The Book of the New Sun is unanimously acclaimed as Gene Wolfe's most remarkable work, hailed as "a masterpiece of science fantasy comparable in im...
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Jan 26, 2012
Dan
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Sword of the Lictor: Severian's stay in Thrax is short lived. After helping a woman escape instead of strangling her, Severian flees Thrax to look for the Pelerines. But can he find them before trouble finds him...?
The plot of the Book of the New Sun progresses quite a bit in this volume. I don't want to give too much away but Severian sure doesn't stay in Thrax very long. I'm still not precisely sure what the hell is going on but it's a pretty enjoyable read. Wolfe's prose has t More...
The plot of the Book of the New Sun progresses quite a bit in this volume. I don't want to give too much away but Severian sure doesn't stay in Thrax very long. I'm still not precisely sure what the hell is going on but it's a pretty enjoyable read. Wolfe's prose has t More...
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Aug 05, 2009
Henrik
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Sep 06, 2011
Adrienne
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When I finished this book, I wrote:
But really I was just lying to myself (just like Severian does). I proceeded to reread the first 100 pages of Shadow and Claw and then spent two hours googling various interpretations. Finally, after a good long while of thinking and brow furrowing, I started More...
...I think I've got to think about this book for a little bit. I was liking it well enough (Severian was even growing on me!) and then...
Now I'm moving on to something totally different.
But really I was just lying to myself (just like Severian does). I proceeded to reread the first 100 pages of Shadow and Claw and then spent two hours googling various interpretations. Finally, after a good long while of thinking and brow furrowing, I started More...
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Aug 04, 2007
John
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This volume picks up and concludes Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun quartet. Most readers will be absolutely lost without reading the first two volumes.
Re-entering Wolfe's vision of the future, the tone is the same. Severian is as preachy and detached as ever, though readers will be relieved to understand how he got this way, as revealed towards the end of the second book. This does not excuse the needlessly somber and coldly overanalytical style of narration for the rest of these bo More...
Re-entering Wolfe's vision of the future, the tone is the same. Severian is as preachy and detached as ever, though readers will be relieved to understand how he got this way, as revealed towards the end of the second book. This does not excuse the needlessly somber and coldly overanalytical style of narration for the rest of these bo More...
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May 02, 2010
Aaron
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First, if you haven't read the first volume, Shadow & Claw, go and take care of that deficiency, then return here. Don't worry, I will not spoil a single second of the books. Not even the first vol.
Ok. This book consists of the latter half of the Book of the New Sun Quartet. Previously published as "The Sword of the Lictor" and "The Citadel of the Autarch", the two novels that make up this volume are every bit as good as their predecessors. Wolfe is a very co More...
Ok. This book consists of the latter half of the Book of the New Sun Quartet. Previously published as "The Sword of the Lictor" and "The Citadel of the Autarch", the two novels that make up this volume are every bit as good as their predecessors. Wolfe is a very co More...
Jun 17, 2009
Patrick
rated it: 
This is the second half of Severian's bizarre journeys in Urth, which started with "Shadow and Claw." The latter was a very tough read, but I found Sword and Citadel to be easier, much in part because I got used to Wolfe's elaborate and shifting styles. It was still tough though, for the developments in this book really stretched conventional story telling. I would have to state that this book is masterful in its ideas and blending of the sci-fi and fantasy genres. I don't want to give
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May 19, 2009
Paul
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This book... I don't know what to think about this series. Wolfe writes in an extremely roundabout, limited 1st person puzzle-prose where he throws as many words as possible at you despite a conscious design to tell you as little as humanly possible about what's happening. There's almost no exposition at all - everything is told and shown through little more than extremely obtuse hints (oddly enough, he breaks his own trend by explaining certain plot points in facepalmingly-simple breakdowns -
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Jan 19, 2011
Bill
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Finished "Sword", almost done with "Citadel"
The third volume, Sword of the Lictor, which I just finished, opens up quite a bit. I love the first two, but this one, I think, is my favorite volume; I'm almost done with the fourth.
In "Sword",
Severian continues to be unlucky in love with a girlfriend who is depressed and freaked out, and if anyone has an excuse, she does.
He betrays his guild, which he swore so passionately More...
The third volume, Sword of the Lictor, which I just finished, opens up quite a bit. I love the first two, but this one, I think, is my favorite volume; I'm almost done with the fourth.
In "Sword",
Severian continues to be unlucky in love with a girlfriend who is depressed and freaked out, and if anyone has an excuse, she does.
He betrays his guild, which he swore so passionately More...
Jun 21, 2010
Andy
rated it:
I am going to add to this review. The first was written almost out of spite. Now I can approach it with a little more information.
Time. Time is the what this series is about. It is set in the future. At the end of the Earth in fact - something like 2 Billion years, as the Sun cools prior to expanding into a red giant. It seems like humanity has been around on the earth, in one form or another for the entirety of that time. I say seems because the infuriating and great thing is that y More...
Time. Time is the what this series is about. It is set in the future. At the end of the Earth in fact - something like 2 Billion years, as the Sun cools prior to expanding into a red giant. It seems like humanity has been around on the earth, in one form or another for the entirety of that time. I say seems because the infuriating and great thing is that y More...
Aug 20, 2011
David M.
rated it:
Reading reviews, of both a critical and reader-response nature, has done little to illuminate the obscurities present in Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun". Earlier this year I had read Joyce's "Ulysses", I must confess I found that book easier to digest than Wolfe's, but this is not an admission of disregard for "BotNS". Rather, its an acknowledgement of the unsettling implications this book raises, not just of and about the text itself, but also the whole process
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Jan 12, 2009
Luke
rated it:
This book is the summation of the 'Book of the New Sun' series. While I did enjoy this series very much and was frequently blown-away by the author's imagination, the series didn't have as impactful of an ending as I had hoped.
The series (and this book) should be read for the fact that the author challenges his readers with fantastic use of vocabulary and mind-bending originality. I have read quite a bit of fantasy and sci-fi over the years and Gene Wolfe truly touches on completel More...
The series (and this book) should be read for the fact that the author challenges his readers with fantastic use of vocabulary and mind-bending originality. I have read quite a bit of fantasy and sci-fi over the years and Gene Wolfe truly touches on completel More...
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Jul 01, 2011
Frederick
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These final volumes of The Book of the New Sun continue the travels of our Torturer-hero through the dying planet of Urth, our Earth, thousands of years in the future. Condemned by a rapidly fading Sun, hounded by bizarre beasts, surrounded by mysterious alien power brokers, warring against the mindlessly politically-correct remnants of North America, treating with flesh-eaters who absorb the consciousnesses of the dead, and dodging an ex-lover bent on his destruction with a legion of horrifica
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Sep 29, 2011
Alex
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The amount of effort it took to read this series pales in comparison to the amount I am now going to spend rereading, and researching various scholastic interpretations just to make sure I understood what the hell was going on. However, the fact that I am willing to undergo such an effort speaks volumes to the ability of Mr. Wolf as a writer and the world he has created.
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May 23, 2011
Wolverina
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This review is duplicated on my Shadow and Claw review.
I finished Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun series awhile back. I really enjoyed it, despite ALL the women characters in it being TERRIBLE. REALLY TERRIBLE. As in, I was reading going ohmygod how are you so useless and terrible at every single female character, but I still finished the first and second books in like three days (the first book I could barely stop with). It did take me about two weeks to get through the third an More...
I finished Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun series awhile back. I really enjoyed it, despite ALL the women characters in it being TERRIBLE. REALLY TERRIBLE. As in, I was reading going ohmygod how are you so useless and terrible at every single female character, but I still finished the first and second books in like three days (the first book I could barely stop with). It did take me about two weeks to get through the third an More...
Nov 07, 2011
Davis
rated it:
This tetralogy is fantastic. This is my second reading of it, and this review is really for all four books.
It is by no means perfect, but is one of the few examples of literary science fiction/fantasy out there in terms of the craft of writing. The plot does move slowly, things are never quite explained, the main character is misogynistic, and the vocabulary is quite erudite. The amount of information Wolfe provides is so vast that getting through a couple chapters in one sitting is often More...
It is by no means perfect, but is one of the few examples of literary science fiction/fantasy out there in terms of the craft of writing. The plot does move slowly, things are never quite explained, the main character is misogynistic, and the vocabulary is quite erudite. The amount of information Wolfe provides is so vast that getting through a couple chapters in one sitting is often More...
Jan 28, 2010
Nicole
rated it:
Holy. Crap. I don’t think I’ve ever read a science fiction or fantasy novel that came so close to the complexity of other great works of fiction. It reminds me of Candide, Moby-Dick, many others. I don’t say that type of thing often – I promise I’m not being hyperbolic. This is super-literary bildungsroman stuff, that just happens to occur in the the far, far future on an Earth whose sun is going out.
After finishing this series of books, I immediately thought “Well, I’m going to have More...
After finishing this series of books, I immediately thought “Well, I’m going to have More...
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Jan 29, 2012
Traveller
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Hmmm, the only reason I'm not giving this a 5, is that the fourth book in the series becomes almost too esoteric, even for me, a lover of esotericism, to digest.
I haven't read the Urth of the New Sun, the 5th book that is supposed to clear everything up, yet. I might revise my opinion once I've done that, but... let's just say my judgment has become a bit clouded by all the commentary I've by now read on the series and the religious flavorings that such extraneous commentary lends t More...
I haven't read the Urth of the New Sun, the 5th book that is supposed to clear everything up, yet. I might revise my opinion once I've done that, but... let's just say my judgment has become a bit clouded by all the commentary I've by now read on the series and the religious flavorings that such extraneous commentary lends t More...
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Jan 11, 2010
Josh
rated it:
Astounding.
As a conclusion to the Book of the New Sun (you will be lost without reading Shadow & Claw), this continues the incredible epic.
Gene Wolfe creates a totally unique world of rich story-telling. This is not dorked out sci-fi/fantasy (which perhaps maybe sometimes I like). This is no-limits story telling, each vignette expertly crafted as its own rich world, and sewn together like some fantastic tapestry. This book defies genre.
The writing is very c More...
As a conclusion to the Book of the New Sun (you will be lost without reading Shadow & Claw), this continues the incredible epic.
Gene Wolfe creates a totally unique world of rich story-telling. This is not dorked out sci-fi/fantasy (which perhaps maybe sometimes I like). This is no-limits story telling, each vignette expertly crafted as its own rich world, and sewn together like some fantastic tapestry. This book defies genre.
The writing is very c More...
Mar 19, 2011
Adam
rated it:
Most of what I have to say about Wolfe's writing and general world are in the review to the previous book. I will just mention a few things about the final two books here.
The final two books reveal a clear, although slow and occasionally subtle, progression of Severian's character. He is seeing the world, escaping the indoctrination of the torturers' guild, and meeting new people. The progression is so subtle in fact, that you'll reach a point where you suddenly realize he is not at More...
The final two books reveal a clear, although slow and occasionally subtle, progression of Severian's character. He is seeing the world, escaping the indoctrination of the torturers' guild, and meeting new people. The progression is so subtle in fact, that you'll reach a point where you suddenly realize he is not at More...
Jan 28, 2011
Juliette
rated it:
The second half of the Book of the New Sun, Severian ends his quest to return the Claw of the Conciliator, and finds that there is a lot more to do.
A year ago I read the first half of the series (book #1 and 2). When I got towards the end of book 4 I remembered why it took me so long to finish this series. The solitary life of Severian really got to me, and I grew tired of only his thoughts, his confusions, and his descriptions.
Add to that Gene Wolfe's constant barrage More...
A year ago I read the first half of the series (book #1 and 2). When I got towards the end of book 4 I remembered why it took me so long to finish this series. The solitary life of Severian really got to me, and I grew tired of only his thoughts, his confusions, and his descriptions.
Add to that Gene Wolfe's constant barrage More...
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Jun 20, 2010
John
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It's been a few weeks and I can barely remember it, more my fault than Gene's. Bit of a slog towards the end (or at least the end of this book. There's more in a sequel written later that I have half-read). There's something, indeed, in the style that suggests Gene Wolf writes with no advanced plan, a kind of stream on consciousness full of incident but low on explanation. Whole parts of the book I found I had no idea why what was happening should be important to know it as far as the rest of th
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Feb 23, 2011
Chris
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Gene Wolfe, the poetically accented writer of intricate fantasy/science-fiction hybrids like this exquisite tetralogy, was inspired by that other pen-wielding magician Jack Vance's Tales of the Dying Earth: Wolfe's series also takes place on a radically altered Earth in the far, far future when the Sun's fuel is running dangerously low. Amidst the wreckage of past civilizations lies the sprawling, endless city of Wolfe's protagonist torturer-apprentice Severian. Beginning as a gauzy, haunting bi
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Jun 10, 2009
Debbie
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As per my review for Books 1 and 2 in this series, there also seems to be a huge love/hate relationship for this book too.
I bought this book after finishing Books 1 and 2 in the hope that it would make me understand what was going on a bit more, so that I could finish the series and finally say 'I enjoyed that'.
The book, as per the first two, is well written, though still a little too language-heavy on occasion, and I still feel I should have swallowed a dictionary befor More...
I bought this book after finishing Books 1 and 2 in the hope that it would make me understand what was going on a bit more, so that I could finish the series and finally say 'I enjoyed that'.
The book, as per the first two, is well written, though still a little too language-heavy on occasion, and I still feel I should have swallowed a dictionary befor More...
May 15, 2011
Tim
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I am rating the third and fourth books less highly than the earlier volumes because they leave the well-crafted city of the first book and the relationships of the second and lead Severian wandering in the wilderness and across a war zone. While there are interesting ideas here, it feels much less like a coherent world, than a random sequence of adventures. Severian does not seem to develop much when left alone with himself and Wolfe's love of the mysterious becomes more extreme (as does his u
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Apr 07, 2008
Sam
rated it:
I'll just put my review for the entire Book of the New Sun right here. This beast is the Ulysses (the James Joyce novel) of speculative fiction. The ending left me perplexed, but it's supposed to. Reading it is like obtaining all the pieces to a puzzle with smeared and blurry directions as to how they fit together. The more I thought about the book afterwards, the more I realized how unreliable the narrator is and how unreliable some of the descriptions are. HE LIES TO YOU! AND HE MISREMEM
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Apr 18, 2008
Agnieszka
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My three favorite novels in the world are Dune by Frank Herbert, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, and The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. I bet that many of you have read, and many more have heard of, the first two, but I wonder how many have read the last. The Book of the New Sun is less accessible than The Name of the Rose and weirder than Dune. The mind-bending future world, where the sun is so close to dead that you can see the stars in the daytime, is on par with Dune in its richness
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Oct 15, 2007
Christopher
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SWORD AND CITADEL is an omnibus containing the second half of Gene Wolfe's four-volume work The Book of the New Sun, the novels THE SWORD OF THE LICTOR and THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH. The Book of the New Sun, a work in which science and myth, mystery and enlightment mix, is one of the finest works of speculative fiction in the English language. Anyone who is not familiar with The Book of the New Sun is encouraged to read my review for SHADOW AND CLAW, the first half.
THE SWORD O More...
Jul 18, 2007
Ross
rated it:
Completing Gene Wolfe’s dying earth tetralogy The Book of the New Sun, Sword and Citadel collects books three and four of the series, Sword of the Lictor and Citadel of the Autarch. As with Shadow and Claw, Wolfe’s language is sublime, but his storytelling, particularly when his convincing characters break form to share their own stories with one another, is easily among the best to be had. Here, Severian has begun to ply his trade, working as a lector (or torturer and executioner) in a city far
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Jul 07, 2008
Matt
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I got less than a hundred pages into this; I just could not summon the will or motivation to continue. I don't like that the book is written from the point of view of potentially the dullest protagonist the world has ever known. It's almost impossible to conceive how a story with The Book of the New Sun's elements (science fantasy, swords and space pistols, dying sun, torturers, cyborgs and aliens) could be rendered this tedious and unrewarding, but Wolfe has somehow found a way, and then, drive
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Sep 16, 2010
Parksy
rated it:
3.5
Very cool series.
"The second half of The book of the new sun."
"Outstanding...A major work of twentieth-century American literature." --The New York Times Book Review
"Wonderfully vivid and inventive...the most extraordinary hero in the history of the heroic epic." --Washington Post Book World
"Brilliant...terrific...a fantasy so epic it beggars the mind. An extraordinary work of art!" --Philadelphia In
Very cool series.
"The second half of The book of the new sun."
"Outstanding...A major work of twentieth-century American literature." --The New York Times Book Review
"Wonderfully vivid and inventive...the most extraordinary hero in the history of the heroic epic." --Washington Post Book World
"Brilliant...terrific...a fantasy so epic it beggars the mind. An extraordinary work of art!" --Philadelphia In
