Hyperion

Dan Simmons' Hyperion is highly acclaimed, and it's easy to see why -- it takes the structure of the Canterbury Tales and sets it IN SPACE. There's more to it than that, of course; one of the traits that Hyperion shares with other great science fiction is that it seamlessly integrates the reader into a vastly different world (a different universe, really) than the one we're used to, without using characters to deliver exposition dumps. We hear of the monstrous Shrike obliquely at first, then again and again, and even by the end of the novel, we're still not sure what it is entirely. We do get a chapter towards the end that is mainly an exposition dump (in the form of a character's journal), but due to it's relatively (relativistically?) unique structure, I don't mind.

Having several narrators (one of whom we are informed at the beginning of the novel is a spy) allows different voices, motivations, and for us to guess on reliability and the accuracy of the tales

Although Hyperion is the first in a series of four, it's entirely possible to read as a standalone novel, there are a few issues and mysteries set up there will have to be answered in subsequent sequels (the nature and motivations of the Shrike, of some political players, the mysterious disappearance of one character, and the resolution of some of the plot). It even has a satisfying and appropriate ending.

Highly recommended.