion! I know exactly what you mean about it seeming to leave out stuff. I guess it is part of the mystery that we find out as we go, and we experience things from the point of view of the protagonists. You've made me want to read it again!

Kudos! I think I would have ended up skimming it quite a bit if I had read it, but I went with the audio book instead in that instance. I will say, the audio book is a full cast and very entertaining. I would recommend it if you ever wanted to go through the story a second time.