/lit/ - Literature

>>4914393
Okay, I'm thinking of picking up this series next when I feel in the mood to read sci-fi/fantasy, but I'm getting mixed reviews here from /lit/. People seem to either love it or hate it. Is that the general consensus?

>>4914421
the general consensus is that it's one of the all-time great sf series. people on /lit/ shitting on it are just contrarians.

>>4914421

Maybe the opinions of people not on /lit/ will help frame your thinking.

Here's a post from Henry Farrel over at crookedtimber from a few weeks ago, noting Wolfe's 83rd birthday:

http://crookedtimber.org/2014/05/07/gene-wolfe-is-82/

Read the comments.

>>4914421

I would just read the 1st book. Nothing happens after that

>>4914421
Read it and find out, man. If you like it, congrats, if you don't, move on. No harm no foul.

>>4914421

It's a great series, kind of slow by most fantasy standards but the writing & story make up for the pacing.

One thing I'm confused about in the second book is when Severian is at that feast, does he accidentally eat Thecla's corpse?

It seemed like that's what was implied...

>>4915659
When he meets with Vodalus?

It's not accidental. Her being in his head for the rest of the series is a plot point.

>>4915668
>It's not accidental.

But he didn't know what he was eating until after, right?

>>4915674
It's been like ten years since I read these but as I recall they explain it to him beforehand.

When we meet Vodalus in the first book he's grave-robbing because that's what his group does.

>>4915674
I'm pretty sure he knows what he's eating.

>>4915684
>When we meet Vodalus in the first book he's grave-robbing because that's what his group does.

When does it explain this? Vodulas has always been a mystery to me

>>4915706

Literally the first few pages in the first book and then it gets explained in the second book

>>4914421

I'd venture to guess that %90 of the detractors of the series either didn't read it, didn't finish it, or didn't read it close enough. This series if fucking gold and unlike anything else you'll read.

Am part way through Shadow, just finished the chapter about the Hut in the Jungle.

Is the series supposed to come off as surreal and dream-like? Because that's what I'm getting from it. Not that it's a bad thing, I actually rather like it.

But what was up with Father Inire's mirrors and the fish made of light? Really didn't understand that bit.

>>4917674
This is part of the charm of the series, and everyone has their own approach on how to handle it. Some recommend re-reading.

There are holes for a reason and a whole lot becomes explained pretty much right near the end of book 1. It really lets you know how Gene Wolfe was framing this whole thing.

>>4915674
The trick here is that you (as a reader) aren't aware fully aware of that fact till later.

It's probably one of the best moments of the story where the already unreliable Severian narration becomes even more unreliable.

>>4917730
Sounds good. I'm asking because I started off rather confused throughout, and the start being rather slow, but it's starting to grow on me.

>>4917742
Yeah, I agree. The book does like to drag but there is something to it... a choice adjective used in a description, a particular archaic term. If anything it made me read it super closely and slower than usual. Almost the same way I read something Faulkner wrote.

>The entire encounter depicted on the cover
>Filler

Pick one. That's one of the most satisfying scenes in the books, especially at the end of it when both the claw and terminus est are shattered

>>4917828
Doesn't the third book also include the encounter between Severian and Typhus? That was my personal highlight of the whole series.

>>4917836
>Typhus