Is This Really the Best Sci-Fi Book Ever Written? [100 Book Challenge
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- Reviewing Gene Wolfe's "The Book of the New Sun" and its coda "The Urth of the New Sun."
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The one thing I love about the Book of the New Sun is that Wolfe is on your side against a mysterious universe. Reading the book feels like life in the full. And it gets better and better in re-readings. It comes to life.
100%. Every time I go back to it like I’m realising more. The podcast Alzabo Soup is worth doing a page turn with, makes you realise how much you missed
What really stands out, and what I really like when I compare your reviews to others on youtube (and its not a diss to others as I enjoy a bunch of them too) is that I leave your reviews thinking 'man I really need to grow my vocabulary'.
What's more is that you don't sound like you're being verbose just to be different but rather you're using each word to be very precise with what you want to convey.
Being a veteran also inluenced his writing and I see a lot of that in Severian.
The general consensus when finishing the first time is 'what did I just read?'
Some then immediately plan on a reread the rest are 'nah, I'm good.' I would be the former, someday.
I also found it interesting that he tells you how the series ends about 50 pages in.
The best book I have ever read. Pure perfection with enough mystique and ambiguity to make it extremely rereadable.
Read Long Sun and Short Sun then. Their re-reads are even better than New Sun.
@@kredonystus7768 I have, multiple times, and I completely agree
This is what I expected your take of the book to be. It's a shame, I definitely am that intended Wolfe reader, for me this is everything I'm after when it comes to literature, the zero hand-holding, the fever dream atmosphere, the accumulation of symbols, subtext and intertextual connections, the juxtaposition between depraved cynicism and sublime heart, Wolfe has it all in quantity and quality.
Either way, I really recommend you give Fifth Head of Cerberus a go now despite what you though of New Sun. It's worth the read both as a great SF book on it's own, but also as a counterpiece to New Sun as well.
I love your summary of the book. You summed up all the reasons I loved it too. I much check out the Fifth Head of Cerberus.
If a dark souls game/Elden ring was a book, it would be this. Both in metaphor of the combats zero handholding and difficulty. And literally in its vague story telling or story telling that requires a deeper intentional search to see what's actually going on. It is genuinely my favourite series, I've read it twice now. I'm currently reading the rest of the solar cycle books for the first time. But I haven't read fifth head of Cerberus. Can you explain without spoilers how you feel it's a counterpart to botns? I loved your explanation of the book too btw
And so the 100-book challenge comes to a close! It’s a shame Matt’s ascending from Earth now and won’t be able to make any more videos. It was fun while it lasted. 🫡
Eyes that blue don’t ascend. They are designed for the darkness. He will roar the catacombs forevermore.
You've made a great point that I haven't heard from anyone else that would really effect my reading of the book, Thank You.
I can handle a story with an open-ended conclusion, but one that continually poses questions, and promises answers, but never really provides them would drive me to distraction! It would really build the resentment.
Something about your response (and, possibly, also the vintage cover to the Urth of the New Sun that you showed as well) really made me consider a new filter with which to read it (which I haven't yet):
trying to imagine what it was like to be reading it in its original setting (by that I mean both intended audience as well as time written.)
This is just such a great review / reaction piece. I really appreciate it.
Thanks Walt
Millennial problem 😂
"One that continually poses questions, and promises answers, but never really provides" is really a lot like life if you think about it. We are constantly bombarded with "issues" that supposedly have solutions and answers but often are not true, or half true, or change as we understand more.
The reason I enjoy watching your videos is your honesty. When you don’t connect with a book, you still present pros and cons in a articulate manner.
The thing about the works of Gene Wolfe is that the reader needs to take his time with him - if you're the type of reader who likes to race through a book so that he can get to the next book, you probably should leave the books of Gene Wolfe alone..
The 4 volume Book of the New Sun series needs to be treated like one novel - not 4 separate novels.
I liked it, but I liked his short story collection, The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories, & The Fifth Head of Cerubus, much more.
For those who like him, Gene Wolfe was quite productive, with many titles to his credit.
My feelings/thoughts on books rarely align with yours but this time you perfectly articulated the way I felt about these books. By the time I finished Urth I had no desire to ever come back and re-read them or continue with the spin-offs.
your style of speaking combined with your fluid word choices and phrasing is on par with some of the best books ever written. it's pretty badass. just saying. oh and the background... inspirational! thanks for another awesome honest and real review.
I've read this twice and all of Wolfe's stuff. He's probably my favorite author. I first read it years ago and it clicked for me. I don't know why. I kept a list of all the words I did not know and looked them up. I was amazed at how many words I did not know considering the amount of reading I've done and that was what I went to college for long ago. So I was no stranger to words. I did not understand all of it. I still don't and probably never will. I don't understand everything in every book he wrote. I guess that is what makes me like it. The vibe I get from reading him. I have read his short story "Mute" a dozen times and I have no idea what is going on, yet it still intrigues me and does not piss me off. "Peace" is the favorite of his works for me. It is so creepy when you realize what is happening beyond the surface story.
Listening to you talk about the books so elequently makes my day.
I was glad to finally see this video posted, mainly because I thought you would have many of the same feelings about Wolfe’s writing as I do. And you do. I was finally drawn to read BotNS by it’s heavy gothic feel, etc. But I congratulate you on getting through all 5 books. I could not. The 1st book I enjoyed, but I ended up putting the 2nd down for reasons I won’t get into here. Wolfe could write amazing things and not so amazing things. The one truly amazing novel that I never hear anyone talk about is “Peace.” A somewhat straightforward novel, sometimes marketed as “fantasy.” For me, he achieved in this book, what he kept trying to repeat in later books, like BotNS.
I think your analysis is spot on. I managed to get through the first two books (collected in one volume) several years ago, and enjoyed some of it, but could never bring myself to start the second volume.
I'm not against literature that makes you work a bit, but when it becomes a tedious slog, with no payout in sight, I tend to think it might be time to move on. But more power to those who enjoy it.
Absolutely fair review. All that you did not like though I loved among other things. But I loved it on the second read-through where everything just fell into place and I did not feel like Wolfe was teasing me. First read was really taxing and confusing I'll admit. With context it feels like Wolfe is shouting the book's narrative and answers at you but without it, the mystery, references, and the sedate style can become too much. I understand your desire not to read it again but by god if you do try it again some improbable day ahead, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it again.
I want to recommend the podcast ReReading Wolfe for when you choose to reread it. As they say, "there is no such thing as reading a Gene Wolfe book, you can only reread it"
I loved it the first time, the open-ended strangeness, and devoured it all - nothing like anything I'd ever read before - and when it ended I wanted more. So I read it all again.
I thought the first two thirds of Shadow was some of the most compelling literature I'd ever read. I loved the setting and the situation surrounding Severian's wobble over torturing one of his 'clients'. The prose and revelatory style was brilliant to me and there was an exciting emotional hook at the heart of the story. I couldn't quite believe it... However, once the main character leaves this chapter behind, it became rather harder to contend with...!🙄 I still like dipping into it on Audible every now and then. It feels like revisiting a half-remembered dream.
That’s exactly how I felt
Excellent review and a very honest expression of your thoughts and feelings about the book.
I am a Wolfe fan and intend to read everything written by him - I have read BOTNS as well as Long and Short Sun and am absolutely humbled by the scope and beauty of the solar cycle .
If in the future you do decide to give Wolfe another shot - do try Long Sun, I think the first two books are a lot more explicit than most of his other works.
If you do finish the Solar cycle I would be very interested to hear your thoughts - though that seems unlikely at this time.
Keep the reviews coming and Happy reading !
Very interesting!
I read Book of the new sun back when I was 16 or so, and was so so fascinated with its otherworldliness, with its escaping any explanation (from what I remember), and many of the images it conjured up still stick with me 30 years later. But I read it at a very impressionable young age when I didn't have much of an idea of what I like or don't like to read in novels. I was very accepting of most of what I read back then.
These days? I wonder what I'd think now if I were to re-read it.
ive had the exact same experience and thought line! a decision to make...
I had a similar experience and decided to reread it this year. I understood so much more and it enchanted me so much stronger. It was difficut for me to pick up any other book after that. Suddenly all the stuff I had on "to read shelf" looked so infantile. I also found that authors considered 'great' (also by me) looked like amateurs compared to Wolfe. I am still raving about this book at almost every meeting with friends, testing their patience.
Knew zero about Wolfe and his work when I got the new sun books for Christmas. Was so absorbed in the freaky world I couldn’t put books down for three weeks till I’d finished. Loved not being spoon fed and was entertained by the procession of Odyssey like monsters and villains the lead character came across. I’m Catholic and didn’t notice any deep Catholic feel to the series. Couple of generic biblical references that made sense in the context of Earths history thousands of years in the future, when a muddy memory of the Bible would persist.
As someone who read BotNS last year and loved it, this is video has been reported.
Nah I'm kidding. Gene Wolfe is one of the most "not for everyone" writers that ever lived. I think these books are a masterpiece, but within the first chapter I could easily see why it's so divisive. For me, the prose was absolutely perfect and the atmosphere it created is the strongest I've ever read. I don't understand these books at all pretty much, but man, I _feel_ them. Since reading them, I've been seeking more atmospheric, prose-heavy work and have discovered Lord Dunsany, Fritz Leiber and Clark Ashton Smith and they're all incredible. I honestly enjoy that stuff a lot more than the rigid world building stretched across 8 massive books we see so much today. Gene Wolfe, like Le Guin, to me, represents a development of that old style of fantasy that practically died out once Lord of the Rings started showing its influence.
He'll read it all again
check out john crowley's stuff like...engine summer. he might be for you
well stated - i could use a blast of fantasy after all the hard sf i read. my only background in it is everything robt e howard and larry niven’s terrific short story ‘not long before the end.’
@@athoszubiaur2144Yeah the more everyone describes Gene Wolfe, I gotta read him since I love John Crowley
@@athoszubiaur2144 I'm absolutely keeping that one in mind. Thanks, man.
It is my favourite book series but totally understand that it won’t be for everyone. I dedicated a lot of time during lockdown to it.
I appreciate the honesty even when so many people were expecting you to fall in love with this book.
Dying Earth didn't jive with me and I know what you mean about overly performative writing so I'll be skipping this one. Thanks 👍
Wolfe's world is cryptic and confusing and so is his writing, so the fact that you're always on the fence about understanding or fully understanding what's going on tends to reinforce this reality that is so different to ours that we'll never fully understand that, either. It's not so much a narrative journey (though of course it is in every sense), but a visit to a world so fascinating and potentially, weirdly plausible that you really don't need a conventional story to propel you through the work. Rather than watching a series of pictures presented in order that makes a movie, it's a series of pictures in semi-random order based on multiple themes, many of which you feel like you can almost but not quite discern. When reading it, you can't allow yourself to get frustrated with the fact that everything doesn't make sense because it's not supposed to. Once you get that it's not because you're not reading carefully enough (or you're not smart enough to understand) and that the confusion and ambiguity and absurdity is an intentional part of the experience, it's easier to just go with it.
Very well said and I really like the sense of engagement I get from this (as I do from all your videos).
For me, the key (but not the only) problem with the book is that all of the Byzantine misdirection and linguistic play is in the service of a boring and shallow conceit: it’s yet *another* SF story about a guy who finds out he’s The One.
The narrative and stylistic hijinks don’t actually change or reframe or undercut this conceit - they simply decorate it.
Their effect is to make a very familiar type of story (grandiose sci-fi wish-fulfillment) seem more interesting than it truly is.
Absurdly reductionistic
This is the first review I’ve seen that hasn’t been filled with unabashed praise, and I appreciate that. It’s on my list, probably next. I’ll keep an open mind but take stock after book 1. Thanks
thats what im going to do for sure - we’ll see after the first one
Definitely need to get to this someday. However, that backdrop would go great with a Zelazny Lord of Light video! Safe travels!
You took the words right out of my mouth! ... or keyboard...
good call! 😂
The "I am sick of puzzles" only really hit me once he got to the observation tower in Citadel of the Autarch. I could not for the life of me figure out why Severian was attempting to kidnap the observer, why Severian was witnessing different phases of the earth, and the bombing of the Pellerine camp: I just didn't understand why I had to know any of this stuff at that particular point in the story. By Citadel I'm more or less aware that Urth is Earth, and we're very far flung into the future, so why am I being shown all of this stuff for nearly 60 pages only for it to be immediately discarded after Severian leaves? With Citadel, I feel like it was time to pump the brakes on the mystification and to begin dispelling illusions. Wolfe does do that, but only after introducing half a dozen more mysteries right before. This is for sure my favorite speculative fiction series of all time, but it's hard to disagree that the series can become mentally taxing for no good reason.
Appreciate you wrangling with the book. Well put. It is to me both maddening and entrancing. The Book of the Long Sun is better I think. So are The Short Sun books. The puzzles continue as does the genius. I’ll just say, in the rereads, these books display uncanny ability to morph into entirely different books. That’s the heart of his work.
My impression is its better as a vibe book then a puzzle book.
As a puzzle book its way to hard and slow, as a experience book were your not supposed to know whats happening or figure anything out its enjoyable.
This sounds like an interesting series. Looking forward to reading it.
I had never heard of it. I do live under a rock. Best wishes.
Congratulations Matt, it’s been a joy to see you do this 100 book challenge
Your experience was almost identical to mine. I read this a couple months ago. Since then I've read some of Wolfe's short stories (in the collection 'The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories') and I feel like I "get" Wolfe a lot more now, so I will re-read BOTNS at some point. I would actually suggest readers unfamiliar with him start with something like Alien Stones or The Death of Doctor Island first to get a feel for what to expect, and maybe more importantly what NOT to expect. You really have to trust him to make it through BOTNS without going crazy and he doesn't actually earn that trust in BOTNS, he just takes it for granted.
You should read Alien Stones since you love Blindsight so much. A lot of the themes and ideas in Blindsight I think were borrowed straight from that story. Wolfe was definitely a visionary when it comes to scifi. That story has a lot of ideas you see pop up in tons of scifi since.
I've seen several sci fi book review channels, and I think yours is consistently the best. Keep it up. I also love the background pictures.
I’m always directed to these books because Jack Vance is one of my favorite authors. I’ve tried them several times but I dislike the unreliable narrator type of fiction so much I never proceed past the first few chapters. Beautiful prose, though.
You are missing out, ...on so much 😂
He is not that unreliable, few scattered instances in the book & Wolfe always gives you a clue so you can figure everything for yourself. He is not some " choose your own meaning " author...
Of course, three or four readings minimum to appreciate Wolfe's books, but it's worth it...
I haven't read this yet but this review reminds me of a lot of reviews I've seen done on Malazan and I loved that. So, I think I will move it up on my list.
Sorry you didn't love the books-they are a bit long to read if you aren't enjoying yourself. I enjoyed them, but I didn't feel any desperate need to work everything out. I just loved the richness of the world he slowly builds up and sense of deep time. I also enjoyed Severian who starts out for me as a sort of horror figure and grows gradually more sympathetic. I just loved the wooden intergalatic space ship with sails in Urth of the New Sun that seems to be Yggdrasil. That was just so cool.
I felt pretty much the exact same way. By the end I just did not give a shit. You need more little payoffs along the way to keep the reader giving you of the benefit of the doubt and keeping interest high so that you can buy into the big philosophical message at the end.
Omg I literally just finished reading The Urth of the New Sun a little while ago. :D Probably didn't understand a lot of it, but it was a helluva ride. Definitely some of the most literary sci-fi I've ever read.
Read this when I got covid and absorbed the whole thing through a haze of fever dreams. I would wake up, drink some ginger ale, read in bed for a few hours, then fall asleep and dream of Urth for 20 hours.... Repeat for a week. That's how I recommend everyone encounter BOTNS. I don't think I'll be revisiting it as a healthy person.
I love it as an adventure in a mysterious dying world and that's enough for me. Similar to Vance.
I appreciate a good allegorical mystery throughout, but as you said, it can get exhaustive. For me, I personally like a few safety nets with it though so the text doesn't feel like work.
One of the best reviews I have come across. This is a VERY demanding work. All the internal and external references as well as word plays polarize readers in my experience. To me it is an absolute masterpiece while for others so many demands on the reader for what is ultimately a morality play is just too much to ask.
Exceptional review. Thanks. I'm one of diehards but I completely understand that Wolfe's style could so exasperate otherwise engaged and attentive readers.
Excellent. I'm counting on you doing a further 100 book challenge. Maybe mix it up a little, with a bit of SF, lit-fic, horror, crime, good obscure books that everyone should read... Just a thought. Anyway, I have hugely enjoyed this series and tracked down a lotta books as a result!
to answer your question, yes
A near the end of career book by Wolfe which I enjoyed was Home Fires which had Wolfe stepping into Joe Haldeman territory with a future military adventure and the problem of time dilation on relationships.
Something I've been curious about for a while. I've yet to read any Wolfe. For those who've read both, how would you compare him with Pynchon?
One of the things I like most about Wolfe is that he can blur the line that exists between what we think of as "part of the story" and what we think is not.
For example: Included at the beginning of each of the 3 volumes of The Book of the Short Sun, there is a list of the names of signifcant people and places. This list is not there merely for the convenient reference of the reader; it is part of the story. It actually contains information not found in the main body of the book, and can help a person make better sense of the plot. He does something adjacent to this in The Book of the New Sun when he frames himself as the TRANSLATOR of that work rather than the author, thereby creating the fictionalized character "Gene Wolfe" which makes the appendices at the end of each of that book's 4 parts not appendices at all, but rather another part of the story.
The cheeky show-off. Lol
Good, honest review, it does remind me of my thoughts after the first time I read BOTNS. However, the Vance-like atmosphere really left an impression on me and despite the exhaustive puzzles and intricacies which really detracted from the enjoyment of the book, I returned for a second reading after about 10 years. Second time around really made a difference. Not only does it add clarity but the enjoyment factor is enhanced once you start putting the puzzles together. I am a Wolfe devotee now and consider this the greatest sci-fi book ever written. Wolfe’s catholicism was a challenge, I am an atheist with strong feelings against being raised catholic but I still think Wolfe deserves the accolades he gets. Most books are not worth rereading, there are so many great books out there and so little time. This one really pays in dividends.
I love The Book of the New Sun (and the other 'Sun Cycle" books, especially The Book of the Short Sun) but I can definitely understand why others don't. Severian claims to have a perfect memory, but he's also something of a unreliable narrator (which is typical with Wolfe.) He describes things the reader would easily recognize otherwise in ways that a person today would not, obscuring what would otherwise be clear. He asks questions that are never directly answered but only implied, often from parts of the text earlier than the question. It rewards re-reading, but it isn't for everyone.
aah well put - this makes sense - thx
Definitely a great series, but not the easiest read. I remember starting a list of unfamiliar words and once I hit about 50 while maybe a third of the way through Shadow of the Torturer (can't remember exactly, it has been a couple decades), I gave up. Then I realized the words were either archaic or made-up. Anyhow, the coda book Urth was may favorite of the lot.
FYI, the UK mass markets from Arrow in the early 80s are just gorgeous, with wrap-around Bruce Pennington art.
it's been forever since I read these. My, very vague, recollection of them is that I didn't care for them that much....sounds like I might need to give it another shot!
Actually, it sounds like you might not need to give it another shot
@@chriswright9096 You may be correct sir! ....still there's that little worm of curiosity...
Completely disagree with your feelings about the story. It’s definitely not for everyone. Some people don’t want a puzzle to piece together but would prefer a straightforward narrative and plot. That’s what’s great about art, it’s subjective, and no one’s opinion really matters but your own.
I read Gene Wolfe's stuff. Very good.
I did read the BOTNS cycle when it was first published. I was suitably impressed. However BOTNS doesn't hold a candle to Wolfe's extensive collection of short fiction. Wolfe disciplined himself to sharpen his focus - due to length limitations. In a way I kind of regret the attention New Sun gets as it detracts from his rep as a short story master. At any rate, I recommend Storeys From the Old Hotel, or any of his collections.
I agree with much of this on the seeming "overwrittenness" of a bunch of it. Sort of unnecessary complexity. But man those books are so weird and intriguing. I still think about the world and worldbuilding aspects of BotNS, 15 years after reading it.
Have you read the Gormenghast books? I feel like it's the greatest work of world building written, with fantastic characters on top. I often think that Gormenghast works well for people who have similar views on Wolfe as yours.
I have that trilogy but haven’t read it yet. Still have to finish Endymion duology and book of the new Sun books 3 and 4.
I agree with your review completely... I read the first of the two volumes and was both exchanted and exhausted by Wolfe's labyrinthian exposition. I've yet to generate the energy to tackle the remaining volume... not sure I will... I did, based on your review, greatly enjoy Aldiss's Hothouse! Interested in your thoughts on Edgar Rice Burroughs at some time in the future... the 1st three John Carter novels are great pulp fun and the combined pair of Tanar of Pellucidar and Tarzan at the Earth's Core quite entertaining...
This is a very well spoken and thoughtful review. He’s 100% correct. And definitely the book CANNOT be understood on a single reading. After 2 or 3 readings it unlocks.
I put this book off for almost two years. All the hype about how deep and challenging it is, but everyone promises it will be so rewarding had me saving it. While this book had some interesting world building, I found it rather dull and I suppose incomplete. It’s easy to tease and hint at forgotten histories or lost technologies with clever language but that’s it. This book is the very definition of over-hyped. Oh, but you’ve got to read it at least three times to understand its rich mysteries… Umm no.
Thank you. I’ve read these 3 times and long sun twice, and I feel like he’s more interested in himself than the reader. I’m done with him.
Hi mate, I just discovered your page. I was wondering how I'd go about getting you to review a book? I'm, somewhat "RUclips-Stupid" and haven't figured out how to message creators on here yet. (Sorry)
Re-read it, Matt.
Such a boring book series.
great literature doesn't want to be likeable.
"Take your pringleman idolatry to someone else's channel!" - some douche on youtube
Your comments only actually tell us something about you and not Wolfe. You've been weighed, you've been measured, and you've been found wanting.
@@easytargetYT Just got back from a day in the emergency room so I’m going to give myself a little treat and reach out to tell you, specifically, that I don’t give even the beginning of a fuck about your opinion of me. Take your insufferable condescension and Pringleman idolatry to someone else’s channel.
My friend, I found your comment to be humorous. But clearly, the content creator was not amused. Please, do not provoke him. He said he came back from the emergency room, after being on suicide watch after Kamala Harris lost the election. Also, his favorite flavor of soy milk, ding dong flavor, has been sold out at the grocery store for weeks because all the other booktubers love it so much and buy it in bulk. He's not in the mood. Don't try to kid around with him, or people like him. You can tell who they are from the beta male coloring of the eye, like the blue within blue eyes of the people from Frank Herbert's Dune. And the hairline which recedes from them like the affection of so many women. Balding and thinning like his patience with you. He's giving cuck, and he just don't give a fuck.
Gene Wolfe is not for everybody. Your average scifi/fantasy reader is not sophisticated enough to comprehend what he is doing, which is world building on a cosmic scale with a realism that very few genre writers can achieve. Severian’s journey is a moral one; a large subset of the scifi audience will not understand or appreciate it.
I'm sure it can go either way, but that makes Wolfe a better writer in my opinion. He doesn't do the American Psycho schtick where he writes a narrator whose biases are very overt and obvious. Who is more like a caricature villain. Severian is a genuinely believable character with genuine beliefs and convictions and who, just like you and me, is willing to actually rationalize them. I think you cannot take literature seriously if you just brush off fictional characters just because they don't share your beliefs. Severian also raises some serious philosophical and psychological questions as a character but you know I would be spoiling if I got into why.
I really didn’t like Wolfed writing style. It felt like being preached at for large sections. The things I found interesting in the story the author seemed to intentionally avoid.
A fondness for monarchism is endemic to conventional fantasy fiction (farm boy becomes king), so Wolfe may just be employing the trope rather than arguing for it.
You're not wrong about The Sword of the Lictor. I read it in 2 days. The Claw of the Conciliator however is the best thing I've ever read.
I love Book of The New Sun and your criticism is one of the most cogent I have heard.
__
Sounds like what people say about that Black Book by the Turkish writer Pamuk I think. Technically excellent, but one riddle past a picnic.
You have to be ok with side quests
I just read this and then Urth of the New Sun, I can't wait to re-read them. Beautiful prose and a book that really stays with you
Absolute shit book. Tossed it in the trash.
Really agree with this- felt much the same. The intensity of my reaction and relief to being done I attribute to Wolf’s power. I wasn’t relieved because it was bad, I’d simply come to detest Severian’s character and narration. The whole unreliable narrator thing I think he pulled off impeccably, but I don’t think it makes for a good read.
What a great show. 😊
Great, fair review of a singular reading experience!
Fascinating review. I sense your respect but not empathy. It resonated with me, though not to perfection. After for years hearing about it, my reaction was not that there were not enough answers, but for me it stuck the landing TOO well crafted. Delaney and Zelazny and Vance himself answer the questions I think more mysteriously and abstractly. I think this series is literally the best of the bunch, but other SF masterfully written was to me more mysterious.
"Narrative indulgence" about sums Wolfe up in a nutshell.
Have you read much Catholic theology? Check out the Anathemata.
That is the greatest book ever written, period. The tetralogy, that is.
Seriously recommend the podcast Alzabo Soup as the reading companion chapter by chapter to get the most out of this series
Very good review. Very thoughtful. I read the books in highschool, I liked/intrigued the books, definitely did not love them but I felt the reading had much to offer and my Jack Vance high carried over a little to Wolf's Sun. The writing style does draw you in slightly butt repels with it's difficulty. I wish I could say I loved them but that would be a lie!
hello sir, can u pls reco us some sci fi starter for those who doesn't even read a book? like we wanna experience mindf×ck to make us addicted lolz
Yes, yes it is the greatest science fiction ever written.
Search Supreme by C.Gibson new Science fiction book
I think the audiobook helps a lot. The performance is so great and it really guides you in how it’s supposed to be read and the time with which it should be read. I think if I had only read it and not been listening to the audiobook I probably wouldn’t have liked it as much
Exactly how I felt about this book. Love the atmosphere and beautifully written but I lost interest in Severian and there wasn’t enough in the story to keep me reading past the first book.
I read 2.5 of the 4 and gave up. The payoff couldn't possibly be worth the effort and endless shifting of narrative devices. He writes in beautiful strokes but the final image was a Picasso.
R.A. Lafferty's "Past Master" is also a great read!
I like Sci - Fi that has a protagonist on a mission.
Like Elijah Bailey - Isaac Azimov
Or. - Jorj McKie , Bureau of Sabatoge - Frank Herbert
Or- Gerswin - L.E. Midesitt
Or- Kote - Patrick Rothfuss
Or - Glawen - Jack Vance
Or - the Prefect- Allister Reynolds
Shadow and Claw was fantasy more than Name of the Wind by Rothfuss AND Severian a forgettable protagonist.
Wolfe does expect a lot from the reader. I felt exhausted after reading it, but i also look forward to rereading it someday to get a better understanding.
Lots of shared sentiments. I had just finished the Hyperion series (big fan), and I read Shadow of the Torturer, was not a big fan. Decided to stick it out and finished claw of the conciliator. Not for me.
Agreed. Wolfe writes like he desperately needs you to know how clever he is. People say reread it, but he doesn't really do anything in my opinion to earn a reread when I have hundreds of other tbr books.
Also, the "it's just Severian" sexual wish fulfillment stuff is not just Severian, he kinda does the same thing in other books, like The Knight.
This video is why i just putchased the first book.
I love the dark souls games and I adore the mystery about them.
So if this can evoke that same mystery thats great. Like having some pieces of the puzzle but maybe having to fill in some gaps. Thats great
Looking forward to it
For me they are near perfect but after having read The Wizard Knight I would say that would be everyone's first Wolfe book. It's much more like reading a book instead of a text. The 3 Sun series are to Sci-Fi what Malazan is to Fantasy, though Wolfe's prose is untouchable.