4 ms·

If you liked Anathem, I'd recommend reading Gene Wolfe's series, The Book of the New Sun [1]. I didn't quite like it the first time, but decided to reread the s

If you liked Anathem, I'd recommend reading Gene Wolfe's series, The Book of the New Sun [1]. I didn't quite like it the first time, but decided to reread the series because I kept thinking about it a year later. The world is deep, and Wolfe does a great job of revealing parts of it, bit by bit. The use of vocabulary in the series is so unique that someone produced a companion dictionary called the Lexicon Urthus [2]. There's also a great podcast called Alzabo Soup, that covers the series in depth, chapter by chapter. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun [2] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/5970607-lexicon-urthus https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/5970607-lexicon-urthu... [3] https://www.alzabosoup.com https://www.alzabosoup.com

pickettd 5y ago
As an additional data point - I've read Anathem multiple times and have loved it every time but I read The Book of the New Sun series and really disliked it (though to be fair, I only read TBotNS series once). But I know that TBotNS gets great reviews. So as always with books, your mileage may vary.
- svachalek 5y ago
  Gene Wolfe (the author of TBotNS) loves unreliable narrators. His books are almost like a game of trying to figure out how exactly he is lying to you, with only the flaws in the narration as your guide. They don't come to a satisfying conclusion where all is revealed to you; you may never even realize you've been tricked. It's another example of friction, you have to realize the game you have entered, and be willing to figure out a novel (or in this case trilogy) sized puzzle, where the puzzle pieces are buried in perfectly ordinary prose. If it sounds like fun, and you're up for the challenge, his books can be a unique pleasure. If not, you will miss out on a lot of the more interesting things that are happening between the lines. If you're interested in the concept I recommend Fifth Head of Cerberus as a better entry point into Wolfe's writing. It's a collection of 3 novellas set on the same planet. They are inter-related but each is basically its own story-puzzle, in a much more digestible size than New Sun.
victorcharlie 5y ago
I really _really_ tried to enjoy The Shadow of the Torturer but I couldn't fall into rhythm I guess. As English is my second language, I had to struggle to know if a word was invented or just obscure English (I found that the author uses a fucktonne of the latter after I finished it). And I hate needing a glossary to read a novel (looking at you Tolkien). It struck to me like an 80s animated movie: extremely rich from a technical point of view but, well, not a good history and even boring for some people (think about Vampire Hunter D or Angel's Egg. For the record, I love these movies). Meh, I'll give it another go, after I finish Blindsight from Peter Watts (2006). Thanks for reminding me of that saga!
- austinl 5y ago
  I couldn't imagine trying to read Wolfe with English as a second language — definitely commendable! One thing I'd recommend if you're giving it another go is to read the chapters, then listen to Alzabo Soup (the podcast) afterwards. It's a spoiler-light discussion of the book, and they highlight a lot of things I missed on the first read. Another recommendation is to try the Book of the Long Sun series instead. I actually recommend that to folks more frequently if they aren't sci-fi readers. I think it's a bit more approachable in terms of language, and the tone is very different. There's also no character like Severian in that series, which I think is a good thing.
  - victorcharlie 5y ago
    Hey thanks for the suggestion! :) You know, I found Severian to be really interesting as a character. I wanted to see how he turned out and expected a lot of development... But the book falls kinda short. I always tended to stick to Sci-fi but recently I found that I didn't dislike Fantasy as I thought (I love the books from Brandon Sanderson). Regarding the obscure English: I _loved_ learning those words as I have a thing for old and obscure words, you should see the face of my friends when I speak on _proper Spanish_ but they can't get a thing hahah ;D Have a nice one!
rendall 5y ago
The Book of the New Sun is my favorite series of all time, and the only one I have read 3 times, first when I was 13, and the last after 40. The first two times, I did not have a clear idea of what was happening, just thought it was beautiful. The third time I actually got a grasp of the narrative arc, understanding who Severian was and who he became. Just, a marvelous series.

pickettd 5y ago

As an additional data point - I've read Anathem multiple times and have loved it every time but I read The Book of the New Sun series and really disliked it (though to be fair, I only read TBotNS series once). But I know that TBotNS gets great reviews. So as always with books, your mileage may vary.

svachalek 5y ago
Gene Wolfe (the author of TBotNS) loves unreliable narrators. His books are almost like a game of trying to figure out how exactly he is lying to you, with only the flaws in the narration as your guide. They don't come to a satisfying conclusion where all is revealed to you; you may never even realize you've been tricked. It's another example of friction, you have to realize the game you have entered, and be willing to figure out a novel (or in this case trilogy) sized puzzle, where the puzzle pieces are buried in perfectly ordinary prose. If it sounds like fun, and you're up for the challenge, his books can be a unique pleasure. If not, you will miss out on a lot of the more interesting things that are happening between the lines. If you're interested in the concept I recommend Fifth Head of Cerberus as a better entry point into Wolfe's writing. It's a collection of 3 novellas set on the same planet. They are inter-related but each is basically its own story-puzzle, in a much more digestible size than New Sun.

victorcharlie 5y ago

I really _really_ tried to enjoy The Shadow of the Torturer but I couldn't fall into rhythm I guess. As English is my second language, I had to struggle to know if a word was invented or just obscure English (I found that the author uses a fucktonne of the latter after I finished it). And I hate needing a glossary to read a novel (looking at you Tolkien). It struck to me like an 80s animated movie: extremely rich from a technical point of view but, well, not a good history and even boring for some people (think about Vampire Hunter D or Angel's Egg. For the record, I love these movies). Meh, I'll give it another go, after I finish Blindsight from Peter Watts (2006). Thanks for reminding me of that saga!

austinl 5y ago
I couldn't imagine trying to read Wolfe with English as a second language — definitely commendable! One thing I'd recommend if you're giving it another go is to read the chapters, then listen to Alzabo Soup (the podcast) afterwards. It's a spoiler-light discussion of the book, and they highlight a lot of things I missed on the first read. Another recommendation is to try the Book of the Long Sun series instead. I actually recommend that to folks more frequently if they aren't sci-fi readers. I think it's a bit more approachable in terms of language, and the tone is very different. There's also no character like Severian in that series, which I think is a good thing.
- victorcharlie 5y ago
  Hey thanks for the suggestion! :) You know, I found Severian to be really interesting as a character. I wanted to see how he turned out and expected a lot of development... But the book falls kinda short. I always tended to stick to Sci-fi but recently I found that I didn't dislike Fantasy as I thought (I love the books from Brandon Sanderson). Regarding the obscure English: I _loved_ learning those words as I have a thing for old and obscure words, you should see the face of my friends when I speak on _proper Spanish_ but they can't get a thing hahah ;D Have a nice one!

rendall 5y ago

The Book of the New Sun is my favorite series of all time, and the only one I have read 3 times, first when I was 13, and the last after 40. The first two times, I did not have a clear idea of what was happening, just thought it was beautiful. The third time I actually got a grasp of the narrative arc, understanding who Severian was and who he became. Just, a marvelous series.