Books like Book of the New Sun

[Anonymous No.12520533]

Just finished pic related and I really liked it, especially how it was written. I particularly liked the world building and use of invented (or antiquated) words. What else can I read that's in the same vein? At this point I'll take any fantasy (or dying earth) that isn't fucking Harry Potter and doesn't treat the reader like a moron.

[Anonymous No.12520589]

Gormenghast trilogy by Peake. Keep in mind it can hardly be considered a fantasy novel, it was written before Tolkien for one, but more of a fantastical Gothic one

[Anonymous No.12520592]

>>12520533
Read some other Wolfe, his prose is similar throughout all of his work (though BotNS is the only one that uses so many obscure words.) Live Free Live is an interesting modern/urban fantasy.

[Anonymous No.12520603]

>>12520533
NK Jemisin

[Anonymous No.12520612]

>>12520533
More Wolfe. Peake, Vance, Moorcock.

[Anonymous No.12520648]

Is the Urth of the New Sun worth reading?

[Anonymous No.12520654]

>>12520603
Anything specific?

[Anonymous No.12520660]

>>12520589
>Gormenghast trilogy by Peake
Ayy, I'm about 1/3 through Titus Groan at the moment. I enjoy it. It's definitely like you say. I love the sprawling castle that's so dense that entire areas of it have been forgotten and abandoned. It reminds me of Ico in that regard.

[Anonymous No.12520679]

>>12520648
yes
a bit jarring at the start because of the juxtaposition of how citadel ends, but still very enjoyable imo

[Anonymous No.12520700]

>>12520679
Anyone else think the ending of the series was Mass Effect, what with the whole universal cycles and synthesis being the ultimate goal as fuck?

[Anonymous No.12520701]

>>12520533

Hey. GW is my favorite author. Don’t stop at Citadel of the Autarch. Read the whole Solar Cycle. Each sequence is different and insane. Book of the Long Sun is radically different than Short Sun. The true “sequel” to BOTNS, Urth of the Short Sun, is radically different than all of them. You also cannot go wrong with other books by Wolfe. Every novel of his is a blast in its own way except probably Castleview or Pandora by Holly Hollander. But I’d recommend any of my favorites:

- the Fifth Head of Cerberus
- Pirate Freedom
- Home Fires
- The Land Across
- Peace
- The Island of Doctor Death if you want a HELLA dank short story collection.

I am personally not a fan of the Wizard Knight books but many people like them.

Other authors to hook your fangs on when you need a break from Wolfe:

- Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita, Pale Fire)
- Peter Newman (The Vagrant trilogy)
- Paul Tremblay (A Head Full of Ghosts)
- Liu Cixin (The Three Body Problem)
- Dan Simmons (Hyperion, The Terror)
- or if you want to try a horror novel with an unreliable narrator that was heavily influenced by the above, you could check out my book (titled Lurk)

[Anonymous No.12520732]

>>12520700
no

[Anonymous No.12520745]

>>12520732
Reverse it, Mass Effect's ending drew a heavy influence from this story.

[Anonymous No.12520769]

>>12520592
I tried reading Soldier of the Mist, and while the concept is 10/10 the style and execution is as flat as a bad fanfic.

[Anonymous No.12521050]

bump

[Anonymous No.12521218]

>>12520533
Anything by Lord Dunsany or Clark Ashton Smith

[Anonymous No.12521231]

Not genre fiction but Wolfe had a massive hard on for Proust

[Anonymous No.12521235]

>>12520769
Really? I liked soldier of the mist as much as BotNS but I'm a grecophile

[Anonymous No.12521823]

>>12520533
Although Tolkien is nothing like Wolfe, if you want to read fantasy, and haven't read Lord of the Rings yet, then you absolutely should.

[Anonymous No.12521843]

Are there any good physical editions of this? All I can find are shitty looking mass markets

[Anonymous No.12521857]

>>12521843
There have been a few really nice editions, but all expensive and limited print.
Single volume editions of BotNS are extra rare.

[Anonymous No.12522153]

>>12521857
I guess I'll have to dig around online or hope the local secondhand store can provide

[Anonymous No.12522196]

Read Hyperion next, OP.

[Anonymous No.12522209]

>>12522196
And you can fuck off and go to hell, next. Ugly bitch.

[Anonymous No.12522231]

>>12520769
The style is more flat and straightforward because it's written by a barely literate amnesiac roman who is only writing down what he thinks is important.

[Anonymous No.12522236]

>>12520533
My theory is that each book represents one of the Gospels

[Anonymous No.12522444]

Viriconium Trilogy by M John Harrison
It's set in a far future after human culture has reached its peak and collapsed. Lots of ancient technology that blurs a line between science and magic from the perspective of the world it's set in.

[Anonymous No.12522451]

>>12521843

[Anonymous No.12522469]

>>12520533
I want to read that book, but are there any asexual characters?

[Anonymous No.12522493]

>>12522469
No

[Anonymous No.12522886]

>>12522469
There are no explicitly asexual characters. But, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume that the Autarch, Baldanders, the Dr. And even the Cacogens are all asexual.

[Anonymous No.12522918]

>>12522451
the full set of this sells for almost $1000 now

[Anonymous No.12523273]

>>12522886
>Baldanders
no
you forgot about something there buddy

[Anonymous No.12523698]

>>12523273
Fucking kek.

[Anonymous No.12524134]

>>12523273
Who did Baldanders fuck?

[Anonymous No.12525360]

bump

[Anonymous No.12525544]

>>12520533
>>12520660

If you enjoy Gormenghast I recommend The High House by James Stoddard. It's really unfathomable to me how can it be so underrated. Also Little, Big, though it's not really what you asked for.

And I haven't read any Gene Wolfe, but China Miéville is a fan of both him and Peake, so you might want to add him to your list. His Bas-Lag trilogy are really fantastic books. I'll eventually read more stuff by him.

[Anonymous No.12525560]

>>12524134
That baby Severian thought was a catamite Baldanders had with an undine.

[Anonymous No.12525584]

Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
The Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Voorh by Brian Catling
The Second Apocalypse by R. Scott Bakker
Dune by Frank Herbert
The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe

[Anonymous No.12525750]

>>12522469
No, because that's not a real thing.

[Anonymous No.12526794]

>>12522209
Double that sir

[Anonymous No.12527001]

>>12520533
Not exactly the same, totally different actually, but you should check out Riddley Walker if you haven't already. It's a post-apocalyptic story with some really interesting language. I think if you like one you'd like the other.

[Anonymous No.12527014]

>>12522469
No, but there are some ayyy-sexual characters

[Anonymous No.12527027]

>>12520533
I found Last Dragon by JM McDermott to be the most similar thing I've read.

[Anonymous No.12528437]

>>12521857
I got a first edition single volume off Amazon for around $60. Expensive for a book, sure, but still reasonable.

[Anonymous No.12528589]

>>12525544
>China Miéville
>muh communism
>muh beetle sex
garbage

[Anonymous No.12529707]

>>12520660
Ico was such a dissapointment after playing SotC first; too janky, really boring spatial puzzles... castle was nice but the gameplay was very tedious.

[Anonymous No.12530880]

bump

[Anonymous No.12531014]

>>12525584
>The Vorrh by Brian Catling
I cannot recommend this more