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The Urth of the New Sun

(The Book of the New Sun #5)

Gene Wolfe

4.01 · Rating details · 5,734 ratings · 299 reviews

The long awaited sequel to Gene Wolfe’s four-volume classic, The Book of the New Sun. We return to the world of Severian, now the Autarch of Urth, as he leaves the planet on one of the huge spaceships of the alien Hierodules to travel across time and space to face his greatest test, to become the legendary New Sun or die. The strange, rich, original spaceship scenes give w ...more

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Paperback, 372 pages

Published November 15th 1997 by Orb Books (first published 1987)

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Mar 26, 2013 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, 2016-shelf

I knew things were going to get interesting the moment we started the book on the spaceship "Yesod", the ninth branch on the tree of life directly above the root, the kingdom, in the Kabbalah. Yesod is the ship that is outside of time and Maya, and the source of the Sun's renewal and the place where Sevarian must make or break his new covenant, the place of the new foundation for humanity.

Nuts? Hell yeah. There's plenty of crazy going on in the whole series, but the fact we start moving up throu I knew things were going to get interesting the moment we started the book on the spaceship "Yesod", the ninth branch on the tree of life directly above the root, the kingdom, in the Kabbalah. Yesod is the ship that is outside of time and Maya, and the source of the Sun's renewal and the place where Sevarian must make or break his new covenant, the place of the new foundation for humanity.

Nuts? Hell yeah. There's plenty of crazy going on in the whole series, but the fact we start moving up through the branches to Hod, witnessing the splendor of Tzabaoth, kinda sealed the idea for me, and it didn't really matter if these were aliens outside of time who were once on the same road as humanity until we spread throughout the galaxy and did horrendous things and broke the covenant. The underlying shape of the story is clear even if it isn't actually Severian dealing with angels. ;)

Things are also a bit more complicated when we move from the flaming swords of Gabriel and return to earth to deal with the personal issue of fractured times and places making Severian deal with the qualities of Glory, Victory, Beauty, Severity, Mercy, Wisdom, and finally the Crown.

Unfortunately for me, I was reading purely for entertainment value, so I didn't actually sit down and track every scene to a branch on the tree, but I picked up on at least 4 or 5 of them, easy. :)

Impressive? Yeah, I think so too, and we've even got the whole feel of Slaughterhouse Five, the coming resurrection, the return of the king, and a lot of other hints, too, but let's face it... the story is very odd. Scenes feel all right by themselves, but they often take very odd directions from one another, and I can't quite tell if it's because it's following the Tree regardless of the natural progression of story, or whether the story is just odd for its own sake.

Having read the previous four, I'd soooo love to say, outright, that it's fundamentally incomprehensible, but no, I think I've actually found a pretty decent roadmap.

I'm impressed, but, not quite engrossed in the tale enough to put in the extra work of truly deciphering it. :) Still! Props.

:) ...more

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Nov 26, 2018 David Katzman rated it really liked it

This review is for all five books in the “New Sun” tetralogy.

What a peculiar series. Bizarre and compelling yet also distant and alien. The language is poetic while the tone tends toward melancholy. As if, perhaps, Edgar Allen Poe had written long-form science fiction novels.

The New Sun series, is not for those who demand their fantasy or science fiction served on a platter, spoon fed. Wolfe has written a story that is ambiguous, mysterious and falls in an undefinable land between myth, fantasy This review is for all five books in the “New Sun” tetralogy.

What a peculiar series. Bizarre and compelling yet also distant and alien. The language is poetic while the tone tends toward melancholy. As if, perhaps, Edgar Allen Poe had written long-form science fiction novels.

The New Sun series, is not for those who demand their fantasy or science fiction served on a platter, spoon fed. Wolfe has written a story that is ambiguous, mysterious and falls in an undefinable land between myth, fantasy and science fiction. You might find it experimental in style as compared to mainstream fantasy. The main character is often unsympathetic and unrelatable, yet he remains fascinating and intriguing. Plot threads are seemingly abandoned only to turn up as central events in later books. Periodically, inexplicable experiences are explained only to open up new unknowns. The New Sun series manages to be both satisfying and deeply unsatisfying simultaneously.

The story follows a youth named Severian who begins life in the Guild of the Torturers (which applies the government’s “justice” to prisoners) until he eventually breaks away, has many adventures, grows into adulthood, travels through time and the universe, and eventually attempts to save the Earth from its dying sun. Hence the title the “New Sun.”

The setting of the series is itself rather ambiguous. Initially it appears to be a medieval level fantasy with some elements of magic. Over the course of the novels, it becomes more clear that there are aliens and genetic mutants present and aspects of high-level technology. Some of what appears to be magical, may in fact be advanced technology. However, at many points, it is undefinable and may in fact be supernatural.

The story is told in first person at all times, from the perspective of Severian who has an eidetic memory. Our understanding of what goes on around him is restricted by his own limitations and often confused knowledge. He also makes unpredictable decisions and his descriptions of his own motivations is sometimes less than enlightening. “Enigmatic” is a good word for him.

The journey of Severian is thematically in some ways Biblical. I’ve read that some aspects of the series are Kabbalistic, but I’m less familiar with that than the more obvious stories of a religious savior whether that be Christ, Osiris, Vishnu or other mythological characters of rebirth and redemption. Severian while often struggling to be moral and at times achieving a noble perspective, at other times is selfish or restricted by his perspective. As a justifier of torture, he falls short of a being a clear hero, but he does evolve as the story continues. If he is metaphorically a Christ figure, it’s a gnostic figure and a gnostic perspective definitely fits the exotic journey of Severian. The fifth book, the semi-conclusion to the story, is perhaps the most mysterious and gnostic of all the stories wherein Severian in some way arrives at his final destiny. There are numerous thematic threads that can be teased out of the series, but the most obvious central one to me was that of judgement. As a member of the Torturer’s Guild, Severian begins his journey administering the judgement of others. As time goes on, he himself is repeatedly judged for his actions as well as judging others. Yet perhaps the most damning judgement he inflicts is upon himself. Do we excuse our own actions because we see no “choice” in the matter? Are some individuals oblivious to their own selfishness or do they even revel in their greed as President Trump seems to? I was just following orders, said the Nazi guard.

Wolfe’s literary finesse holds the entire work together. His linguistic prowess keeps the story riveting even while it’s confusing. He stays true to a limited first-person perspective, and is consistently true to the conflicted undefinable personality of the main character. In that sense, it’s a true work of art. The New Sun series is not likely to appeal to those who dabble in fantasy or sci fi, nor is it for those who prefer work that is cut and dried. However, if your taste runs to the fantastical with appreciation for an experimental approach, then this is highly recommended.
...more

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Nov 23, 2016 Antigone rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy

Well, I've given Gene Wolfe a fair shot.

This is the fifth volume of (and really more of a coda to) his mammoth opus, The Book of the New Sun - the story of Severian; torturer, soldier, ruler, prophet and savior of his planet. While critics and fans alike rave about his experimental brand of narration, I found this particular installment annoyingly hallucinogenic. Here's the guy on the couch in college, 2 AM, stoned out of his mind, Jedi death-grip on your forearm: "Dude, you gotta hear this. Jus ...more

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Dec 20, 2016 Vit Babenco rated it really liked it · review of another edition

“There the stars swarmed still, but it seemed to me they formed a great disk in the sky, and when I looked at the edges of that disk, I saw they were streaked and old. Since that time I have often pondered on that sight, here beside the all-devouring sea. It is said that so great a thing is the universe that no one can see it as it is, but only as it was…”
The Urth of the New Sun begins as a space opera – a turbulent journey along the corridors of space and time…
Then the monstrous spaceship arri ...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Michael Fierce rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: People who continue to read a series & just don't know when to stop. Like me.

Shelves: science-fiction, dystopian, fantasy, post-apocalyptic, speculative-fiction, shitty-cover-art

If you enjoyed Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun series which includes, The Shadow of the Torturer, The Claw of the Conciliator, The Sword of the Lictor, and The Citadel of the Autarch, DON'T EVER READ THIS!!!!!

This is supposed to be the 5th book in the series, written much later, and I don't know what on Earth Gene was thinking!?!?!? This book has nearly NOTHING to do with the rest of the series and I've determined he must've been smoking some bad shi+ to come up with this horrible idea of ...more

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Aug 04, 2010 Paul Perry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, male-author, re-read, read-in-2015, sf, epic

This is my second read of this, often referred to as a coda to Wolfe's Book of the New Sun rather than a true fifth volume, and I enjoyed it far more this time. I still think that it isn't quite up to the same level of magnificence as those books, but it is a different creature and great in its own right.

This tale follows Severian - again through his own journals - after he has become the Autarch, the ruler of the empire and (possibly) the rightful although not actual ruler of a fractured planet ...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Terry rated it really liked it

Shelves: dying-earth, fantasy, sci-fi

4 – 4.5 stars

The final segment of the New Sun series, whether you consider it a somewhat separate coda to the main four books or simply volume five of Severian’s story, is a satisfying conclusion to all that has led up to it and trust me when I say that for Wolfe that is a surprising turn of events. Don’t get me wrong, plenty of mysteries and unanswered questions remain, but there is a sense of completion and clarity that is often not apparent in Wolfe’s work. I actually found, on this re-read a 4 – 4.5 stars

The final segment of the New Sun series, whether you consider it a somewhat separate coda to the main four books or simply volume five of Severian’s story, is a satisfying conclusion to all that has led up to it and trust me when I say that for Wolfe that is a surprising turn of events. Don’t get me wrong, plenty of mysteries and unanswered questions remain, but there is a sense of completion and clarity that is often not apparent in Wolfe’s work. I actually found, on this re-read at least, that nearly all of the big mysteries were resolved to my satisfaction as the story progressed, though I was perhaps reading the text more closely than I had done before.

We last left Severian on the edge of taking up the mantle of Autarch with his journey of discovery and growth coming to an end just as the greater quest to bring about the New Sun was literally rising upon the horizon. In ‘Urth’ we see Severian take up that quest in earnest as we skip over the years of his rulership of the Commonwealth and join him as he embarks upon a solar sail ship to be judged as “the epitome of Urth” by the angelic extraterrestrials that have been overseeing the growth and development of humanity. The first main segment of the story takes place on this ship, a gigantic vessel that plys the spaceways not only between planets, but also between realities, as Severian is ferried from the dying universe of Briah to the higher one of Yesod (terms taken from kabbalistic mysticism and which show some of the ideas that Wolfe is playing with in his conception of Severian’s universe).

I found the ship fascinating in itself as we witness the strange nature of its composition and inhabitants as the story unfolds. I also have to admit to being partial to the whole concept of solar sail starships, and so I was obviously taken by this star-faring vessel with masts that dwarf towers and sails that could seemingly cover a continent. The complexities and ambiguities of space travel (and its intersection with time travel) are played with to great effect and we see how the multitudinous crew of this cavernous vessel ply the star ways in and out of time, perhaps arriving on their homeworld at a point generations after (or before) they initially signed on. We also see the ‘magical’ implications of the solar sails and their connection to the mirrors of Father Inire from the earlier books: sailors on this ship need to be wary of dangerous people or creatures their own ship inadvertently brings aboard, nevermind any dangers they may face on one of their extra-solar ports of call.

The next section of the story covers Severian’s ‘trial’ on the paradaisaical world of Yesod. It is also where Severian begins to truly understand the implications of his role as possible bringer of the New Sun for the world of Urth; should he succeed he will not simply be a saviour as he might have liked to believe, but a destroyer as well. If there wasn’t enough timey-wimey stuff for you before hold onto your seats because we’re in for a whackload of strange adventures throughout time and relative dimensions in space as we enter the final section of the book in which Severian returns to his homeworld. It is here that Severian truly comes into his power and we learn the secrets that lay behind the abilities previously attributed to the relic known as the Claw of the Conciliator. As we see time wrapped into an escherian knot around the torturer’s life many mysteries are resolved, or at least clarified, and we have the chance to revisit some familiar people and places and see them with new eyes. Ultimately we witness the birth of the Conciliator and begin to more fully appreciate the cyclical nature of Severian’s life.

For my money this is definitely one of Wolfe's best series (only matched in my eyes by the Latro books and the Wizard Knight duology). Perseverence can really pay off with these ones, and who wouldn't want a sword and sorcery adventure melded with a star-faring space opera with the fate of the earth (oops, I mean urth) in the hands of an erstwhile torturer? ...more

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Jul 17, 2016 Linda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016

OK, there is a TON that I still do not understand (not that Wolfe did not try to explain it, but it would take me some time studying it to figure it all out), but I loved the ending (view spoiler). I was also happy to revisit people from Severian's past and get caught up on what happened between the time he was Autarch and the time he left on his journey. ...more

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Jun 02, 2013 sologdin rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: burns-like-cold-iron, blew-it-up-you-maniacs, ruling-class-protagonist, douchebag-leaves-earth, attorney-for-all-humanity

Nutshell: liar writes shruggable intergalactic/transtemporal there-and-back-again.

Beyond proficient at the sentence level, with many slick turns of phrase and cool observations. At the level of discourse, though, it's kinda hard to see the point. Might benefit from a reading of The Book of the New Sun immediately prior, though.

Love how Severian at one point addresses the reader: "I will leave it to you to explain these things" (167). Okay then!

Seems that this new sun business destroyed the world ...more

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Jan 30, 2020 J.M. Hushour rated it really liked it

This is a fine ending to this most wonderful series, but it does lack some of the gritty polish and bemusing weirdness of its four predecessors. Perhaps it is just familiarity with the world of Severian the Torturer that makes this one a little less insane, and a good portion of the book is taken up by crazy battles on a time-bending spaceship, a literal galleon with a thousand sails whisking our "hero" to the universe Yesod to find the New Sun. None of that will mean anything to you if you have ...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Nick Tramdack rated it it was amazing

"Declan wished to know how Urth would fare when the New Sun came; and I, understanding little more than he did himself, drew upon Dr. Talos's play, never thinking that in a time yet to come Dr. Talos's play would be drawn from my words."

A hall of mirrors, a recognition over immense gulfs of time and space, a hero's journey that's perpetually refreshes and corrects itself and encounters its own traces. "I am not the first Severian," our hero said in The Citadel of the Autarch; it takes Wolfe full ...more

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Jul 21, 2017 The Final Song ❀ rated it it was amazing

Why even read anymore.

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Nov 25, 2011 Jeroen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-low, science-fiction-soft

I have a problem with all Wolfe's books I have read so far: they make me feel dumb. This can be attributed to two, maybe three things.
(1) Wolfe meticulously crafts his stories so that they tread beyond normal "...and then this happened, then this and then this!" narratives. That is to say, this is exactly what he does in the Book of the New Sun, but in such a fashion that I rarely have a moment to breathe in between passages. Everything flows to and fro, which makes this a very exhausting and ch ...more

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Jan 28, 2010 Nicole rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

This might have gotten 5 stars had I read it right after the other four volumes of the series - this book frequently hearkens back to events in earlier books, and I didn't always remember them. This is partly because the books are JAM PACKED with events and characters, and partly because of Wolfe's writing style.

About that style: some authors telegraph "watch carefully! important stuff coming up!" and their work is pretty easy to skim as a result. Wolfe does the exact opposite, deliberately obf ...more

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Mar 22, 2010 Mark rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, fiction

The Urth of the New Sun is considered--even by the author--to be a coda to the Book of the New Sun tetralogy, rather than a full-fledged fifth book of the series. I suppose this is because it differs considerably in tone from the four books that make up the Book. As the author tells it, he hadn't planned to write this fifth book until his publisher insisted, based on the assumption that Wolfe's readers would want to know how Severian's quest to bring the New Sun back to Urth went.

Though many asp The Urth of the New Sun is considered--even by the author--to be a coda to the Book of the New Sun tetralogy, rather than a full-fledged fifth book of the series. I suppose this is because it differs considerably in tone from the four books that make up the Book. As the author tells it, he hadn't planned to write this fifth book until his publisher insisted, based on the assumption that Wolfe's readers would want to know how Severian's quest to bring the New Sun back to Urth went.

Though many aspects of the Book of the New Sun confused me (and it seems I'm not alone in this), these four books have stayed with me since I read them a few years ago, and as time goes on I've realized that, even though I didn't fully comprehend the various complexities of the story, its hold on me has only strengthened with time. Thus was I compelled to read this fifth book, even though I've heard that many of the original tetralogy's fans were disappointed by it.

I can see why. The first section follows Severian on his journey to Yesod in a vast, seven-sided ship, and is nothing like the fascinating environment of Urth that serves as the setting for the first four books. When Severian finally returns to Urth (about halfway through the book) I felt some of the old magic from the series returning, and enjoyed that part immensely. But as the end of the book neared, Severian began slipping through time, which added a dreamlike quality to the book that I didn't care for. It added a feeling of unrealness (and, subsequently, triviality) to the proceedings, which is something that, despite how alien the events in the first four books sometimes seemed, rarely occurred in the earlier installments.

However, I'm very glad I read the book because it did provide me with answers to some (but not all) of the lingering questions I had upon finishing the tetralogy. Its ending, despite being far from categorical, was more satisfying than the "end" provided by The Citadel of the Autarch. And Wolfe's beautiful use of language continued unabated in this volume, which is a large part of why the tetralogy has stuck with me this long.

I look forward to diving into Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun sometime soon. ...more

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Sep 04, 2017 YouKneeK rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: completed-series, science-fiction

This was the last book in the series The Book of the New Sun. For the most part, I really liked it, and I might even have rated it higher than the four stars I’ve consistently given the other books in this series. However, I thought it went off the rails a bit toward the end.

It gave me the answers I was looking for in terms of what happened after the end of the fourth book, and I enjoyed the story it told. Then, without giving anything away, it shed new light on many of the events from those fir ...more

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Dec 20, 2011 Jon rated it liked it · review of another edition

Reading this without having read The Book of the New Sun is likely to result in confusion. Reading this without having read The Book of the New Sun very recently ain't much better. Urth is tightly tied to characters and events of the previous four volumes and provides no handholding for those who haven't read them. (For me, it has been a decade.) This is not an "obvious" coda: according to this discussion Urth exists mainly to keep a Polyanna epilogue out of Book of the New Sun. So it would be e ...more

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May 28, 2019 Phil rated it liked it

Shelves: sf

In this follow-up to the Book of the New Sun, Severian, the Autarch of the Commonwealth of Urth, journeys deep into space. His goal is to acquire the New Sun, a star/energy source/person (or perhaps all of these), which is capable of replacing his planet's dying sun. While his success will ensure the survival of his planet, it carries with it a terrible price.

Much like the preceding four volumes that comprise The Book of the New Sun, I enjoyed this book but I do not feel like I entirely comprehe ...more

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Feb 24, 2020 Patrick rated it liked it

Depending on who you ask, this is either the fourth or the fifth volume in the author’s acclaimed Book of the New Sun series. The blurb on this website has it as the former, but Wikipedia seems to think that there was at least a tetralogy before this one, which acts as a sort of coda. The others are still in print together whereas this one was a little harder to find. I found this edition in a bookshop while on holiday in Canada — outside of the canonical standards, it’s unusual to stumble acros ...more

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Feb 14, 2017 Chris Gager rated it liked it · review of another edition

I've been a sci-fi reader since the late fifties(Jr. H.S.) and while I wouldn't exactly call myself an aficionado, I have read a lot of sci-fi. But ... I don't recall ever reading any of Gene Wolfe's books. Perhaps a short story or two in anthologies. Maybe he'll be my new Jack Vance/Cordwainer Smith/James Schmitz/Fred Saberhagen discovery. Excellent! The book's off to a great start with a stunning, thrilling and heart-stopping little excursion out in the rigging of a giant sail-type(Cordwainer ...more

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Mar 06, 2017 Daniel rated it it was amazing

If you felt that many things were left unexplained in the previous 4 books "Urth Of The New Sun" will definitely explain them all but on the other hand it will introduce many more puzzles. Anyway if you reached this far by reading and loving the first four books perhaps you already knew it as a possibility.

Here, Gene Wolfe tells the tale of now autarch Severian who takes the travel to undergo his ultimate test on Yesod, and while it is a not fictional mythology book as is Tolkien's "The Silmari ...more

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Jul 30, 2013 jersey9000 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi

Well, here it is: the conclusion to the wonderful, tragically underrated New Sun series by Mr. Wolfe. This book came out a few years after the previous one, and serves as a sort of capper to the whole thing- kind of anyways. It also works, a bit, as a stand alone tale. You don't have to read the other four to enjoy this one, but it helps, because the book is batshit insane at parts, and is one of the most dense bits of literature I have ever read.

It takes the wacky, obscure, completely otherworl ...more

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May 16, 2011 Max rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

I feel inclined to give this book a lower rating because I found it to be so much weaker than the rest of the New Sun series (and however much people describe it as a 'coda' or 'not really a sequel,' it really is a direct sequel), but I don't really think that would be fair—it's still much better than a lot of the science fiction out there. That's the thing, though: where the other books in the New Sun cycle weren't so heavy on the S part of SF, this book is more heavily sciencey science fiction ...more

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Jan 19, 2015 Alexander rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, to-re-read

This has to be one of the most original and complex stories I’ve ever heard (read). I have no clue how anyone could walk away reading just the first four books. Urth of the New Sun did shine light on many, many questions that remained after the fourth book though I still had to read the synopsis and look up a few things in the Lexicon Urthus when I was done with Urth of the New Sun to truly get closure. The inspiration from Wolfe’s faith goes all out in this book compared to the first four, but ...more

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Sep 22, 2016 Yve rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1980s, sff, 20th-century

Using this space for some second-time-around notes.

1. It's appropriate that the epigraph is taken from a translation that is known to be a distortion of the original, and credited to the translator alone (FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam).

2. And a verse from the same poem:

I sometimes think that never blows so red
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled;
That every Hyacinth the garden wears
Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head.

3. Gunnie swears by the Danaides, one of whom was named Scy ...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Stuart rated it liked it

Shelves: literature, distant-worlds

A companion piece to The Book of the New Sun, set in a giant generation-spanning spaceship, this book is equally mysterious and fascinating. Not quite as easy to understand and absorb, but certainly a worthy read. Not sure how well it works as a stand-alone novel, though.

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May 11, 2013 Dalibor Dado Ivanovic rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: knjige

just finished the fifth book and i'm fascinating. i can hardly wait to reread this series. oh my God or should i say oh my Severian. gonna miss you in my wonderworld...untill ...more

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May 09, 2015 Sandrus rated it liked it · review of another edition

I felt that some parts of this book were a delight to read and others a nightmare. My advice is to keep to the first 4 original books of the series.

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Feb 14, 2019 David M added it

whut

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Apr 25, 2018 Toni rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

All things must end, unfortunately.

The Urth of the New Sun explains a lot of earlier mysteries and brings the series to a far more satisfying conclusion. The series as a whole easily stands as one of the truly great ones, though maybe for quite different reasons than most.

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About Gene Wolfe

Gene Wolfe

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Gene Wolfe was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying a Catholic. He was a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the field.

The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is given by SFWA for ‘lifetime achievement in science f ...more

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The Book of the New Sun (5 books)

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The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun, #1)

Shadow & Claw (The Book of the New Sun #1-2)

Sword & Citadel (The Book of the New Sun #3-4)

The Claw of the Conciliator (The Book of the New Sun, #2)

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“Imagine a man who stands before a mirror; a stone strikes it, and it falls to ruin all in an instant. And the man learns that he is himself, and not the mirrored man he had believed himself to be.” — 30 likes

“You can’t order the waves to be silent, madame,” Baldanders told her. “They are coming, and they are bitter with salt.” — 3 likes

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