7 ms·
For all those who are saying now "Who's Gene Wolfe??" I strongly, strongly, urge you to read his tetralogy "The Book of The New Sun," it's one of the finest sci
by saberience 6y ago
For all those who are saying now "Who's Gene Wolfe??" I strongly, strongly, urge you to read his tetralogy "The Book of The New Sun," it's one of the finest sci-fi/fantasy series I've ever read and I have a pretty damn critical taste when it comes to literature. (not trying to sound snobby by the way, I just don't praise books like these lightly or without good reason)
So I love Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, Martian Chronicles (and other Ray Bradbury books), Ursula K Le Guin(Earthsea), Kurt Vonnegut (Cat's Cradle, Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse Five etc), Dune, Game of Thrones series, Neuromancer, Asimov (basically everything but especially Foundation series), Terry Pratchett, and so on...
And I consider Gene Wolfe's work to be on a par with all of the above, and I would say he takes sci-fi to another realm. The Book of The New Sun is the first sci-fi series I read where I thought, "this is literature," as in, comparable with books by Dostoyevsky and Hemingway, and I don't believe this is hyperbole, it's just that good.
The other amazing thing about The Book of The New Sun is that each time you read it you realize you missed about 100 things in the previous read-throughs, there is so much "hidden" in plain sight and the subsequent read-throughs are like reading a completely different book.
So just read it please.
Edited to include Le Guin as another example of "genre fiction" as literature.
- jowday 6y agoThe final book even concludes with the narrator/protagonist suggesting the reader re-read the books to grasp their true meaning. IMO, two reads minimum are necessary.
- philipov 6y agoThere's an essay in Castle of Days where Gene Wolfe wrote about his writing process. He would rewrite the manuscript for his books from scratch multiple times so that he could incorporate what he wrote later into the beginning of the book. I think he would end up completely rewriting the book up to 4 times. That's why there's so much to get out of them on a reread.
- therealcamino 6y agoAnd that sounds crazily presumptuous, but when I finished my exact thought was "I have to read that again."
- strifey 6y agoI would concur with this. Wolfe and Le Guin, to me, both write sci-fi/fantasy as literature while also closely using themes that most would consider "genre fiction".
- saberience 6y agoAgreed with Le Guin, I love the Earthsea books, which are more than simple fantasy and have a beautiful spiritual and philosophical quality.
- sdepablos 6y agoAgree with both, but in the case of Le Guin I clearly prefer the Hainish Cycle, with classics as The Left Hand of Darkness, The Disposesed or The Word for World is Forest
- 7thaccount 6y agoThe left-hand of darkness was strange, but somehow spiritually uplifting in a way I have trouble expressing.
- klausnrooster 6y agoGoing to buy LHOD now, thank you very much.
- 7thaccount 6y agoNot a problem. The author is a good writer. Not overly verbose or too terse. I had to read two of her short stories in jr high. One was "those who walk away from omelas" and the other was "the power of a name". Those probably aren't the full titles, but should be close enough and should be available online.
- strifey 6y agoI would also _highly_ recommend The Dispossessed from her same universe. I personally preferred it, but both are really great "sci-fi tackles seriously complicated real life topics" reads.
- NOGDP 6y agoHaven't read Gene Wolfe (yet), but I can strongly recommend 'Hyperion Cantos' by Dan Simmons.
- abrookewood 6y agoI love that series. It's fantastic.
- m463 6y agoI think the series sort of dragged on after the first one. But I read it a long time ago, maybe I should try again.
- hnews_account_1 6y agoSomehow this book elicits both claims of "greatest hall of famer ever written" from people like me, or "meh it was good but I couldn't get through all 4 books" from others.
- caskstrength 6y agoCounter opinion: Hyperion books are recommended every time some of my favorite authors are mentioned (like Gene Wolfe and Peter Watts), but I found them very mediocre. Not as bad as Vernor Vinge books that are also always mentioned in similar contexts, but still quite meh.
- erikbye 6y agoAgreed, they do not hold a candle to Wolfe's prose. Though, many genre readers seem completely oblivious to prose quality and read purely for story. In the case of Hyperion everything is b-movie quality.
- krzyk 6y agoHow do you measure "prose quality"? I read books for the story (well, aren't books stories?) if it is written poorly - I don't enjoy it. And for me Gene Wolfe is written poorly the world is interesting but the story there was not entertaining at all for me and I read just the first book. (BTW. I'm probably the only one but I just couldn't bear the constant mentions that some females face was shaped like heart). Hyperion has interesting story and keeps you on your toes (just the first book).
- aidenn0 6y agoThat makes sense. I didn't like Dostoyevsky, Hemingway, or Wolfe.
- riffraff 6y agoah! I thought the exact same thing. The story is original, the characters interesting but it was just a pretty hard series of books to get through for me.
- Pamar 6y agoI have only one upvote to give ...
- cageface 6y agoI enjoyed Book of the New Sun but I’d say it’s quite a bit darker than most of the rest of the books you’ve named. Torture is a very central theme.
- atombender 6y agoI think you missed the real theme, which is death and resurrection, a recurring pattern throughout the book. While Severian is groomed to be a torturer, for most of the book his job (and Severian repeatedly emphasizes that it's just a job) is that of executioner, and he later holds the position of lictor for around a month. While Severian often recounts the procedures practiced in the guild tower, it's not really torture that he is concerned about. The themes of death and resurrection, however, are central to the plot, together with the water motif as a symbol of cleansing, from the moment Severian nearly drowns in the river (and is rescued by an undine) to the destruction of Urth.
- vagrantJin 6y agoThanks for the recommendation. The foundation trilogy stands among the best for me but if you say Wolfe isnt beneath Asimov, that is high praise.
- erikbye 6y agoI do not think your taste is critical if you enjoy Game of Thrones prose. Gene Wolfe's is far above. GoT is average fantasy prose and nowhere near literary fiction quality.
- WaterForest 6y agoStory and character is more important for me than prose. I need to care about what is happening to want to read on and I found the book of the new sun wanting in that regard. I found it a struggle to read - similar to the storm light series (which I found even worse with paper thin characters and terrible plotting). Just my personal opinion.
- krzyk 6y agoI read just the first book in the "Book of the New Sun" and found it quite boring. And my books are quite similar to yours with few exceptions: - Martian Chronicles - interesting concept but eventually it goes into some ecological + anarchist sci-fi which I'm not a fun of - Earthsea - good, but it is mostly for teens, young adults (I read it as a teen and loved it, reread it years later and it was so so) - Dune - the whole series, each book is unique in its own way - Kurt Vonnegut - never read anything by that author - Hemingway - I read just The Old Man and the Sea (or actually was forced in school to read it) - and this was a short novel about basically nothing, boring as it can be And books I really liked that are not on your list: - Cixin Liu - Three Body Problem and the rest in the series - I loved it, never read anything like it - Anything by Naomi Novik (so just two books right now) - Vernon - A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep - N.K. Jemis - Stone Sky and the other two in the series - Ann Leckie - Ancillary Justice (but only this, the other book was worse) - (Almost) Anything by Philip K. Dick That's from my recent reads (so few last years).
- ghaff 6y ago>Hemingway - I read just The Old Man and the Sea (or actually was forced in school to read it) - and this was a short novel about basically nothing, boring as it can be I'm not sure why schools tend to fixate on that particular work. Hemingway may not be to your taste anyway but I much prefer A Farewell to Arms, A Moveable Feast, many of his short stories, etc.
- WaterForest 6y agoI also found the book of the new sun dull. I don't agree it's a good book at all. Hyperion written in 1989 is a much better book and arguably more sophisticated. But hey it's just an opinion. I've heard Gene wolf is a good writer but after trying the book of the new sun I'm not tempted further. It probably comes down to personal taste.
- WaterForest 6y agoA fantasy book with good prose and better story than 'the book of the new sun' is 'the name of the wind'.