On Blue's Waters: Volume One of 'The Book of the Short Sun' [Hardcover]

Gene Wolfe (Author)

Book Description

Series: Book of the Short Sun | Publication Date: October 7, 1999

On Blue's Waters is the start of a major new work by Gene Wolfe, the first of three volumes that comprise The Book of the Short Sun, which takes place in the years after Wolfe's four-volume Book of the Long Sun. Horn, the narrator of the earlier work, now tells his own story. Though life is hard on the newly settled planet of Blue, Horn and his family have made a decent life for themselves. But Horn is the only one who can locate the great leader Silk, and convince him to return to Blue and lead them all to prosperity. So Horn sets sail in a small boat, on a long and difficult quest across the planet Blue in search of the now legendary Patera Silk. The story continues in In Green's Jungles and Return to the Whorl.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Launching a three-book series, Wolfe's latest takes place several decades after the close of his acclaimed four-volume the Book of the Long Sun. There, it was revealed that the great artifact called the Whorl, unbeknownst to its millions of inhabitants, was in fact a failing spaceship and that the AI "Gods" that ruled the Whorl wanted its inhabitants to leave and colonize two nearby terrestrial planets, Blue and Green. Now, decades later, Blue has many human cities, but civilization is slowly decaying. Horn, who also narrated the earlier series, has been dispatched to find Patera Silk, the legendary leader responsible for the colonization of Blue. Wolfe's complex, two-part story line follows Horn's initial quest across Blue in search of a vehicle, or lander, capable of returning to the Whorl, while it simultaneously recounts the aging Horn's life as the involuntary ruler of a city far from his home and family. In his initial quest, Horn must battle vampiric shapeshifters and attempt to thwart their plot to divert the lander and its human cargo to Green, their home world, where the humans will be used as cattle. As always, Wolfe's prose is masterful and his main characters are well developed. The novel starts slowly, however, and moves in fits and starts. Horn, who narrated Patera Silk's story in such a self-effacing manner in the earlier series, can't seem to stick to his narrative for more than a page or two without dithering off into inconsequential meditations on his own shortcomings. But Wolfe does establish several tantalizing mysteries that hold readers' attention, and which, presumably, will be explored fully in later volumes. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Bound by an oath to find the legendary Patera Silk and bring him to the new world known as Blue, Horn leaves his job as a papermaker and embarks on a perilous sea voyage to the end of his world and beyond. Continuing the tale begun in his "Book of the Long Sun" series, Wolfe embellishes on the fortunes of many of the characters from his earlier works. The author's deceptively simple style conceals a dense weave of symbols and allegories suggested by his ingenuous protagonist's odyssey across the waters in search of a hero. Most libraries should consider adding this title to their sf collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (October 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312866143
• ISBN-13: 978-0312866143
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #959,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gene Wolfe is winner of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and many other awards. In 2007, he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. He lives in Barrington, Illinois.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another intense, enigmatic story, November 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: On Blue's Waters: Volume One of 'The Book of the Short Sun' (Hardcover)

Nobody can sneak up on a reader from behind like Gene Wolfe. Many writers can aspire only to devising plot twists, and unless they're very lucky the reader will see the suprise coming from miles away. Wolfe, by contrast, is perfectly capable of making revelations in the midst of his narrative, or near the end of it, that are profoundly shocking to your expectations.

And it's not merely the details of the plot that reader has to re-evaluate when Wolfe draws the curtain away like this; it extends to the most basic assumptions about the story, things that you believed settled on page 1, like "who's telling this story?" and "why are they telling it?" This author knows that the answers to these questions are the source of a novel's power to engage the mind and the emotions of the reader.

In this book, as in others, he's provided answers that are mobile. You may end up answering the questions differently at the end of the book than you would have when only halfway finished. And if you re-read the book again later, you may come up with yet a third set of answers.

Wolfe is admittedly not as easy to read as, say, Robert Jordan, but the rewards for reading Wolfe are on a different order of magnitude altogether. Somebody like Jordan lets you live for a short time in another world. Wolfe lets you live for a short time in another world, to discover that the real world has become larger when you return.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading twice, July 28, 2000

By 

Sean P. Melican - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Blue's Waters: Volume One of 'The Book of the Short Sun' (Hardcover)

I read this book the first time it came out, then I reread it when I receieved the second (In Green's Jungles)in the trilogy to refresh my memory.

Written as if it were an actual journal, the narrator describes his journey and its purpose: an odyssey across the oceans of the planet Blue to reach a spaceship that will return to the Whorl (a generation starship) to retrieve a god-like man named Silk, who is believed to be capable of saving the narrator's city from self-destruction. There are also the the events currently happening to the character, who is the Solomonesque Rajan (a type of ruler)of a people far from his native land. Both stories escalate in tension. During his odyssey (and I use this word deliberately), the narrator encounters a number of wonderfully drawn characters. There is the blind and probably crazy robot Maytera Marble and her 'granddaughter' Mucor, who is capable of sending her spirit across the whorl of Blue. (Both are characters from the Long Sun series; it is best to read Long Sun first, but not necessary.) When leaving the rock, the hero is joined by Mucor's loyal hus named Babbie, an eightlegged creature of enormous intelligence. Later, he will also encounter a mermaid and her goddess Mother and an inhumu, a vampire-like creature from Blue's twin planet Green.

Have you wondered why I haven't named the main narrator? That is because it is unclear exactly who he is. Ostensibly, it is Horn. Throughout, Horn describes physical changes that have occurred to him. He occasionally lapses into describing Horn in the third person. He also carries artifacts that at one time belonged to Silk, including a night chough and an azoth. It is likely that he is a least partially Silk, though that is unclear.

Running out of paper, the narrator quickly describes the climax of both stories, which are more cliffhangers than legitimate endings.

Throughout are references to his visit to the planet Green, which are tantalizingly vague but detailed enough to whet the appeptite for the next two books, and then there are the numerous references to his failure to find Silk. Yet if he is at least partially Silk as seems probable, then what happened on Green and did he reach the Whorl?

Like nearly all Wolfe novels, it demands an enormous amount of patience and focus on the reader's part. It is initially disorienting because it is the rambling thoughts of the narrator and because it is difficult to know exactly who he is; it is definitely worth a second and perhaps even a third reading. It is not a novel for readers who want those nine billion page pale Tolkien imitations; it is not a beach novel. If your definition of speculative fiction encompasses only the innumerable Star Trek paperbacks (and those terrible crimes against the wallet: the hardback novels), then this novel is not for you. It is a difficult read, but for the patient and careful reader it offers the pleasure of discovery and thoughtful analysis as well as the wonderful style we have come to expect from Wolfe. Sadly, while it will no doubt be enjoyed by the many Wolfe fans and perhaps a few other adventurous souls, it will largely be ignored by both the critics and the majority of readers. This is shameful, for this is likely to be one of the greatest American novels of the last hundred years.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Superb, October 23, 1999

By 

Patrick O'Leary - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Blue's Waters: Volume One of 'The Book of the Short Sun' (Hardcover)

Gene Wolfe is a treasure. A true original. Authors hold him in awe. Readers fumble trying to express the magic of his work. Astounding stories, perfect craft, and a depth of emotional and philosophical courage that is nearly impossible to describe. Among its many delights and shocks, ON BLUE'S WATERS is perhaps the most moving portrait of a haunted man that I have ever read. Under the guise of a typical science fiction extended adventure series Wolfe is creating an entirely new thing: a meditation on the journey of faith and the search for truth refracted through a dazzling array of unforgettable characters. Why doesn't everyone know Gene Wolfe is the best writer alive today?