I am really blown away by the detail inherent in the author's world-building, the imagination behind each of the vignettes, and the fascinating story of the Shrike and the Time Tombs. I haven't really read a lot of science fiction (sans your good ol' dystopian scifi i.e. Hunger Games), though I had read The Time Machine which I absolutely loved, and perhaps another older classic here and there. I know that the book has three sequels, one of which, The Fall of Hyperion, is a direct sequel, and the other two being set farther in the future as I understand. Should I take a break and read something else before I jump into the sequel? I recently started a new fantasy series so I think I'll make some progress with that before I close out the story of the Pilgrims.