Book of the new sun and gene wolves amazing solar cycle

[Shotenzenjin]

The dune thread has inspired me to create a thread for one of the most interesting and well written sci Fi -fantasy epics ever to be put to print.

Gene wolves book of the new sun. And his entire solar cycle.

Not to spoil it for people who havnt read it.

The book of the new sun in short , is the story of severian a young apprentice in the guild of torturers on a planet called urth, Who is cast out for showing mercy to a condemned.

As he wanders North he slowly comes to grips and terms with his destiny as he finds himself backed onto the throne and becomes autarch. world leader.

Severian is an Apollo somewhat Christ figure who is also a murderer who throughout the work is an unreliable narrator and you need to pay attention or you'll get lost in its labyrinth.

The work is mesmerizing. And a joy to read

Gene wolve creates a universe real but magical at the same time. His talent for writing leaves most sci Fi in the dust and few really can compete with his masterpiece.

The work is full of what at first glance may appear to be made up words in the hundreds only to actually be real words. He does not invent any word and instead uses words already in English albeit very uncommon words.


I love this work as it's supposed to be read and re read more then once each time you read it you descover something you missed. It's a massive cycle detailed, intricate, spellbinding at its best.
. Well worth your time

[narhwal90]

I thought it a whole lot better than Dune in every possible respect, though I somewhat lost the thread in some of his other related books. Its a great series.

[Johnny Dangerous]

IMO Book of the New Sun is one of the best Sci Fi/Fantasy series of all time and -severely- underrated. It's by far my favorite Sci Fi/Fantasy.

I re-read it every couple of years.

My only complaint about it is that it's presentation of women is like a thirteen year old boys fantasy. Most (though not all, Valeria, Thea, and a few other female characters are interesting) are pretty one dimensional and are mainly just there to have sex with the protagonist.

I've probably read the series 20 times in my life and did not notice this when I was younger. The first time I re read them as an adult this aspect was pretty cringe inducing in places.

Still, in terms of themes and imagination I think it blows 99% of fantasy out of the water, no comparison at all.

Wolfe was supposed influenced partially by notions of world-cycles and other concepts in writing them. The Hindu and Christian influenced stuff kind of sticks out, but not in a bad way at all.

I also tried the the series that was supposed to be a sort of sequel..or at least related - the Long Sun series. They seemed a slower read and I don't think I got past the first book. Might be worth revisiting.

Anyway, I almost never reread anything other than Dharma stuff, but as you say, rereading this is sort of a new experience every time. The dream like quality of the whole series is really unique, I've never read anything else like it.