/lit/ - Literature

>>21241657
The Shadow of the Torturer, The Book of the New Sun #1 - Gene Wolfe (1980)

I enjoyed this, but it baffles me why so there's so much published material about it, let alone reading guides. I can understand its cult status because it seems written for that purpose. I don't know whether I noticed connections more than others, or because I was satisfied with my speculations, or if its reputation is exaggerated, but overall I didn't find it that mysterious or puzzling. I felt like most of what I didn't understand was either because I lacked critical information or because it's just something that happened. The events seem to fit together like a puzzle, so it's more likely the former. I don't tend to like works where everything has to be inferred from the text because none of its is ever directly expressed. I don't believe that's what this book is, because I feel that by being attentive and doing a bit of induction most of what happens can be resolved with the information presented.

Word choice is forcibly made to be the center of attention. It's obvious that Wolfe was consulting a thesaurus and a multitude of sources for obscure, peculiar, and ancient words. Wolfe says he tried to avoid neologisms when possible, but I would have preferred having a few more of those rather than the profusion of non-English substitutes. I've written before about how the text may be translated from the setting's language into English so that the readers could understand. Wolfe explicitly states that this is an extreme case of that. It's so much so that it couldn't be translated entirely into English. I don't accept this. Yes, it does do that, but I think at too high a cost. As with the fantasy/mythological elements, it's an illusory and a surface level aesthetic. What bothers me most is a personal issue. The word choices make me feel like everything is a stand-in for something else, so I'm only seeing the shadows of the world. Apparently that isn't something I can appreciate.

Severian, the protagonist, is an unlikeable and bothersome young man. Fortunately for him he's the narrator, because if this were written from another viewpoint, he may have been insufferable. The other characters are fine, but it's obvious that Severian doesn't want others to outshine him in his autobiography. The plot is simple, for this book at least. Severian does some stuff and then has to go to a place, but gets sidetracked, and doesn't come anywhere near the place. That's because this series is the sort that's meant to be read as a single book. The setting is one that's to be expected from the Dying Earth subgenre. I believe the setting is what will have me continue reading the books, but it won't be what I'm reading them for. What I enjoyed most was the protagonist meandering. Somehow all of this comes together to be far greater than its individual parts. My complaints are enough that I can't rate this higher, but I also can't rate it any lower.

Rating: 4/5

>>21276239
The Claw of the Conciliator, The Book of the New Sun #2 - Gene Wolfe (1981)

The word choices were less intrusive for me this time, though that may have only been because of a coping mechanism to help me derive more enjoyment from their usage. I can't help but think that they serve the dual purpose of sincerity and prank in equal measure. The former is exactly what it seems to be, an exercise for the reader to learn new words and be in awe of Wolfe's command of language. The latter is that Severian is compensating due to what he's noted as being his lack of writing ability since he was never really taught that well. Severian may think that using obscure words makes his writing deep and mysterious enough to where it masks all other flaws. If the writing can't be easily understood, then that's a sure sign of quality. Wolfe isn't a pseudointellectual, but Severian may be. There's also a third group for whom it acts as a filter, which may not have been intentional. There's also questionable intent for the continued abuse of women, both by Severian and other characters, which may be a dealbreaker for various readers.

Now having finished this book I find it considerably more likely that much of this is intended to be farce, which is why I think the prose being at least somewhat a prank is likely. Severian continues to meander in a bumbling way and remains easily duped, but even so he more or less accomplishes his goals, though that's mostly due to the intervention of others. There's a chapter where he's entirely confused and terrified, and doesn't pretend that he isn't. He literally spends the next chapter explaining why he isn't a coward, or if he is it's because everyone is, and uses dreadful examples that only condemn him further. Is Severian the narrator still as oblivious to what what he writes as he was when he was experiencing it? It seems so. He doesn't seem to have much character growth throughout the series. There were quite a few times where I could only believe that the characters were humoring Severian because of some greater goal because there was such a disconnect between how Severian behaved towards them and how they reacted. Severian is loathsome with incidental acts of kindness, though I believe the latter is mostly out of curiosity than benevolence. Overall, I find this mostly to be amusing because I'm interpreting it much more as farce than anything serious. If I were to take Severian's proclamation that he wants to have sex with every woman he's ever met seriously rather than as a comedic outburst, I would probably be enjoying this considerably less.

There are two stories within the story in this book, which I didn't like and I thought they went on for far too long. Maybe they have a lot of hidden importance to the narrative, but I wasn't able to be as attentive to them, so if they do I probably missed whatever it may have been. I'm ok with that.

Rating: 4/5

>>21280333
The Sword of the Lictor, The Book of the New Sun #3 - Gene Wolfe (1982)

The most troublesome part of writing about these individually is that so much changes in each book that it may invalidate what I've written previously. This also presents a difficulty in remaining relatively spoiler-free. I could write about the five book omnibus as a single work, which is the edition I'm reading, but I don't have any interest in doing so.

This one starts off having skipped some time, traveling, and events, but as Severian often explains, he doesn't want to write about everything. An element of the narrative that's becoming more and more noticeable is that Wolfe didn't write this to have a singular Chehkov's gun, but rather an entire armory replete with them. Every story element seems to have its place and and they all neatly fit together. Seemingly everything pays off in some way. Life isn't like that at all, but it does make for a satisfying story. That makes it a matter of when rather than if previous information will become meaningful and relevant. There's a considerable number of explicitly stated reveals this time, which may be appreciated by readers.

Severian continues to meander toward his ever new destinations, but he's a changed man now, both literally and figuratively. I still wouldn't call it so much character growth as a superimposition, but that's a matter of semantics, like the Ship of Theseus. I like this more competent, confident, introspective, perceptive, and philosophical Severian. No longer is he utterly baffled by the events around him. He's now able to see the connections between disparate actions, even retrospectively, and detail his thought process and provide conclusions. He has his own goals now.

In many ways though Severian is still the same guy he's been from when he departed from Nessus, as only months have passed after all. One moment he's confessing his devotion to a woman, then the next he's having sex with some woman he just met. I don't see anything wrong with casual sex in of itself, but I don't think he's had sex with a single woman where there isn't a power imbalance greatly in his favor. In one case a married woman is infodumping on Severian and then he tells her that's a nice story, but it's time for sex. It's not quite the sexposition from the Game of Thrones TV series though. Severian notes about the one whom he professes devotion that, "the kind and even noble Severian who existed only in [her] mind". He even says that everything he says matters and nothing she says does. Then he considers "forcing himself on her", but decides that would be a bad move.

I considered rating this lower due to some of the middle part and the inclusion of an extended situation that I tend to dislike. Fortunately that situation resolved itself in a way that gave me a jolt that maybe I shouldn't have liked, but I did. The scenes near the end were also especially nice, so the ratings remains the same.

Rating: 4/5

>>21299785
The Castle of the Otter - Gene Wolfe (1982)

I read this as part of Castle of Days (1995). Maybe sometime I'll read the rest of it, or not, either way. It's a series of essays ostensibly regarding the Book of the New Sun. Normally I wouldn't post this here, but it seemed like a relevant exception. It was worthwhile, but if you want to read it specifically for Book of the New Sun info, you'll find less than you probably had wanted.

The Feast of Saint Catherine
Wolfe says that he didn't submit the first book until the entire story was in its second draft. I wonder how common that practice is. Michael Sullivan has also said that he doesn't submit a first book until the entire trilogy has been finished so that there's no chance that it goes into limbo. It's nice for the readers at the least.

Rather than four novels it became, BotNS was originally intended as a maximum length novella, basically a novel. He describes what that would've been like.

Helioscope
His idea of relating Jesus to torturers, which has been copypasted here in full a few times, check the archives, is one that I don't think I've seen before. I wouldn't be surprised if he had many other heterodox beliefs.

Wolfe also presents his views on fan conventions, reader views on writers, what it means to be an writer, and the wonderful benefits and advantages of not being a full-time writer. I don't really personally agree with most of them, but they're understandable.

Sun of Nelioscope
There's some about his life and what he believes, especially regarding religion, and how people believe the series to be much more religious than was planned. He also criticizes those same people who believe it to be religious of not knowing about Christ and being afraid to learn the truth.

I found his criticisms of people not accepting various narrative forms as science fiction to still be relevant considering how many people still read this series as being predominantly fantasy, if not entirely.

His criticisms of those who decry using that past as the future are less convincing, but I don't mind that practice in most cases. Some people really do unreasonably abhor or feel dismissive of the practice. I find that to be unfortunate for them.

Hands and Feet
Wolfe discusses his epigraphs.

Words Weird and Wonderful
Wolfe provides some meanings to his words. This has been superceded by the Lexicon Urthus.

Onomastics, the Study of Names
Wolfe states that his naming rule is simple: "Everything is just what it says it is." So it is. Videogames and other media use a lot of mythology, even obscure stuff, often lazily just to have interesting names, so I was familiar with that aspect.

Cavalry in the Age of Autarch
Wolfe explains in detail how truly great calvary is with math, statistics, examples, and states that the future is genetically engineered calvary, possibly in the form of centaurs.

These Are the Jokes
Wolfe has his characters tell jokes. I didn't find them to be that amusing.

>>21311319
The Urth of the New Sun, The Book of the New Sun #5 - Gene Wolfe (1987)

The Urth of the New Sun was like a novel-length epilogue to the previous four books which were one story written at the same time and then split into four volumes. It may simultaneously have been both the most necessary and unnecessary addition to what could have been a considered a finished narrative that I can recall. I've read this series primarily as science fiction rather than fantasy, so the transition was probably far less jarring for me than for those who read it as a dominantly fantasy series.

Several new mysteries were put forth, but they were mostly answered in short order and often explicitly, though there was also still room for much speculation. There were a few times where major events were so blatantly nonchalant that it could be said that they were hidden in plain sight. I don't know know if I became inured to them, or if there were simply less, but it didn't seem like there were as many substituted words overall. The religious references this time were far more prevalent and obvious than they were in the previous books. They seemed to be primarily drawn from the Kabbalah, the Bible, and possibly Zoroastrianism, though there's doubtlessly much else I didn't recognize at all.

Retrocausality, a concept that I tend to dislike, was prominent. It was only hinted at in the previous books but by the end I felt like it was the explanation for almost everything that ever happened for the entire series. I'm unable to think of a single work of media where the concept increased my enjoyment. At best it's neutral for me and often negative. I enjoy time travel stories a lot, but I also take issue with them just as much. I understand how the reductive implications could cause a person to feel like the series had become invalidated and consider it non-canonical as a matter of self-defense.

At this moment I can't think of any protagonist that has failed upward more than Severian did over the course of a series, but that wasn't his fault at all. Severian's story really is one of some random guy unknowingly subjected to forces far beyond his control trying to make sense of it in the best way way that he can. If this were written in third person omniscient or from the perspective or someone else, it would be a rather different story. I still don't understand how Severian works as a character as well he does.

I'm satisfied with my understanding and speculation of the series, the details of which I've barely touched on because I don't think this is the place for it. I don't feel the need to go overly much into secondary sources or to devote the time to expound upon theories. My overall thoughts on the series are that it's fun, different, and well-made in a way provides a lot of depth in of itself, and much more that can be readily self-created, especially for readers who enjoy investigating and elaborating upon puzzles.

Rating: 4/5

>>21324946
Lexicon Urthus, Second Edition - Michael Andre-Druissi (1994, 2008)

This Book of the New Sun reference guide isn't a preparatory text to be read before the books. If a reader peruses the entries from beginning to end in preparation, it would only serve to increase vocabulary. Doing so would also spoiler the entire series.

In the foreword Wolfe talks about the why and how of his word choices. He lists out some of the many sources that he used to acquire words from all times, places, and contexts. For the most part I think Wolfe's word choices are for aesthetic purpose. They serve to create a mystique and particular effect upon the reader. Wolfe notes that it's entirely possible to read and enjoy the series without looking up anything. If Wolfe intended to create a cult classic he succeeded, because I think doing so limited its appeal, which is unfortunate because neither the narrative nor the characters rely upon their usage. Many of the words seem to be used only once. There over three dozen specific weapons mentioned, many only slightly differing. There's no denying that it's an integral part of what it's become known for though.

This reference guide almost exclusively covers the five books that compose the Urth Cycle, as Andre-Druissi calls it, though various related other media is also included in small amounts. There are a few stray references to other works by Wolfe, including the Solar Cycle and The Fifth Head of Cerberus. As I haven't read them, I can't say whether they are easter eggs, spoilers, or coincidences.

Many of the entries are spoiler free, though caution is strongly advised when looking up a character because spoilers abound if they have any significant role in the series. The same warning applies for anything else that seems important. The entries provide the passage in which it was used, the meaning of the word, its relevant historical context, and sometimes commentary provided by Andre-Driussi or whomever else he credits, which most often seems to be John Clute. So many of the characters are named after saints, whose number exceed 10,000, that I have to wonder whether Wolfe consulted a list of saint names and chose primarily from that so that he wouldn't have to to think about all the names overly much. Wolfe had written that he wanted common names. I don't think it's any greater meaning to them than that.

The ideal way to use this seems to be as a specialized encyclopedia that is consulted while reading. Reading it afterwards, as I've done now, seems to be of limited utility aside from the few entries where Andre-Driussi provides theories and speculation. I didn't read all the entries in full, because I was already familiar with many of them.

A series synopsis is provided near the end, assumedly for the purpose of refreshment and/or confirmation of similar understanding. The penultimate section is the subject listing which lists out terms grouped by type. It ends with a selected bibliography.

>>21983306
Adventures in Space (2023)
Edited by Patrick Parrinder and Yao Haijun

As you'd expect from the title all of these stories involve being in space, or having space come to them. Seven were written in English and six were translated from Chinese by Alex Woodend. Five of the English-language stories are reprints and two are new. The six Chinese-language stories appear here translated for the first time.

Alex Shvartsman - The Race for Arcadia (2015)
This is a mildly amusing and severely critical story of a deeply embarrassed Russian government that is desperate to prove that they still matter. I don't believe it to be satire because this story seems entirely plausible within the context presented. The protagonist, whose death is imminent from a terminal illness, is blatantly told that he's being sent on a suicide space mission for the purpose of propaganda. If they're willing to admit that much, what aren't they admitting?
Meh

Chin Zijun - Shine (2016)
Qi Fengyang is in despair of never being able to achieve his dream when the extremely wealthy Huo Changao offers to fulfill it for him. All he has to do is accept what may a suicide mission to rescue Sun Shi'ning from a failed Europa expedition. She's the former's ex-lover and the latter's wife. The rescue will take the cooperation of the world and much science, though that's nothing compared to their passion and determination. However, neither one is being honest about their motives, so what's this really all about?
This reminded me superficially of a mix between 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Martian, the former of which is explicitly referenced in the text, and the latter if it was told from an Earth-side perspective. I continue be amazed how often Elon Musk is included in such stories, as he's mentioned here in passing as Alan Musk.
Meh

Leah Cypess - On The Ship (2017)
This is the sixth story by Cypess that I've read and I've enjoyed them all. I believe this is the first science fiction story I've read by her. Generation ships are a setting I tend to like and this one more so than usual because it reminded me of Philip K. Dick. That's both all I want to say about it and all I think needs to be said.
Enjoyable

Wang Jinkang - Seeds of Mercury (2002)
What an astounding story. It started out enjoyably and by the end it became one of the best translated works of short fiction I've read and possibly one of the better ones I've ever read.
Chen Yizhe has a blessed life of comfort, wealth, and familial bliss. One day He Jun, a lawyer, informs him that his aunt Sha Wu has died and she wants him to carry on her legacy. She's created a new life that can only prosper on Mercury, hence the title, which would be the seeds of a new civilization. The parts of the story that take place in that civilization are an utterly delightful exploration of Mercurian society, science, and religion.
Highly Enjoyable

>>22601218
Empire of Silence, Sun Eater #1 - Christopher Ruocchio (2018)

Empire of Silence is an autobiographical novel told from the perspective of the protagonist at roughly a thousand years old. I assume that's after the entire series has concluded. Each book seems to cover an era of his life, which I take to mean that the series ought to be considered as a single work split into several books.

In 16136 Hadrian Marlowe is the eldest son of the ruler of a planetary prefecture of the planet Delos, which is part of the Sollan Empire. The Empire is the largest polity, composed of roughly 250 million worlds, nearly half of all that have been colonized. Humanity has come across 49 intelligent species and has enslaved 48 of them. Only the Cielcin have been able to resist and so humanity has waged war against them for centuries.

Hadrian has no interest in being the next ruler, or in being anything one has told him to be. He wants to be an adventurer, like those in the stories he's read from ages long ago, finding new species and whatever marvels that still remain unfound throughout the galaxy. That doesn't go quite to plan and he finds himself stranded on some world. The rest of the book is the beginning of his rise from almost nothing except his genetic heritage, which is extremely valuable, and a few symbols of his past.

This novel is a reworking of many novels and other specific creative works. The foremost among them that I was reminded of was Dune, Hyperion, and The Shadow of the Torturer. These are excellent choices, but often I felt that Ruocchio was leaning too heavily on other works. There doubtlessly were several other inspirations that I didn't recognize. I would be highly interested in seeing how much of the content was based on other books and how much was original, insofar as that exists. If I enjoyed this more, then perhaps I wouldn't have minded as much. I wouldn't want that to be true, but cognitive dissonance is a powerful force. If this were an obvious parody or otherwise declared itself to be based on other novels, then I think I wouldn't have minded anywhere as much.

I don't think I would've enjoyed this all that more even if it were wholly without any of its arguable homages. I find that to be peculiar because there's so very much of this that I should like. Yet, somehow I find the whole to be so much less than the sum of its parts. I believe the two main reasons are that I find how it reads to be off-putting and I was uninterested in almost every single character in this character-driven novel.

I don't know if the following books are similar to this one and I'm uninterested in finding out. I doubt that I'll read anything from Ruocchio again. The main reason is because of how openly and intentionally he integrates his influences into what he's written here. It's not fanfiction and it's certainly not what Quentin Rowan did, but it's sufficient to be disqualifying for me.

Rating: 2.5/5

Ratings Contest Book #2

>>22897750
Morning Star, Red Rising #3 - Pierce Brown (2016)

This wasn't as enjoyable as the second, but I liked it more than the first. Darrow was relatively better this time, though that was mostly through the lessening of everyone else. The highlights for me were the space battle for being fun and neat, and the ending, which was absurd and ridiculous. The ending makes it clear that you can stop reading here as it provides suitable resolution. I understand why many would think this concludes everything that needs to have been written.

https://www.goodreads.com/interviews/show/993.Pierce_Brown
https://scifibulletin.wordpress.com/books/science-fiction/interview-pierce-brown/

After I read this book I read two interviews, one that came out the month before the second book was released and another around a year later. I found them to be very revealing of Brown's thoughts on the series. He talks about his inspirations, one of which was The Count of Monte Cristo, and that's quite evident for this book. Once again what happens through the story has changed a lot and I liked it less if only for that. There's a heist, some special operations, and a space battle. Mostly though it's going from place to place recruiting allies to their cause. That's an odd choice of narrative pace to me for what was originally intended to only be three books.

As Brown says in the acknowledgements of this book, this one was far harder than the previous two to write. Considering that he says in the interview that he wrote Red Rising in less than two months without any outlines or structure, that's entirely understandable. It shows his growth as a writer and how he's transitioning styles, as discussed in the latter interview. A few years and a few books can really make a difference. The unfortunate truth though is changing as an author may make the author less popular even if they've become more proficient, or perhaps because they have. It may just be aging as well.

When Brown talks about greek plays, Plato, Dune, Book of the New Sun, and literary classics as what he sees as comparisons rather than YA, I have to wonder what he thinks he's writing. It's also telling when he says "Young Adult is simply a book that is interesting in every chapter." In the latter interview Brown pushes back even more on the YA label. When he said that Darrow is an unreliable narrator like Severian I was baffled. It showed that he had quite the different perspective on Darrow. He also emphasizes plot over everything else because as he says he's not trying to write a literary novel.

It makes me wonder what his current thoughts are, but that'll have to wait until I read more into the series, which probably won't be until considerably later in the year. Overall this trilogy can be a worthwhile read if you don't mind that it's all about entertainment and little else. If this is where it had ended I wouldn't believe it to be a notable series aside from its popularity.

Rating: 3.5/5 (3)