Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My first experience with Wolfe's work - I enjoyed it muchly.
These three connected novellas are intricate, subtle, sophisticated and incredibly well written.
These stories are puzzle-like in nature, testing the reader to put things together on their own, to remember and retain key bits of information or quotes as clues to fully understanding the grander story.
It requires very active reading, and I took longer with it than a book of this page count would normally justify, but it was well worth it. This is definitely a book that has high re-read value and potential - I am certain it would be very satisfying.
4 Stars
I really liked this and am very excited to get to his more notorious works soon.
These three connected novellas are intricate, subtle, sophisticated and incredibly well written.
"That which you call nothing is what holds all things apart."
These stories are puzzle-like in nature, testing the reader to put things together on their own, to remember and retain key bits of information or quotes as clues to fully understanding the grander story.
It requires very active reading, and I took longer with it than a book of this page count would normally justify, but it was well worth it. This is definitely a book that has high re-read value and potential - I am certain it would be very satisfying.
"If we live on the same world, can there be tyranny over you and not over me?"
4 Stars
I really liked this and am very excited to get to his more notorious works soon.
(read a ebook)
I enjoyed this book, which is really three novellas. It was a bit of a challenging read, but I would rate it 3.5/5 if Goodreads allowed half stars.
The first novella is the most straightforward, following a child growing up while being subjected to the strange attentions of his father. It is in this story that we encounter the eponymous "fifth head of Cerberus. The second novella is the strangest, told through the eyes of a Sandwalker, a member of an alien race thought to have vanished before humans colonized his world. The third novella is told through writings of an anthropologist who has come to the twin worlds of Sainte Anne and Sainte Croix to search for these aboriginals.
I enjoyed this book, which is really three novellas. It was a bit of a challenging read, but I would rate it 3.5/5 if Goodreads allowed half stars.
The first novella is the most straightforward, following a child growing up while being subjected to the strange attentions of his father. It is in this story that we encounter the eponymous "fifth head of Cerberus. The second novella is the strangest, told through the eyes of a Sandwalker, a member of an alien race thought to have vanished before humans colonized his world. The third novella is told through writings of an anthropologist who has come to the twin worlds of Sainte Anne and Sainte Croix to search for these aboriginals.
Excellent. A wonderful discovery can't wait to read more by this author.
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An extremely difficult book to describe, but I'm going to try anyway. This is classically the first book most people recommend when they find out you want to start reading Gene Wolfe, and I totally get it. It feels like a bit of an overture for some of the narrative tools and tricks he utilizes in his big masterpiece The Book of the New Sun.
The Fifth Head of Cerberus is a trio of linked novellas, which in broad description don't sound linked whatsoever (the story of a young boy finding out a terrible secret about his scientist father, a fictional story about an young Aboriginal man going on a spiritual journey, and a detective pouring through evidence of a crime), but of course they're intrinsically telling the larger story of a pair of twinned planets that were colonized originally by French-speaking settlers.
For fear of ruining its twists and turns for anyone who might want to read it, I'll avoid going into detail. But I'll just say, the first story gripped me from the beginning and is surely the standout of the three (and it makes sense that Wolfe put this particular one in his Best Of collection). It paints a glorious picture of the decadent French city in which they live and the brothel that makes up their home. It also holds a twist that gets weirder and all the more tragic as it goes.
The second story was more of a struggle, in that it's told in a very oral storyteller type fashion in the sense that its ostensibly a work of fiction from the neighboring world but also written by a minor character from the first story. Not hard to read necessarily, but a bit more opaque and difficult to grasp what exactly is happening.
But it all pays off by the time you read the third story, which uncovers more details about that minor character and is told in a semi-epistolary style as the detective pours through handwritten letters. It contains a multitude of "a-ha!" moments that the attentive reader will uncover. It closes out this trio of stories beautifully and at provides better strength and rationale for the second tale, in which I thought sort of drug things down a bit (and cost it a star in my rating).
Yet, I still can't say I firmly grasped what the connection was between the title novella and the two other works that followed...that is...until I read some analysis that made perfect sense, particularly symbolically, and I couldn't believe I didn't see it before. Pardon me, but I'm off to read more about this fascinating little book.
Wait, one other thought...it feels a bit like this is the work David Mitchell was somewhat aping with Cloud Atlas, but this is a much more successful attempt at crafting a thought-provoking piece of art through the use of various narrative techniques. Possibly a reach, but I can't quite shake the thought.
The Fifth Head of Cerberus is a trio of linked novellas, which in broad description don't sound linked whatsoever (the story of a young boy finding out a terrible secret about his scientist father, a fictional story about an young Aboriginal man going on a spiritual journey, and a detective pouring through evidence of a crime), but of course they're intrinsically telling the larger story of a pair of twinned planets that were colonized originally by French-speaking settlers.
For fear of ruining its twists and turns for anyone who might want to read it, I'll avoid going into detail. But I'll just say, the first story gripped me from the beginning and is surely the standout of the three (and it makes sense that Wolfe put this particular one in his Best Of collection). It paints a glorious picture of the decadent French city in which they live and the brothel that makes up their home. It also holds a twist that gets weirder and all the more tragic as it goes.
The second story was more of a struggle, in that it's told in a very oral storyteller type fashion in the sense that its ostensibly a work of fiction from the neighboring world but also written by a minor character from the first story. Not hard to read necessarily, but a bit more opaque and difficult to grasp what exactly is happening.
But it all pays off by the time you read the third story, which uncovers more details about that minor character and is told in a semi-epistolary style as the detective pours through handwritten letters. It contains a multitude of "a-ha!" moments that the attentive reader will uncover. It closes out this trio of stories beautifully and at provides better strength and rationale for the second tale, in which I thought sort of drug things down a bit (and cost it a star in my rating).
Yet, I still can't say I firmly grasped what the connection was between the title novella and the two other works that followed...that is...until I read some analysis that made perfect sense, particularly symbolically, and I couldn't believe I didn't see it before. Pardon me, but I'm off to read more about this fascinating little book.
Wait, one other thought...it feels a bit like this is the work David Mitchell was somewhat aping with Cloud Atlas, but this is a much more successful attempt at crafting a thought-provoking piece of art through the use of various narrative techniques. Possibly a reach, but I can't quite shake the thought.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No