Hyperion/YMMV

Abusing the Kardashev Scale For Fun and Profit: The Lions and Tigers and Bears are at least a Solid Type III, quite possibly higher.
Badass Decay: The limits of the Shrike's power are explored in the second duology, where it faces creatures nearly as powerful as itself.

Complete Monster: Rhadamanth Nemes, in all senses of the phrase. Albedo might be even worse.
Crowning Moment of Awesome: Colonel Kassad lives and breathes this. Single combat with the Shrike.
- Oh, but don't forget the one Raul Endymion gets in the fourth book. Single combat with Nemes - a creature nearly as powerful as the Shrike. And he won! And Raul didn't even have nifty future armor.
Crowning Moment of Funny: Martin Silenus' story.
- Really, anytime the story focuses on him.
  - Except when he's on the Shrike's tree.
Even Better Sequel: The three other books in the Hyperion quadtrilogy - Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and The Rise of Endymion are regarded by some readers as even better than the original novel.
- On the other hand, some consider the second pair to be substantially inferior to the first two.
Genius Bonus: The series is littered with literary references, from overt to subtle.
High Octane Nightmare Fuel:
- The Shrike itself
- The Archangel ships
- The tale of Father Hoyt/Father Duré
Hilarious in Hindsight: Since Moneta is revealed to be future Rachel, this means that Kassad was telling Sol about all the times he had sex with Sol's daughter in his tale.
Jerkass: Silenus is definitely seen as one throughout much of the first two books, with some of his fellow pilgrams assaulting and threatening to kill him due to his behavior.
Tear Jerker: Sol Weintraub's story, definitely. Aenea's death as well.
- Merin's conversation with the dolphins

Dolphin: Miss Shark/Miss Shark/Miss Shark/Miss Shark/Shark/Shark/Shark

- The last fifty pages of The Rise of Endymion count too, but then the tears are mainly tears of happiness.
Sci Fi Ghetto: The whole series is based on poems by John Keats. It's still genre fiction, though.