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I read some of The Book of the New Sun many years ago, and was mostly just disgusted by the story of an executioner becoming a tyrant. Is it worth taking anoth

I read some of The Book of the New Sun many years ago, and was mostly just disgusted by the story of an executioner becoming a tyrant. Is it worth taking another look?

friedman23 8y ago
If the premise is enough to ruin your enjoyment of the book then you shouldn't read it.
SmirkingRevenge 8y ago
I don't think that summary is accurate. The Book of the New Sun is deep, heady, high literature, not an indulgent fantasy adventure. It reads like a bit like a mythological holy book, authored by the supposed prophet - and you kind of have to read it like one, to get anything out of it - as if you're doing a deep textual exegesis. Its not A Game of Thrones. It was definitely an interesting story, though it could be a chore to get through at some points, and I'm still kind of trying to figure out if I actually like it or not, or how much I actually really understood. It definitely won't appeal to many or even most people, I'd say. Its a heavy, somber experience, very little humor. I will say, upon starting a re-read, it felt like nearly every word/sentence/paragraph in its initial chapters were impressively thick with double meanings, foreshadowings, and themes that only really become clear after finishing the story. PS - the audiobooks are really well done - the narrator is just perfect.
- username223 8y ago
  That's fair. Like I said, it was a long time ago, and I didn't finish the series. I just remember it often being a chore to read, with a loathsome main character. Maybe it made a larger point that I missed at the time, but I was a kid reading David Eddings. PS - I'll check out the audiobooks. I hope they're as good as Rob Inglis' reading of The Lord of the Rings. It may not count as "deep, heady, high literature," but he does an incredible job.
  - svachalek 8y ago
    It is a bit of a chore to read if you want to get anything out of it; like most good literature it makes demands of you and you only get out what you put in. The main character is loathsome, in a bizarrely innocent kind of way -- he's a torturer, he was raised a torturer, it's a good honest living that makes people say, "oh we need one of those, I didn't know they still existed", like a dishwasher repairman. You're not supposed to like him, and it's crucial to understanding the story that you don't believe everything he says. It's not for everyone but if you enjoy figuring out all the lies and misdirections and mistakes the narrator makes, it's quite an experience.
coldtea 8y ago
It might or might not be worth it, but whatever it is, merely having a story about "an executioner becoming a tyrant" won't be the reason...
atombender 8y ago
Absolutely. That might seem to be the surface story, but it very much isn't. The story might seem more intriguing once you realize -- and it's not immediately obvious -- that some of the characters are aliens, and there is even one minor character who seems to be traveling through time in reverse. The surface elements -- the torturer's guild, the Autarch, even the Claw of the Conciliator (an ironic McGuffin) -- are fantasy tropes that Wolfe uses to tell a much richer, more complex story. Even the title might be a pun; New Sun/New Son, the story of a prophesied saviour.

I read some of The Book of the New Sun many years ago, and was mostly just disgusted by the story of an executioner becoming a tyrant. Is it worth taking another look?

friedman23 8y ago

If the premise is enough to ruin your enjoyment of the book then you shouldn't read it.

SmirkingRevenge 8y ago

I don't think that summary is accurate. The Book of the New Sun is deep, heady, high literature, not an indulgent fantasy adventure. It reads like a bit like a mythological holy book, authored by the supposed prophet - and you kind of have to read it like one, to get anything out of it - as if you're doing a deep textual exegesis. Its not A Game of Thrones. It was definitely an interesting story, though it could be a chore to get through at some points, and I'm still kind of trying to figure out if I actually like it or not, or how much I actually really understood. It definitely won't appeal to many or even most people, I'd say. Its a heavy, somber experience, very little humor. I will say, upon starting a re-read, it felt like nearly every word/sentence/paragraph in its initial chapters were impressively thick with double meanings, foreshadowings, and themes that only really become clear after finishing the story. PS - the audiobooks are really well done - the narrator is just perfect.

username223 8y ago
That's fair. Like I said, it was a long time ago, and I didn't finish the series. I just remember it often being a chore to read, with a loathsome main character. Maybe it made a larger point that I missed at the time, but I was a kid reading David Eddings. PS - I'll check out the audiobooks. I hope they're as good as Rob Inglis' reading of The Lord of the Rings. It may not count as "deep, heady, high literature," but he does an incredible job.
- svachalek 8y ago
  It is a bit of a chore to read if you want to get anything out of it; like most good literature it makes demands of you and you only get out what you put in. The main character is loathsome, in a bizarrely innocent kind of way -- he's a torturer, he was raised a torturer, it's a good honest living that makes people say, "oh we need one of those, I didn't know they still existed", like a dishwasher repairman. You're not supposed to like him, and it's crucial to understanding the story that you don't believe everything he says. It's not for everyone but if you enjoy figuring out all the lies and misdirections and mistakes the narrator makes, it's quite an experience.

coldtea 8y ago

It might or might not be worth it, but whatever it is, merely having a story about "an executioner becoming a tyrant" won't be the reason...

atombender 8y ago

Absolutely. That might seem to be the surface story, but it very much isn't. The story might seem more intriguing once you realize -- and it's not immediately obvious -- that some of the characters are aliens, and there is even one minor character who seems to be traveling through time in reverse. The surface elements -- the torturer's guild, the Autarch, even the Claw of the Conciliator (an ironic McGuffin) -- are fantasy tropes that Wolfe uses to tell a much richer, more complex story. Even the title might be a pun; New Sun/New Son, the story of a prophesied saviour.