Hyperion is from greek mythos, everything since has borrowed it but the novel OP is referencing is a pretty iconic/major piece of science fiction. It's written in the same vein as The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer which is considered a literary classic in english literature. The sci-fi novel is a group telling each of their personal stories and how they came to be on this pilgrimage and about a murderous 'demigod'like being that is heralded as an omen and known for seemingly random yet deliberate ritualistic murder. After some time a religion based on sacrificing groups of pilgrims rose up of which the main characters are the latest batch of. The place that this entity is believed to be protecting/tied to is an enigmatic region where time flows in varying ways; faster, slower, even in reverse and those who come in contact with those zones can be permanently affected similarly.