You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first book I've read in ages, you could say years. I didn't understand anything since I started it and when I finished it I found out that it is actually the second book and not the first. It was strangely interesting even though I knew nothing about world building. It was enjoyable though.
I love Gene Wolfe. This is the only High Fantasy/American Transplant series that I truly enjoyed. Most likely because the author does not explicitly try to explain the world and its relationship to America and Earth, and instead leaves it to the reader to understand what their relationships are. You are free to interpret the protagonist like a Thomas Convenant or Conan the Barbarian; the exact situation is up to you.
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
This is a pleasant surprise after the first installment which unimpressed me. Wolfe saved the grand, heroic adventures worthy of Beowulf or Lancelot for the second half and it was a delight to experience. Many of mysteries are given clear explanations (not all, this is a Gene Wolfe novel) by the end. I'm glad I returned to keep this series.
“I’m an oath-breaker, since I broke that one when the Osterlings were besieging Redhall. Some of you were there, and will not forget the storm I raised. Tonight I’m going to break it again, openly and for as long as I can.”
Very solid book and having Wolfe’s take on a more traditional fantasy approach was really cool. I did like The Knight a bit more than this and felt like I wasn’t really as invested at certain points following Toug and Svon. All in all the ending, especially the last chapter, really solidified this book for me as a solid read.
Very solid book and having Wolfe’s take on a more traditional fantasy approach was really cool. I did like The Knight a bit more than this and felt like I wasn’t really as invested at certain points following Toug and Svon. All in all the ending, especially the last chapter, really solidified this book for me as a solid read.
I enjoyed the combination of Celtic legends in the storytelling along with the cosmology based on Norse and Christian concepts. The early and late parts of the story were really enjoyable, but that long middle section in Jotunland was a real drag.
Wolfe has a way of telling you stuff that isn't what he's really telling. It can be intriguing at times but also frustrating when characters are endlessly dancing around a topic.
Reviewing this as a single novel since that's what it is.
Wolfe has a way of telling you stuff that isn't what he's really telling. It can be intriguing at times but also frustrating when characters are endlessly dancing around a topic.
Reviewing this as a single novel since that's what it is.
This continuation of the series only magnified the flaws of the first book. While the characters were sympathetic, the story was a hot mess.
I had to struggle to finish. An editor could have trimmed half of the narrative branches and the story would still have been unnecessarily complex.
I had to struggle to finish. An editor could have trimmed half of the narrative branches and the story would still have been unnecessarily complex.
In Wolfe's classic duology, he provides a memorable examination of the assumptions and philosophy of not just fantasy fiction, but the entire tradition of adventurous, fantastic literature dating back to the chivalric romances through the medium of a knight who in some senses is no real knight at all - and in others is the realest of them all. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2022/05/16/a-chivalrous-sorcerer/
Five stars. I reread paragraphs, and chapters, immediately after finishing them, for their sheer beauty and surprise. Gene Wolfe is definitely coming with me to the desert island; I would want either this, or The Book of the New Sun (including its end coda, The Urth of the New Sun.)
But how to explain this one? It feels like living inside Myth. The story is told in the form of an endless letter to the main character's brother, after the hero--Sir Able--has disappeared from our world. A line of dialogue or description can change one's entire sense of what is transpiring. Heroism can suddenly appear a monstrous as he describes what happened. He'll come to major events and say, "I don't want to talk about that." Mysteries transform into still other mysteries, and into dazzling revelations, with masterful finesse. And brief recognitions can reframe the book's universe.
There are clearly people, like me, who will absolutely love this duology. Others will hate it for many of the same reasons. I understand why they would. I'm not saying they're wrong, but I do expect to reread this myself, probably more than once.
But how to explain this one? It feels like living inside Myth. The story is told in the form of an endless letter to the main character's brother, after the hero--Sir Able--has disappeared from our world. A line of dialogue or description can change one's entire sense of what is transpiring. Heroism can suddenly appear a monstrous as he describes what happened. He'll come to major events and say, "I don't want to talk about that." Mysteries transform into still other mysteries, and into dazzling revelations, with masterful finesse. And brief recognitions can reframe the book's universe.
There are clearly people, like me, who will absolutely love this duology. Others will hate it for many of the same reasons. I understand why they would. I'm not saying they're wrong, but I do expect to reread this myself, probably more than once.