The Sword and Laser discussion

I got late to the party and lemmed the book, mainly to get started with Hyperion, but also because of the pacing. Things are happening too fast, when I start getting interested in knowing more about something, it's often not described in detail.
Maybe my mistake was that I didn't know anything about the book when I started it, but that's the way I like reading books. If I'd known how many years the book covers, I might have read it differently.
So, does anyone agree that the book would have been more enjoyable if it would have started near the end, in media res, and told the beginning in flashbacks?
But maybe I should read the rest of the book before jumping into conclusions.