Written by Dan Simmons, Hyperion is a novel about seven pilgrims on their quest to meet the Shrike on the planet Hyperion. Each one of them has a purpose on the pilgrimage, and through their journey, they share them with one another.

Father Lenar Hoyt is going to Hyperion to search for the presumably alive, Father Dure. Father Dure was exiled on Hyperion years ago, where he found an immortal tribe, the Bikura. They use a cruciform, implanted in the chest of the body, to allow the subject to never die a true death. Father Dure suffers for years, making many failed attempts to die. Finally, when Father Hoyt travels to Hyperion eight years after Father Dure's exile, he finds him in the Flaming Forest, crucified to a platform. He releases Father Dure's cruciform, and he dies a true death. Father Hoyt fails to mention to the rest of the pilgrims that he has a cruciform as well, but the Consul figures it out.

Colonel Fedhman Kassad is haunted by a woman every time he participates in a simulated battle. She visits him in the woods, and they make love while others are fighting. He soon finds himself on Hyperion, and she is working with the Shrike. He realizes he is being used and envisions the dying of all worlds in planets.

Martin Silenus, the poet, spends years writing successful novels about the death of Old Earth. When his muse leaves he travels to Hyperion, with Sad King BIlly, to help establish the City of Poets. He finds his muse in the Shrike, but the Shrike begins killing everyone in the City. Silenus is left for years alone, trying to finish his Hyperion Cantos, until Sad King BIlly finds him, and tries to destroy his life's work. The Shrike appears and kills the king, while Silenus sets fire to his Hyperion Cantos. Years later he wants to return to his muse and finally finish his work.

Sol Weintraub is traveling with his young infant daughter, Rachel. Rachel was an archaeologist studying in the Time Tombs, when a surge occurred and she began aging backwards, contracting Merlin's sickness. She is now an infant, and will soon be nonexistent. Weintraub and his wife have recurring dreams that he must go to Hyperion and sacrifice Rachel to save the world.

Brawne Lamia is a detective who is approached by Johnny, a replicated cybrid of the late poet John Keats, to find out who murdered him. Together they discover he is linked to Hyperion because of his past persona, and that is precisely the reason his life is in danger. They decide to travel to Hyperion together to uncover the truth and Johnny dies in the process. Lamia is pregnant with his child and with the memory of what Johnny was. She is going to Hyperion alone but when the time comes to face the Shrike, Johnny will be with her.

The Consul is returning to Hyperion to seek vengeance of the Hegemony, for his grandmother, Siri. He patiently waits, moving through the ranks, becoming a Consul. He is asked to directly do negotiations with the Ousters, and becomes a double agent. Working for both sides, the Consul enables the Ousters device on the Time Tombs that will open them and free the Shrike, thus wreaking havoc on the web itself.

Het Masteen is a Templar and the Voice of the Tree. He is supposed to tell his story last, but disappears during the pilgrimage. He is seen walking towards to Tombs as the pilgrims are resting. They will meet him with the Shrike, and never get to hear his story.

The book concludes with the pilgrims ready to face the Shrike together, no matter what their stories have entailed.