Exodus from the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun) [Hardcover]

Gene Wolfe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1996 | Series: Book of the Long Sun

The completion of a masterpiece of science fiction, this is the fourth and final volume of The Book of the Long Sun. "Having set the scene with the precision of thought and language that marks his major works, Mr. Wolfe has now put all the pieces in motion, and the effect is dazzling".--The New York Times Book Review on Calde of the Long Sun.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Wolfe's recent multi-volume novels have invited interpretation as religious allegory. In the "Book of the Long Sun," the fourth volume of which is Exodus From the Long Sun, religion is at least an inspirational starting point. This book is set on a starship, the Whorl, whose inhabitants have lost track of the fact that they are on a journey. Indeed their origins are mysterious to them, and the starship's vestigial communications system is understood to bring messages from unknown gods. One priest, Patera Silk, discovers the truth about the Whorl, and the gods his people worship. Silk must prepare his people for the revelation.

From Publishers Weekly

The long sun, which stretches from one end of the Whorl to the other, shows signs of instability. The gods of Mainframe, once dependable, now appear to be in conflict with each other. Mysterious fliers haunt the skies, social unrest is on the rise and signs and portents are everywhere. In the city of Viron, Calde Silk, once a humble priest and now ruler by the gods' decree, fights a dirty and chaotic war with the city's corrupt former government. An army approaches from the city of Trivigaunte, ostensibly to support Silk, though its commander may have an ulterior motive. A former criminal, Auk, receives word from the gods that the Whorl, which was earlier revealed to be a planet-sized starship, is failing and must be abandoned by its seething millions. In this fourth volume of his Book of the Long Sun (after Calde of the Long Sun), Wolfe, winner of two Nebula Awards during his 26 years in SF, concludes one of the major SF series of the decade. Tangentially related to the author's acclaimed Book of the New Sun, the Long Sun series displays many of Wolfe's greatest strengths. The complex language is lovingly crafted. The culture of the Whorl, particularly in its religious manifestations, is presented in rich and fascinating detail. Silk makes for an engaging protagonist, and one whom Wolfe surrounds with a host of crotchety secondary characters, some human, some not. This completion of the series doesn't stand alone, depending on the other novels for its context and meaning; but the series as a whole is a bonafide masterpiece.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312855850
• ISBN-13: 978-0312855857
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,376,618 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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully-drawn portrait of a beautiful man., September 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Exodus from the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun) (Hardcover)

We've all read "genetic superman" type books before, from Dune to Stranger in A Strange Land to The Stars My Destination, but Gene Wolfe (arguably the finest living writer in SF&F or any genre, including mainstream Lit) really achieves it here, with a portrait of a moral as well as physical and mental "superman" in Patera Silk. More overtly religious in tone than even Wolfe's masterpiece Saviour-of-the-Earth series "The Book of The New Sun", this is the story of a young pagan priest's coming of age, following his enlightenment by the Christian God, in the fantastical enVirons of a decrepit generation ship ruled by computer program "Gods" who don't want the passengers---who're unaware there's anything artificial about their Whorl--- to disembark once it reaches its destination. Besides the fascinating cast of characters, subtle plot twists and multilayered levels of meaning we've come to expect from Wolfe, this is mainly the story of A Beautiful Man. Patera Silk is a believable, moral man, gentle and peace-loving and Christian in nature without knowing Christ, who sees the best in all people and is STILL a genetic "superman", with unusual strength, stamina, reflexes and healing abilities and a facile mind. You ponder out the logical solutions to the many mysteries that await you in this book with him, often arriving at the same logical but WRONG conclusions that the vast body of misleading information leads you to, and love every minute of it! This series is not only highly entertaining and outre, as all Wolfe's work is, but also serves as a valid political commentary of the power structure of a typical human city and a beautifully-drawn portrait of a truly Beautiful Man, of which I haven't read many! My only negative about this fine series is the abrupt, unresolved ending (apparently to be continued in the Books of The Short Sun) and the revelation of a first person narrator, who is not the main character, near the end of the last author-omniscient third person narrative. Still, flawed Wolfe (and this means flawed in comparison to his perfect Book of The New Sun series) is better than 99 percent of all other writers in any genre. As always with Mr. Wolfe, read it and be enriched.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars space-opera fans...BEWARE!, November 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Exodus from the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun) (Hardcover)

An extraordinary conclusion to an extraordinary series. Wolfe is the SF equivalent of Miles Davis. He frustrates those readers who come to read a space-opera like all the ones they have read and read again. Expecting another great Barry Manilow composition, they find their very world of expectations turned upside-down. This is very reminiscent of Delany's Neveryon series, a series that takes the standard rules and mores of a genre (there sword and sorcery) and completely subverts it. Wolfe's narrative is a maddening flirtation; each time his plot approaches a grand confrontation, or the sort of excitement that absolutely drives narratives of this sort, he deliberately omits the events. We are left to guess and extrapolate what took place from what is happening now. Wolfe declines to spoon-fed anything to us. Left significantly to our own devices, the experienced and mature reader is forced to become involved in Wolfe's novel. What DID happen when Silk climbed up into the engines of the zeppelin? Each reader who completes the book supplies his own answers to many questions here. This novel demands involvement and imagination from the reader. Just as any novel leaves much more work to the audience than a movie, Wolfe has demanded much of us here. This is an action story, but maddenly cuts away just instants before each big blockbuster expolsion, or each incedible escape. Silk is resolutely no sort of action hero at all. He refuses to fight or lie or cheat or oppose. Like Gandi, his unwillingness to participate in conventional intrigue and conflict make him a terrible enemy. He refuses to take to the battlefield and abide by the rules. Much like Wolfe. In the end, the reader is left starving and hungry. We have certainly enjoyed the reading, we won't forget such a work, but Wolfe has refused to completely satisfy. Like an almost-forgotten song, the wisps of his artwork haunt our minds; we recall them again and again and go back, seeking a staid sort of satisfaction that would leave us bloated and lesser in the end.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Maybe I need to start at the beginning again., March 19, 2000

By 

Nic "Nic" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Exodus From The Long Sun (Mass Market Paperback)

I am a fan of Gene Wolfe's writing since reading "The Book of the New Sun". For me, his writing requires concentration, absolutely no reading when I am tired or for a light escape. With high expectations I purchased all four books of the series "Book of the Long Sun". I knew it was unlikely I beginning a slam bam action techie SF space opera.

One of the things I like about his writing is that it is so unusual and unpredictable. There are few if any cliches in is work. Silk is not your usual hero. His growth in the four books is both logical and satisfying. I loved Oreb for his comic relief. "Fish heads?" And found the tales of the Maytera's curious and fascinating. Were they first bio's? I was never completely sure.

I was never completely sure about a lot by the end of the last book. Who created the Whorl? And why? Who are the gods? Who is the outsider? Why was there a choice of two planets? Why were only a few citizens suppose to leave the whorl? Who wanted them to leave? Why were the "gods" fighting with each other? What the heck was "Quetzal"? What is an inhumi?

I came to read reviews from other readers to perhaps get a clue to what I missed in my reading. Some of the reviews were helpful because they suggested I am not alone in lacking understanding of the story.

I know Wolfe does not spoon feed his readers and that is one of the reasons I like him. However, I finished this series so puzzled and annoyed that I couldn't figure out the barest outline of what, where and why of the whorl. He created an involving, charismatic literary feast which left me all the more famished at the end.

Perhaps it's me and I need to reread them. I am still thinking about the books days after finishing them but it's not with satisfaction, it's with irritation.