Point of View

The Hyperion Cantos are told in third person Omniscient, with the exception of the waking experiences of Joseph Severn, during which it switches to first person. The story is told largely through the eyes of Joseph Severn, both what he experiences while alive and what he dreams while asleep. In this manner, the narrator can be considered as somewhat unreliable in that experiencing events through dream might result in some distortion. Whether or not this is true is never revealed in the book. Severn's dreams are told in third person as if they were from the point of view of the people about whom he is dreaming; therefore, the point of view seems to jump around a great deal. The point of view stays with Severn and the Hyperion pilgrims most of the time, but occasionally jumps to another character, particularly CEO Gladstone. The writer never...