On the world called Hyperion the mysterious Time Tombs are opening and seven pilgrims risk their lives to petition the entity called the Shrike a creature that may well control the fate of all mankind.

The Hegemony of Man a thousand thousand worlds linked by a network of farcaster portals and high-tech gateways is under siege by Ousters, strange, half-human tribes mutated almost beyond recognition.

The AIs Artificial Intelligences whose synthetic wisdom created and maintains the nets that bind the Hegemony have become a threat; it seems they have turned against the Hegemony and all mankind. And there is evidence that they have begun a project to create the Ultimate Intelligence to build, in short, God. God of Machines: the ultimate deus ex machina. His genesis may well mean man s annihilation.

Something is drawing the Hegemony, the AIs, the Ousters, and indeed the entire universe, towards the Shrike and the Time Tombs from which it has arisen. In a moment the paths of man, machine and god will intersect. Nothing will ever be the same.