I have mixed feelings about this, the final volume of Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun. I’ve been a fan of the work throughout the first three volumes of its run, but the concluding entry is definitely the weakest.
In Citadel of the Autarch, Severian goes off to war and then chances into his destiny, which has implications for all of Urth. The first third is the strongest, as Severian finds himself recuperating in a military camp and becomes the judge of a story contest. The stories are all wonderfully told, and there’s a brilliant conceit involving a captured enemy combatant’s story; the people of Ascians can only speak in memorized passages from their holy text, but we still get his story in translation. In the second third of the novel, Severian goes to war, and we learn that….wait for it….war is hell. It’s a message that I approve of, of course, but it’s the most generic part of this extremely original series.
I won’t spoil the conclusion, even though it’s revealed early in the series, but it does occur through a series of random events, and it puts the character in an entirely different place than he’s been. I can see various reasons for Wolfe to do things this way, but it was a bit unsatisfying because a) it is such a chance occurrence and b) it takes Severian away from the very personal story that has always been at the series’ heart. The Book of the New Sun has been a sort of anti-quest, and the big finish didn’t quite seem an appropriate conclusion to Severian’s wanderings.
Still, this was a solid entry and what has been a fantastic and influential series.
Grade: A-
> I have mixed feelings about this, the final volume of Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun. I’ve been a fan of the work throughout the first three volumes of its run, but the concluding entry is definitely the weakest.
ReplyDeleteI think you mean 'the second to last volume of'... ;)
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ReplyDeleteWell, Urth of the New Sun is published separately-ish. I have to decides whether I want to read that. I know Book of the Long Sun is at the top of my "to read" list for when I get through these award-winners.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I read through the interviews in _Shadow of the New Sun_, but IIRC, the relationship went something like 'Wolfe wanted an enormous _Citadel of the Autarch_ but his editor balked, so Wolfe extracted a promise that a cut-down _Citadel_ would be followed by _Urth_, and then expanded the cut material into _Urth_'.
ReplyDeleteAs for _Long Sun_, I think I enjoyed it more than what I read of _Short Sun_, and it was interesting & good, but more Dickensian than _New Sun_ (and I don't particularly like Dickens) so I liked _New Sun_ better overall. On the other hand, many people like _Long Sun_ much much more.
That story surprises me, since Urth seems so apart in its presentation. A couple of people have told me to skip it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info!