cherrycicada 's review for:

The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe

3.0

---

I've wanted to read this for ages, and now that I have, I don't know exactly what I've read. The book takes place in the far future on a planet that humans have colonized. The natives seem to have gone extinct, but there are rumors that they're still alive on the planet somewhere. What happened to the natives is at the heart of the mystery of the book. However, the book doesn't end with a definitive answer, just more questions. Part 2 of the book felt like a confusing dream within a dream where each paragraph needed multiple readings and still yielded murky results. A lack of resolution, plus 1/3 of the book being nearly unintelligible just didn't make me a fan. On the other hand, my husband read this at the same time and thought it was the best thing he'd read all year. We both had different interpretations of the nature of the clones, the floating aunt, the Shadow Children, and the starwalkers. I like mysteries, but I don't care that they persist when I'm done with the book. It's not like there was ever a sequel to explain it. I'm not sure I would read it anyway. For me, this was a dud, but plenty have loved it. It's just not my cup of tea.