The Urth of the New Sun (Paperback)

My history as a Gene Wolfe reader is torturous. I read the first two volumes and felt like I was watching paint dry. Four years later, out of curiosity, I bought volumes three and four and found that my opinion of Wolfe had changed completely. His writing in "The Book of the New Sun" is strange, heartbreaking, mind-bending, and above all emotionally involving and obscurely moving to an extent perhaps no other author evokes in me. While I would never claim to have completely understood any event in any of its four volumes, I know they were awesome--truly deserving every word of praise they've been given.

Obviously, I had high expectations for "The Urth of the New Sun," and I was disappointed to find that they weren't all fulfilled. Severian has turned infuriating in this book, both in his pontifications and his occasional thick-headedness (I know something's wrong when I can figure out what's going on and he can't), and Wolfe's writing is no longer so emotional. Moreover, though I was gratified that "Urth" tied up many of its predecessors' loose ends, I felt that it perhaps explained too much at the large scale, while leaving many minor points infuriatingly inexplicable. (Can someone explain Gunnie/Burgundofara's history to me?) Now, as a Gene Wolfe reader, I should be used to being confused, but it seemed too much, especially for a book whose purpose is specifically explanatory--in essence, "The Urth of the New Sun" merely answers "And then what happened?"

Perhaps that is the main problem with this book--its teleological essence is rather banal, if I may be allowed to borrow a word Severian might use. Furthermore, even less so than any other Wolfe novel I've read, it doesn't so much end as stop, leaving me wondering just what the heck happened. Again, a familiar feeling, but one that grows wearisome when one feels cheated. There are passages in here which no amount of rereading can make clear, and Wolfe's concept of time and space travel makes my brain ache.

All this (and there was a lot of it) being said, I'm still glad to have read this book, if only to find out what happened, and it must be said that Gene Wolfe mediocre is still very good by other yardsticks. In other words, "The Urth of the New Sun" is a fine, fascinating, and confusing read. I would reccommend it to those who read and enjoyed "The Book of the New Sun," but not to those who haven't done so yet, as I suspect it will make even less sense to the uninitiated then it did to me. And finally, despite my disappointment, I intend to begin "The Book of the Long Sun" without delay, as Wolfe is easily one of the greatest authors in general, and science fiction/fantasy writers in particular, that I've ever encountered.

I was one of those people who eagerly awaited the publication of each new book in the series, who has re-read the series several times looking for further clues to the eventual outcome of the series (which is left as something of an exercise to the reader) and who never hesistates to recommend these books to friends and family.

Which is part of the reason I found this book somewhat dissapointing.

While filled with the same brilliant concepts, and stunning prose as the first four books, I found it lacking in the sorts of mysteries that made its predessors so wonderful. It struck me as rushed, and almost had a 'contractual obligation to the publisher' feel to it.

Plus it does a good job of answering a lot of questions about the original series, but those questions were a big part of why I loved the books in the first place.

Now having said all that, I think these things stand out only because the first four books were so carefully crafted, so unrushed and so clearly a labor of love.

Overall, I recommend this book. But I can't recommend it with the same wholhearted enthusiasm as the first books in this series.