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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It started off as a four star book. The prose is nice and though I'm not much into stories about torturers, this one didn't focus on the job the character did. The problem is that the author later let the story degenerate into the standard Alice-in-Wonderland-style surrealism that I can't stand, basically making the story simply about one random-seeming encounter after another, each with the idea of being 'strange and wondrous', when what I like in stories is that they be realistic.
Simply extraordinary. This story takes you on a journey but in no way holds your hand. You're just a long for the right. Never before have I come across a story that lends itself so well to the closest of analyses or the promise of future rereads.
We'll see how Sword and Citadel does, but this just might kick Dune out of the spot of my favorite story.
We'll see how Sword and Citadel does, but this just might kick Dune out of the spot of my favorite story.
Riveting. Never before have I read a narrative voice so compelling, so *there*. Though a challenging read, I found myself drawn into it and was quite impressed by the dreaminess of the narrative, my closeness to the main character, Severian, though even after so many pages of following him along his pilgrimage, I am not sure I trust him, like him, nor care what he is doing. Yet, the writing is SO good, that this doesn't matter.
slow-paced
A lot of details and a lot of mystery. You ha to be comfortable with not knowing a lot.
I haven't decided if I will continue with the rest of the series. It requires a good deal of patience, and I'm more inclined to spend it with Foster Wallace or Joyce than Wolfe. I understand the appeal of worldbuilding, and the level of detail. There are moments of brilliance, but if I want a book about world-building I'll read Dickens or Proust - their world-building skills are just as, if not more, refined. Which is to say, I don't get the fascination with fantasy novels that do little more than build a new world, since contemp lit has to work just as hard to build "this" world.
First time I read Gene Wolfe back in high school, I didn't enjoy it too much. This time around it was more interesting, I think. I'll look for part 2 in the states...
This book took me more than a year to finish. I was disappointed at first, it came with such high praise from every corner of the SF universe and yet I couldn’t get into it. The language and writing style was challenging, I struggled with boredom and confusion from the plot, and ultimately it took me at least 3 attempts to read. I started it, put it down, picked it up, put it down, etc until finally one day I “got it,” everything clicked for me and I devoured the last 3/4 of this first volume. I found Wolfe’s use of a “language that hasn’t been invented yet” a bit pretentious, but as soon as I realized that I wasn’t meant to comprehend many of the words used in the book things flowed more easily, I was able to just accept what I was reading. (Unlike a writer like Tolkien who went through great pains to provide translations and guides for his invented languages, Wolfe gave zero fucks and you just have to roll with it - I can’t help but respect that despite how difficult it made the reading).
So clearly this book isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes work to get into it and to stick with it. But once you get into it, it’s really, really good. The characters are complex and mysterious, there’s a quest (because there’s always a quest), action, romance, bloody battles and supernatural creatures. All pillars of great sci-fi/fantasy. I won’t discuss plot summaries, those are everywhere. Just suffice it to say that this book is well worth the hard work it takes to read it.
So clearly this book isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes work to get into it and to stick with it. But once you get into it, it’s really, really good. The characters are complex and mysterious, there’s a quest (because there’s always a quest), action, romance, bloody battles and supernatural creatures. All pillars of great sci-fi/fantasy. I won’t discuss plot summaries, those are everywhere. Just suffice it to say that this book is well worth the hard work it takes to read it.
So incredibly frustrating and confusing, but I enjoyed it a lot!
I really liked this book, and I think that I'll be able to say I loved it once I've finished the series. It's fantastically immersive and mystical and esoteric, and, although I'm sure that I missed out on a great deal of the detail and complexity Wolfe put into it, that didn't matter.
One of my favourite aspects of the book was the feeling that there was so much detail in the world of Urth, and that not all of it was going to be revealed to you, allowing you to try and piece together all the gaps in the world's history. I've had similar experiences reading Malazan and Lord of the Rings, but this was an entirely different beast. The plot is so far pretty good, and the characterisation is okay, but where this book really shines is its prose, which is rich and detailed without being overly flowery (although I was constantly looking up definitions for the multitude of obscure words Wolfe uses to describe his world).
Overall, it was a pleasure to slowly make my way through this beautiful, meandering book, and I look forwards to continuing the series and, perhaps, finding out what the hell is going on.
One of my favourite aspects of the book was the feeling that there was so much detail in the world of Urth, and that not all of it was going to be revealed to you, allowing you to try and piece together all the gaps in the world's history. I've had similar experiences reading Malazan and Lord of the Rings, but this was an entirely different beast. The plot is so far pretty good, and the characterisation is okay, but where this book really shines is its prose, which is rich and detailed without being overly flowery (although I was constantly looking up definitions for the multitude of obscure words Wolfe uses to describe his world).
Overall, it was a pleasure to slowly make my way through this beautiful, meandering book, and I look forwards to continuing the series and, perhaps, finding out what the hell is going on.