From Library Journal
Patera Silk, a young priest aboard the generation ship known as the Whorl, finds himself both the unwitting leader of a band of revolutionaries and the pawn of godlike forces trying to reshape a stagnant society. The latest installment in Wolfe's "Book of the Long Sun" series offers tantalizing hints of an ancient history lost to the Whorl's inhabitants. The author continues to prove himself one of the genre's most literate writers and luminescent thinkers. A familiarity with earlier series books is helpful but not absolutely necessary. Most libraries should own this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Recently reissued in one volume as
The Litany of the Long Sun, the first two parts of Wolfe's tetralogy introduced the Whorl--a massive, hollow spaceship--and one of its citizens, Patera Silk, a poor cleric struggling to save his church from crime lords. The saga now continues as Silk wins over the local militia to his cause of revamping the government and becomes the first new
cald{‚}e--an official wielding both religious and political power--in more than a century. After becoming acquainted with the tunnels and secret political players below the Whorl's inner surface and having regular contact with the "gods" on nearby video monitors, Silk gets a startling glimpse of the Whorl's greater dimensions and gains a real purpose beyond his own limited ambitions. Some may be pleased to notice the links Wolfe here makes to his earlier New Sun tetralogy, while others may find his predilection for rich characterization and cultural detail frustrating. Still, Wolfe's genius for world building has been equaled only in such works as Frank Herbert's Dune series. The Long Sun books represent science fiction at its most impressive.
Carl Hays
