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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
Well written and good world building. But I can’t get past the way the women in the book are written/treated
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A lot happened but none of it was connected or really explained or got us anywhere
An incredible read. Science fiction writing is very rarely good, let alone great, but I think Wolfe’s writing falls into that latter rare category. His prose and way of describing a scene are excellent and contain so much insight and detail into this fictional world. Severian is a fairly interesting character and the world he inhabits is dripping with intrigue and unique ideas. I particularly liked the ‘alzabo’ the creature whose fluid you can ingest, and then by eating an individuals corpse you can gain their memories as if they are your own. The side characters are interesting and seem plain on the surface, but all have deeper intrigues and layers that need to be puzzled out. The only thing keeping it from a perfect 5 stars is that the world the characters inhabit is frequently misogynistic and I wasn’t a fan of the sex scenes and descriptors that felt generally unneeded throughout most of the novel.
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Neither the breathtaking masterpiece nor the horribly dated relic I've heard it is, the first half of the Book of the New Sun struck me as a work that is extremely original in the way it retreads well-worn tropes. Severian's voice is strong and interesting, even as he swings from very sympathetic to deeply despicable. It has a dream-like quality lent by the narrator's tendency to go on tangents or elide details he doesn't wish to share with the reader, an aspect that hasn't blown me away with sudden retrospective insight, but is very characterful and artful in its implementation. It is, however, a misogynist text. Whether Wolfe himself was one, who knows, doesn't really matter in this context, but when you have a narrator who so thoroughly misunderstands, mistreats, and projects upon women, and that narrator is your only view into the work, the work itself is misogynist, whatever your intention. Unfortunate! Yet, I think it has more than enough merit to make engaging with it worthwhile, flaws and all.
Let's start with the obvious. This book took me a long while to get through. The reason, I think is:
1) The book itself is mildly inaccessible, which actually has a certain charm to it. However, it makes it hard to read quickly, and a lot of the words used are not even real words, mixed with a few real ones equally as foreign (for me at least). The story is presented as a stream of consciousness almost in many parts, giving it a dreamlike feel at times, while also being written as a translation of another text. Wolfe clearly put a LOT of thought into his writing style but that doesn't mean it's necessarily worth it all the time. That being said, it is more varied and interesting than say, Robert Jordan's style which was functional at best.
2) The story itself, up to this point still doesn't really have a point (but the second half brought a lot of possible routes to the fore). Lots of moving parts that don't seem connected, besides to the life of the main character, and no hard answers yet. I can tell it's going to be either, a) a mind blowing connection near the end of the full book of the sun that links everything before, or b) a simple adventure story with a really cool world that is hardly described in detail.
The world building is sparing but vibrant, doesn't hold your hand, and leaves you with WAAAAY more questions than answers so far. I really love the setting, with it's scifi elements being described from a perspective of ignorance. The fantasy elements could be scifi elements but the way they are described they are indistinguishable (which for the record is really cool, despite my frustrations.) I just have a hard time believing Severian doesn't know more, by the time of the retelling of his story, to share some of the interesting implications of said tech/magic/whatever. I feel like I'm being fed breadcrumbs when I really want some bread, since i am sure the main character has a whole loaf.
Character development is decent so far. I really don't hate, but i also don't like Severian's relationships with the women of the book so far. The characters being drawn to him make sense most of the time given all their strange and predictable motivations mixed together, but Severian isn't really doing much to earn their affection besides existing and not being an asshole (mostly). I wont get into detail for each.
I am pretty tired of old men describing the desire of women (and men actually), as well as love, in general. Additionally, while I understand that the men of the story are in a mostly paternal society and have a lot of the hangups (including freedom to physically abuse women) I still don't find it adds to the story with respect to the main character at least. I guess it makes it more realistic, but I know a lot of people say Severian is one of their favorite characters ever.... he's OK so far.
I'm cautiously optimistic at this point that the next half will be more meaty and less adventure based, given all the setup that has happened for the world so far. If not, I'll be super disappointed (probably).
1) The book itself is mildly inaccessible, which actually has a certain charm to it. However, it makes it hard to read quickly, and a lot of the words used are not even real words, mixed with a few real ones equally as foreign (for me at least). The story is presented as a stream of consciousness almost in many parts, giving it a dreamlike feel at times, while also being written as a translation of another text. Wolfe clearly put a LOT of thought into his writing style but that doesn't mean it's necessarily worth it all the time. That being said, it is more varied and interesting than say, Robert Jordan's style which was functional at best.
2) The story itself, up to this point still doesn't really have a point (but the second half brought a lot of possible routes to the fore). Lots of moving parts that don't seem connected, besides to the life of the main character, and no hard answers yet. I can tell it's going to be either, a) a mind blowing connection near the end of the full book of the sun that links everything before, or b) a simple adventure story with a really cool world that is hardly described in detail.
The world building is sparing but vibrant, doesn't hold your hand, and leaves you with WAAAAY more questions than answers so far. I really love the setting, with it's scifi elements being described from a perspective of ignorance. The fantasy elements could be scifi elements but the way they are described they are indistinguishable (which for the record is really cool, despite my frustrations.) I just have a hard time believing Severian doesn't know more, by the time of the retelling of his story, to share some of the interesting implications of said tech/magic/whatever. I feel like I'm being fed breadcrumbs when I really want some bread, since i am sure the main character has a whole loaf.
Character development is decent so far. I really don't hate, but i also don't like Severian's relationships with the women of the book so far. The characters being drawn to him make sense most of the time given all their strange and predictable motivations mixed together, but Severian isn't really doing much to earn their affection besides existing and not being an asshole (mostly). I wont get into detail for each.
I am pretty tired of old men describing the desire of women (and men actually), as well as love, in general. Additionally, while I understand that the men of the story are in a mostly paternal society and have a lot of the hangups (including freedom to physically abuse women) I still don't find it adds to the story with respect to the main character at least. I guess it makes it more realistic, but I know a lot of people say Severian is one of their favorite characters ever.... he's OK so far.
I'm cautiously optimistic at this point that the next half will be more meaty and less adventure based, given all the setup that has happened for the world so far. If not, I'll be super disappointed (probably).