Calde of the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun) [Mass Market Paperback]

Gene Wolfe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1995 | Series: Book of the Long Sun

Inspired by the gods, young Silk fights for survival against he shadowy rulers of the city of Viron, who command the technological wonders of the future. Reprint. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Patera Silk, a young priest aboard the generation ship known as the Whorl, finds himself both the unwitting leader of a band of revolutionaries and the pawn of godlike forces trying to reshape a stagnant society. The latest installment in Wolfe's "Book of the Long Sun" series offers tantalizing hints of an ancient history lost to the Whorl's inhabitants. The author continues to prove himself one of the genre's most literate writers and luminescent thinkers. A familiarity with earlier series books is helpful but not absolutely necessary. Most libraries should own this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Recently reissued in one volume as The Litany of the Long Sun, the first two parts of Wolfe's tetralogy introduced the Whorl--a massive, hollow spaceship--and one of its citizens, Patera Silk, a poor cleric struggling to save his church from crime lords. The saga now continues as Silk wins over the local militia to his cause of revamping the government and becomes the first new cald{‚}e--an official wielding both religious and political power--in more than a century. After becoming acquainted with the tunnels and secret political players below the Whorl's inner surface and having regular contact with the "gods" on nearby video monitors, Silk gets a startling glimpse of the Whorl's greater dimensions and gains a real purpose beyond his own limited ambitions. Some may be pleased to notice the links Wolfe here makes to his earlier New Sun tetralogy, while others may find his predilection for rich characterization and cultural detail frustrating. Still, Wolfe's genius for world building has been equaled only in such works as Frank Herbert's Dune series. The Long Sun books represent science fiction at its most impressive. Carl Hays --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction (November 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812534204
• ISBN-13: 978-0812534207
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,699 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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A readable masterpice of a saga., May 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Calde of the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun) (Mass Market Paperback)

Some writers are content to have us interested in their characters. Wolfe's style forces us to think and learn to love them. Yet the pace is fast, and pulls us along at disturbingly realistic paces, his charcters at times lost, at times knowing but always 3-D. And the scope of the story is vast and fast - the city revolution you thought would last till the last book of the saga is already, it seems, over by the end of the book. A word of warning? Check out the characters from the earlier books again before you start- otherwise they may do something vital before you remember them fully

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Once aromatic bouquet shows signs of decay, damage, August 1, 2010

By 

M-I-K-E 2theD "2theD" (The Big Mango, Thailand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Calde of the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun) (Mass Market Paperback)

I desperately want to give Caldé of the Long Sun four stars as I have been keenly fixated on exploring the previous two novels in the series. Also, I read this third book of 300 pages in the series in merely two days, so it's obvious I was still captivated by Wolfe's prose and plot. BUT the book starts abruptly and continues to stagger and waver until the very end. It's like the book itself received a good conk on the head and isn't able to walk straight... much like the characters in Caldé of the Long Sun.

As in Lake of the Long Sun (book 2) when the characters were strained through hardship the main cast themselves changed in attitude and speech transforming them for the worst. It was difficult to follow them even though they should have been familiar after reading about them for 500+ pages. The change was unwanted. In Caldé of the Long Sun, this strain becomes overbearing when the hardships pile upon injury which stack upon disconnectedness. The characters' profiles which were molded in Nightside of Long Sun are shattered. It is difficult to sympathize with a cast you have since grown distant from through unfamiliarity.

What causes this abrupt change is a series of head concussions, perpetual bodily injury, insomnia, starvation and over activity of Auk and Silk. Their thoughts are poorly formed and wandering as they draw up improbable scenarios, talk to long dead individuals and skew their own memories of the past. These passages are not reader friendly; I found myself frustrated when encountering each delusional monologue. How many times can Silk get shot, knocked unconscious, bruised, battered and beaten? While dragging yourself through Caldé of the Long Sun you'll be surprised how often; and then sigh as you encounter injury after injury.

Some of the more minor characters come and go from the plot without knowing what happened to them, if they have left or have died or are just quiet. I found myself rereading entire pages to see where the characters have disappeared to and often gave up and wrote it off. Granted, it's easy to lose someone in a dark tunnel during the 200 pages of darkness, darkness, darkness.

There are parts of Caldé of the Long Sun which perk my interest in reading about the generation ship which the entire cast find themselves on and how everything seems to by alphabetized (sibling, class seating, villages, etc). I even became intrigued with new mysteries like the Plan of Pas, the greater importance of the Outsider and the Windows. I' eager to read the last book in the series as I expect all these mysteries to be meticulously unwrapped and enjoyed like a Christmas present.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Typical Gene Wolfe: rich in detail, character and confusion, June 1, 1998

By 

J. Van Der Sijp "sijpie" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Calde of the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun) (Mass Market Paperback)

Long awaited sequel in the Book of the Long Sun. The structure of this strange place slowly comes together. It's quite incredible how the heat, the smells and the colours of this planet come to life in this series.