Gene Wolfe Books

Gene Wolfe takes patience. His writing and by extension his stories, are subtle things, rarely spelling out what the reader needs to know but dancing around it instead, sketching the outlines of what he's trying to reveal and leaving it to the reader to fill in the blanks. A lot of writers do this and then have the characters explain it all at the right moments, so that the reader can feel accomplished by having put together the scenario before they were "supposed" to. Wolfe hardly does this, revelations come in asides and as seen from a distance. Often the characters don't understand what is being revealed and it's only because we have a different perspective that we don't even know what's going on. But we're not in the story.

SF has had a long history of being far more literary than most non-genre or even genre fans realize (it's had a willingness to experiment with form and subject matter to a sometimes fearless degree) and of those Wolfe is one of the few who can go toe to toe with the so-called literary heavyweights of the day. This omnibus here collects the second half of the Long Sun series and continues the story begun in the first half. Patera Silk has been appointed calde apparently by popular demand, armies are in the city, and matters are barely tottering on the edge of chaos. While Wolfe doesn't do anything vastly different here, the SF elements are scaled back for a more meditative sequence of events . . . having already sketched out the contours of this world, now he's giving everyone a chance to play in the boundaries of it.

Readers looking for big climaxes or stirring bombastic speeches are probably going to be disappointed, the story is pulled along in strings of tiny revelation and it's more the accumulation of events that gives the overall tale its weight. Wolfe never wastes anything, every seemingly random story some character tells, every tossed off detail, it all fits in somewhere and lends weight to the greater narrative. Constantly shifting location and yet maintaining and even, unhurried pace, he manages to capture the scope of great things happening and people trying to keep the world and the people they care about safe.

Silk remains of his best characters, an unmoving and sometimes unwilling pillar in the center of the action, calm and worried, decisive and gambling, he's all too human and the story wouldn't have half the emotional heft it does without him. This story, more than any other, is the sum of its parts, none of the pieces stand out but all of it interlocks to form the story itself, arcing and grand, wistful and epic. It won't dazzle unless you're paying attention but if you are, it becomes worth the effort.

And in the end it isn't about the mysteries of the Whorl, those become almost incidental to the tale itself, but the people who live in it and what they have to do to survive. Even if survival means stepping out entirely.

I loved the Book of the New Sun, and some of Wolfe's other works, so I tucked into this huge opus with glee. Over 1200 pages later and how do I feel - pretty darn irritated and quite keen to reclaim the many hours of my life that I seem to have wasted reading it. What is it all about - I don't know. Does anyone know? Not judging by the other reviews here. Wolfe has a skillful way of sucking you in with the promise of great revelations in the end - but in this series of books there are no revelations, no explanations. The main characters end up leaving the ship (The Whorl) - wow didn't see that coming, did you? Only 700-800 pages ago. No doubt erudite devotees of the author will come up with some profound deeper meaning locked away within it's pages - but what about the reader who wants to actually enjoy what he reads and feel rewarded at the end? I like the review lower down on this page by the guy who has read the entire series 6 times already - but still hasn't quite worked out how to describe what it's about. Says it all really.

I don't have enough superlatives in my vocabulary to praise this work. Once again, our irritating narrator is given to leaving out the important stuff and assuming you know what is obvious to him; much of these books tell bits and pieces of a story while huge, catastrophic events take place just out of view- sort of like real-life. I found that sometimes the parts that seemed very meaningful on the first read turn out to be just the 'bits', and the parts that seem most obnoxiously tedious are the most 'important' later. Pieces come together from previous books, and the settings' larger context seems to peek out of the fog on occasion; the end (as usual) leaves you hanging somewhere you don't really understand.

and you will be disappointed. A civil war begins, main hero steps up as leader of rebellion, a third side appears in civil war, and lot of stuff gets complicated and little solved, and mood is not even close to adventurous/mystery mood of book one.

I couldn't say that this series, 'Long Sun' really ends here, it seems that Short Sun is sequel, but I didn't read it yet.

When Wolfe has idea and inspiration, he is best. When not, he is worst.

After a first reading, I need some time to forget some of the major plot elements so that I can re-read this story later. It is quite fascinating, especially so if you view the society as an anthropologist would.

A lot of the confusion from this book stems from the fact that not one word written in it is trustworthy and it should be read with much more scrutiny then I put into it. As we cannot trust the writers of the biblical gospels to be impartial, we certainly cannot trust a young man with a revisionist take on history and a bad case of idolizing a man at the center of a cult of personality. The joy of reading Gene Wolfe comes from scratching hints, shades of meaning and the truth of events from a storyteller who does not want you to know the whole truth, and is probably outright lying (New Sun) or has absolutely no connection to reality (The Wizard)/is incapable of discerning truth from idealization and revision (New Sun, The Knight)/reality from fantasy (There are Doors)/objectivity from subjectivity (Long Sun) or is incapable of having factual knowledge whatsoever (Latro).

I'm really expecting this book to wow me the second time through, especially after analyzing Knight/Wizard and The Book of the New Sun a couple more times, allowing me to realize that the narrator is your worst enemy in trying to understand and enjoy a Gene Wolfe novel.

Gene Wolfe's reputation as one of the finest storytellers and literary stylists in contemporary science fiction is re-affirmed in "Exodus From The Long Sun" the final book in the "Book of the Long Sun" saga. Readers would be well-advised to start with the first book, "Nightside the Long Sun", to catch all the nuanced character shifts and indeed, get a better feeling for Wolfe's fictional landscape, but nonetheless, I found this a compelling, rather rousing, tale to read. There are intriguing, often compelling changes which occur to several major characters, as apparent heroes become villains and vice versa. Wolfe has been a major influence on other contemporary writers of fiction, most notably those from Great Britain, since his prose style is similar to Banks and Mieville especially. For this reason alone Gene Wolfe's fiction is worthy of attention to serious fans of science fiction literature. I look forward to reading the other novels comprising the "Book of the Long Sun".

This book, to me was very good. Gene Wolfe is the beer of authors. He is an acquired taste, and I understand why some people really dislike him. He doesn't like to explain things, or at least he does in a very circumspect way.

Without reading Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun", this series might be a little more confusing. One would not know who built the whorl, or why it was sent. I believe the reason only some left the whorl at the end was the Plan of Pas was to populate as many worlds as possible.

This is a book that is very difficult to understand the first time through, but re-reading it can answer many questions. One may notice things they did not notice before. (i.e. the person who "arrested" Silk at Lake Limma is Captain Serval.)

Wolfe also has many themes that run through most of his books, which I find humorous. He always has a lover to the main character, (usually one that the character should not love,) there are usually wars or battles going on in his books, and the main character has some sort of flaw that will come back to bite him in the end.

I understand wholly why someone could not or would not pick this book up. It is intimidating, it is arduous, but, I feel it is rewarding in the end.

I loved the first three installments of The Book of the Long Sun. But this . . . I could not believe it was supposed to be a part of the same series. And worse than that, it was of very poor quality. Nothing was resolved or explained, and the plot took a ninety-degree turn that was jarring in the extreme. I personally prefer to excise this book from my memory and pretend that the series was never finished.

Wolfe has significantly lost his form in this series compared with the Book of the New Sun. He's trying for the same sense of phantasmagoria but fails. You can see him trying too hard. The world is unconvincing - I tried to suspend belief and just go with the flow but it was just too slow.

If you're already a Gene Wolfe fan, you may like this series. If this is your first Gene Wolfe series, you may never read his work again after this series. I've read his "New Sun" books and enjoyed them very much because, while it's heavy reading - you really have to pay attention - there are some stunning surprises. Unfortunately, in the Book of the Long Sun, there are no surprises. You already know when you read the back cover of the books that the people are on a "generation starship". Figuring out who the "gods" are and the meaning of "Mainframe" isn't too difficult either. By the end of the fourth book, there really isn't anything special that is revealed that you couldn't figure out long before. Another major problem with this whole series is that seemingly trivial events are often covered in pain-staking detail, while more important things are glossed over entirely. At the end of this volume, the long-awaited visit to Mainframe is dealt with in less than a chapter. All in all, quite a disappointment.

Any reader who fondly remembers the previous two titles in this series will enjoy the third. My only complaint is that action seems rushed toward the end. Latro takes less time resolving the plot at the end of his long, river jouney than Willard does to kill Kurtz at the end of his.

Skip this book. I devoured Soldier of the Mist, but then thought Wolfe wrote Soldier of Arete in his sleep. It was more of a travel guide than a story. Soldier of Sidon, more than a decade in the coming, continues the downward slip. It's an easy read, but damn little happens. Damn little. If you didn't already know that Latro forgets almost everything overnight, and that he sees supernatural things which no one else does, don't worry. He'll remind you every chapter ... oops, I think I just gave away the only thing that passes for a plot in this book.

I am a great fan of Gene Wolfe and the Soldier in the Mist stories. The first Latro novel was a marvelous conceit (narrator with no memory) explored brilliantly. The second book extended the story effectively if not memorably. Soldier of Sidon is tiresome. Sorry, true believers, but there it is. Latro's lack of memory continues to create a few intriguing moments, but for the most part it becomes an excuse for a pastiche of disassociated events vaguely connected but more typically just irritatingly incomprehensible. By halfway through, I was skimming at one sentence per paragraph, then slogging back when it became clear that I had become unintentionally (rather than intentionally) lost.

We got it the first time. The reminder was fun. Enough already.

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Just when I thought that Latro in the Mist is standalone Im gonna read and finish in that one book two novels combo, I see this...dear god, I thought Tolkien' Lord of the Rings was too long, that Wolfe's Long Sun is unfinished, but it seems to be a habbit of sci fi and epic fantasy writers to make twelve issue sequels.

Oh no! I am definitely giving up Wolfe, because I already have to finish Short sun, read 'Latro in the mist' combo softcover (which contains first two novels) and perhaps re read New Sun , a five book cycle...

The price of the book is great , 15 bucks or so, but I spent so much already on things I didn't get to read, they think they can milk our fans more and more.

Whatever happened to good old trilogy rule, like Foundation original thrilogy from fifties (which was sequeled but later), Valis Thrilogy, Dune first three books?

(***** = breathtaking, **** = excellent, *** = good, ** = flawed, * = bad)

... cursed by the gods to forget everything upon waking each morning, must carry around a scroll that he frequently updates with his adventures to serve in place of his missing memory. Now he struggles through an exploratory mission down the Nile from ancient Egypt to unknown Nubia.

Latro is an appealing guy and his situation is fascinating, but after awhile this book seems to go on forever, outlasting any narrative tension. Longer review at ImpatientReader-dot-com.

More of a gently creeping horror tale, four ordinary people are given
residence in a building, and all is of course not what it seems. The
residents slowly discover, via an odd Madame, that maybe they are not
actually descending into something scary, but something that is a lot
different to that. In general, not that interesting, this book.

This book attempts to adapt the quintessential Gene Wolfe formula by positing several interesting characters around a central mystery. Unforutantely, this is restricted to our world, unlike the fabulous worlds of his varied 'Sun' novels, so his imagiantion is not given free play. Equally unfortunately, he fully explains his vitae idea, a general time traveling back to a pereptually flying ship (which by the way was probably the msot origianl thing in teh book, of using the 300 mph jet stream to glide on. Also includes a tie in to howard hughes.)
In brief, this is a book to read after you've finished your Pynchon and Eco.

I have yet to be disappointed by anything Wolfe has written. I will quickly agree with the general consensus that Free Live Free is not, by any means, Wolfe's greatest work, but it is an excellent story that experiments with the boundaries and definitions of the SF genre. Of all Wolfe's works, this is one of the least difficult to grasp, though there is still a wonderful complexity to the prose. It is also one of the grittier books he has published, which is not, by any means, a bad thing.

The greatest shortcoming of this book, I feel, is that the fabulous character of Mrs. Baker was left undeveloped...which was, I think, Wolfe's intention all along. Her amusingly endearing speech patterns practically screamed her significance to the story, but we are left, at the end, knowing very little more about her than we did the moment she misspoke her first cliché.

Do not enter this text expecting anything like the "Sun" cycle, or even anything like "The Fifth Head of Cerberus" or "Peace." "Free Live Free" is as unique as Wolfe himself.

Whilst the charaterizations and story development kept my rapt attention during the telling of the tale, to say I was disappointed by the ending would be an understatement. Its been a long time since a book that I enjoyed reading so much left me hanging limp and disappointed by an ending which seemed more of an excuse for lack of imagination than anything else. I've read a lot of Wolfe's other works and have not, so far, been let down by those works. Where was he when he wrote the ending to this one? Hard to say, but his mind didn't seem to have been on the job.

I will have to re-read the last few chapters of this book but there is no getting around the fact that the plot ends with an unsatisfying and unnecessary red herring. It is as if Wolfe had a manuscript lying around unfinished and some cohort of his said "I dare you to end it using [X] plot device," and Wolfe took up the challenge.

Nor did I find his characterizations really compelling. "Mr Barnes" is the most fully fleshed out of the four protagonists, but all four seem like facets of a single individual, not four distinct people driven by their individual motivations.

That all said, it was an interesting read, and more accessible than Gene Wolfe's heavier fiction. It is atypical among Wolfe's work for its lightness and clarity of prose.

Well this book definitely opened my eyes about all the clues that were laying around, folded into the narrative. I had never considered that any of the characters were related to Severian and I never considered the "many faces" of Father Inire. The list goes on, but now I'm re-reading the series and finding all the clues I passed over even after reading the whole series three times.

Gene Wolfe is an author that is very difficult to fully understand. It is possible, and enjoyable, to simply read through his masterpiece, The Book of the New Sun, and read it simply as a story. But there are many questions left unanswered. Why are so many characters left unnamed? Why does Severian consistantly mishear or misunderstand what people say? What is that play all about? These questions are answered in Borski's collection of essays about The Book of the New Sun.

It may seem foolish to some to buy a book explaining another book, but it will truly enhance your understanding and enjoyment of Wolfe's magnum opus. Many of the things Borski explains will simply seem to click. "Oh, I get it now... it makes so much sense." But you would probably never figure it out on your own, or even realize there was something to figure out. Borski's work is a very useful and enjoyable way to more fully understand one of the greatest works of american fiction.

Borski's book seems to be more of a personal response than I expected it to be but it is WELL WORTH the read if you have already read the books yourself. It gave me some new insights to think about.

Some of the thoughts evoked by the author are very deep and insightful. If you enjoy GW's series, it will help you to find some new levels of appreciation for the cleverness. Reveals some of Severian's relatives... the clues were there, but I never noticed them.

But.... some of his ideas are just nuts. The part I dislike is that if the author does not know the answer and cannot come up with a clear deduction, he'll almost make it up. While he uses text from the book, he will almost (not literally) try to prove red is truly green "because they are opposites and that's the key! Yes, the key! So, during Christmas... um, they go together... and it's a Christian holiday, so OBVIOUSLY Gene Wolfe meant for us to see that!"

Good to read, but take it with a grain of salt. I'd prefer less reaching and more "I just don't know"

Borski does a great job of exploring the four (plus one) books of the New Sun series. I learned several things I had either not known or had failed to recognize--even after at least 5 re-reads over the last 20 years. And while I don't agree with some of his conclusions, it's hard to deny the enthusiasm he has for Wolfe. So if you're a fan, what's not to like about getting another fan's well-constructed insight into one of the greatest SF works ever written? Get it. Like the series, it will make you think.

For anyone having a quirky, dark sense of humour, as most diehard fans of Gaiman and Wolfe do, this is well worth tracking down. I had a smile on my face the entire way through, and laughed out loud to myself in several places. Despite its brief length, I can honestly say it gave me more entertainment for the dollar than any blockbuster novel I've read in the last several years.

I found A Walking Tour to be amusing and clever, but there isn't much material for the price, which is my only real complaint. Recommended for diehard fans of Wolfe and/or Gaiman.

This book reads like a whimsical guidebook (and is less than a centimeter thick), has playfully macabre art, and all the substance of a marshmallow. If you can't get enough of amusing depictions of dessicating and dying children, shrines to Cthonic gods, and lurking horrors, this might be for you. If you're looking for something mildly engrossing with actual content, keep looking.

...(The list of Wolfe's other books inside the cover doesn't include anything currently in print by the famous sf author). This is a mock sightseers guide to a fictional part of Chicago. While it is well written and entertaining, it is also very short and filled with illustrations, so there is not a whole lot to read. I would recomend it for light reading, however I would not recomend that anyone pay [$$$] for this small amount of literature.

Severian, a member of the Guild of Torturers, is journeying. He again
is involved in executions and violence, so this book may well be a bit
strong for some, or creep people out.

A very non-romantic fantasy.

The young torturer Severian continues his journey in this, the second volume of Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" series. Skipping the first volume (The Shadow of the Torturer) is not recommended - this series is difficult enough to follow even for those who read every page. References to events that took place earlier are explained only in the briefest detail.

In this volume, Severian's uneasy allegiance to both the Autarch and the mysterious revolutionary named Vodalus is severely tested. While journeying to Thrax where his guild has a position awaiting him, he takes part in the brutal execution of an innocent woman, has a mysterious assignation with his late beloved Thecla, battles a horde of man-apes, is captured by Volalus, participates in the bizarre sharing ceremony of the alzabo, and suffers a lengthy imprisonment before a portentous encounter in the picture room at the House Absolute, among other adventures.

Once again, Wolfe uses language to create the other-worldly locale, employing archaic words to describe objects that are common enough on "Urth", but are unfamiliar to us. And even though the practical-minded Severian frequently doesn't seem to react to the astounding things he sees and experiences, most readers will find themselves intrigued, even though the question "What does it all mean?" remains unresolved.

Like the first volume, this book is pretty light stuff - pure escapism, with no real point or depth of human insight apparent, but it is still a quick, enjoyable read. The fictional narrator foreshadows great things in Severian's future, and presumably the succeeding books will show an overall plan and sense of purpose that this novel lacks in and of itself. The violence and sexual content of these books makes this series unsuitable for young teens, but fans of this kind of pseudo-medieval fantasy should be very pleased indeed.

I first read Castleview fifteen years ago and to this day it is one of my favorite novels! It was fast paced, puzzling, hilarious, exausting and the most fun I've ever experienced reading a book. I'm buying a copy for my nephew.

In this frustrating and ultimately not-worthwhile book, Wolfe takes an incredible premise (an Arthurian castle that appears on the outskirts of a middle America town, but is only visable to certain people) and totally ruins it.

Having read a great amount of Arthurian literature (both modern and classic - like Malory, de Troyes, and von Eschenbach), I can honestly say that the plot is incomprehensible. Very few characters have any parallel to Arthurian figures (other than an occasional name), and most of them behave in a completely bizarre fashion.

I slugged my way through every last agonizing page in hopes that the end might clear up the mysteries of this book... only to be disappointed again. My only guess is that Wolfe wrote this book while on drugs, his publisher agreed to publish it based on his prior reputation alone, and that anyone who claims to have enjoyed it is a diehard Wolfe fan that won't admit that this book is a total failure.

That seems to be the byline on this one. I even bought a book of Arthurian legend but it didn't help much. Yet even without understanding exactly what happened this book kept me on the edge of my seat. A very good ride, even if you don't know where you are going.

This book, more than any other, taught me to enjoy the journey with Wolfe and quit rushing to find out what happens in the end.

What a disappointment! I had just finished reading Gene Wolfe's monumental duology, "Shadow and Claw" and "Sword and Citadel," arguably one of the most erudite, complex and unique fantasy tales ever written, only to have my expectations dashed by this piece of juvenile prose filled with poorly drawn characters. The premise was of some interest but the story could have been so much more compelling and enticing if it were not so shallow in style. Don't bother reading this one.

Gene Wolfe's CASTLEVIEW is the second of his turn of the 90's trilogy of fantastical fiction novels. The first, THERE ARE DOORS, was a rather confusing but ultimately comprehendible book, but with CASTLEVIEW the reader has no idea what's going on.

CASTLEVIEW is perhaps the most infamous of Gene Wolfe's novels. Wolfe has always like to present puzzles to the reader, and every book he's written is filled with mysteries, allusions, and inside jokes. The answers to these are usually to be found after some diligent reading and research, and in any event the main plot can always be followed. In CASTLEVIEW, even the plot is totally baffling. Apparently it has something to do with magical creatures and characters from folklore, especially King Arthur and company, plaguing a modern town outside of Chicago. That's really all one can say for certain after reading the book. The entire point of the book is an enigma, and it doesn't appear that Wolfe has included the key anywhere in its 200+ pages. My personal hypothesis right after reading the book was that 50 pages or so fell out of my copy during the printing process, so that I missed the part where everything comes together. However, I read the same copy everyone else did, and no one's ever shown it was incomplete.

Ignoring the fact that the book goes right over the heads of its audience, CASTLEVIEW is not one of Wolfe's stronger works. I was annoyed by the speed in which Wolfe introduced new characters, so that it was difficult to follow who's who. Chapters end abruptly on some mysterious development which may create suspense but which irks the reader. Ironically, the teenagers are the only characters which are portrayed realistically, and the adults are somewhat two-dimensional, which is the opposite of how these sorts of things normally turn out.

Gene Wolfe is truly one of the finest writers in the English language. His four-volume work The Book of the New Sun is legendary, and his latest work The Book of the Short Sun is filled with moments of sublime beauty and poignant emotion. I would most certainly recommend that one read Wolfe's "solar" works first (starting with the BotNS), his magisterial novel PEACE, and just about everything else he's every written before coming to CASTLEVIEW. I do recommend CASTLEVIEW, and reading the book sure does explain why so many Wolfe scholars are beating their heads against the wall on this one. Save CASTLEVIEW for last.

The Autarch, as the name suggests, is a ruler. Despite all Severian's
wanderings, meanderings, derelictions of duty, and adventures, it seems
that the Autarch sees him as future leadership material. His final fate
is to be decided in this fourth book.

How can I review a novel I've never received?

Like the other three books of this series, the Citadel is a gorgeously written account of Severian the Torturer's journey to the Autarch's throne in a far future. Gene Wolfe's story is outstanding, if only for the fabulous otherworldly reality he has fashioned with beautiful language and a singular voice. The Urth he has created is real, filled with layered depth and detail. The story reaches a satisfying endpoint in this volume -- I hesitate to call it a conclusion, because like a real history, it could continue forever. This series is one of the best of all time.

This volume contains three stories which appear in Wolfe's "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories" collection. They are: "The Island of Doctor Death", "The Death of Doctor Island" and "The Doctor of Death Island" (hence the title). All three are worth reading, but available in the "Other Stories" collection at less than collectable prices. For serious Wolfe collectors only.