Customer Reviews

Litany of the Long Sun: Nightside the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun, Books 1 and 2)

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun, while at first simple, proves every bit as complex as his opus The Book of the New Sun. While the third person narration employed in this book is not as ornamented or as difficult as some of his other prose, the character of Silk as he is transformed from a priest to a secular authority (and the subsequent changes brought about through his "enlightenment") are truly fascinating. The plot is more involved than it appears, and a rereading of Wolfe always yields surprising and rewarding results. This series serves as an interesting counterpoint to the transformation of Severian in the Book of the New Sun from torturer to Messiah. Also, this the characters presented in this work are pivotal in Wolfe's amazing Book of the Short Sun which begins with "On Blue's Waters", a truly phenomenal reading experience.

Some Wolfe fans find the Long Sun books disappointing. At first glance, the writing doesn't seem to be of the same beauty and complexity as that in the books narrated by Severian; the philosophical and metaphysical insights here seem less breathtaking. However, this is a Gene Wolfe novel, so appearances are expected to be deceiving. Patera Silk alone is worth the price of admission, and the plot of Long Sun is Wolfe's best yet, intimately connected to the presentation of the varied and fascinating cast of characters. THE BOOK OF THE LONG SUN rewards rereading perhaps even more than most of Wolfe's work.

_Litany of the Long Sun_ is the first half of the "Book of the Long Sun." (The second half is supposed to be out sometime in November. I think too that the third and fourth are available in mass market paperback, if you don't wish to wait for the second omnibus.) Gene Wolfe's work is often like opera: you may not understand all the words, may only grasp the basics, but the beauty and depth of the language conveys nuances not found within the text. "Litany" combines the familiar beauty of language often layered with obscure yet contextually clear terminology with a clear and exciting plot. (For those who had difficulty with the language in the "New Sun" series, this series uses less.) Like so much of his work, Wolfe shows rather than describes the unfamiliar world -- really, Whorl, for that is where the action takes place -- through the actions and lives and choices of his characters. Patera Silk is a simple priest in a poor but largely devout neighborhood. He experiences an epiphany (read the second omnibus) in which an obscure god in the pantheon of the Whorl demands that he save his manteion and palaestra which has been sold to a thief (who is more than a thief). He embarks on this holy quest by engaging the help of another thief and quickly finds himself embroiled in a network of men and women (initially unlikable as they are dishonest and criminals) who are more than they appear to be. At the end of a long sequence of events largely outside Patera's control, and through sometimes long exposition (which may come as a relief to some of Wolfe's admiring but normally mystified readers) we learn the apparent fate of our hero. However, this is only the first half and if Wolfe is to be himself, there will be many more surprises. Wolfe fans will not be disappointed, and neither will newcomers to his work. This is likely the best way to be introduced, because this is probably Wolfe's best work to date.

LITANY OF THE LONG SUN contains the first two volumes of Gene Wolfe's four-volume The Book of the Long Sun.

NIGHTSIDE THE LONG SUN opens this story of political intrigue, revolution, and Christian allegory set in a starship sent from Earth to colonize a distant planet. Gene Wolfe rose to fame with his magisterial work The Book of the New Sun, which is one of my most cherished books. The Book of the Long Sun takes place, in fact, in the same universe as Wolfe's masterpiece. However, differences abound. The Book of the New Sun is a first-person narrative in which the narrator stands between the reader and a clear view of his world. The Book of the Long Sun, on the other hand, is told in third-person and the setting is richly illustrated by Wolfe's prose. That is not to say that there are no mysteries in the Book of the Long Sun, it is of course a Gene Wolfe novel, but the plot is much more straightforward and clear than in Wolfe's earlier triumph. NIGHTSIDE THE LONG SUN slowly introduces the plot that will later rage through the city of its setting and by the end of the four-volume work utterly change the world in which the characters live. NIGHTSIDE opens with the enlightenment of Patera Silk, an augur (i.e. priest), in Viron, one of the cities within the Whorl, the gigantic starship sent from Urth. The rather pagan inhabitants of the Whorl worship a pantheon of deities based upon the ruler who sent out the starship and his family. Silk's enlightener, however, is an obscure god called the Outsider, because he abides even outside the Whorl, who is quite possibly in fact the Christian God. The Outsider has called upon Silk to save the local church and school, which have been sold for back taxes to a criminal named Blood. Silk, in a bit of bravado, proceeds to break into Blood's mansion in hopes of getting his property back. This attempt at breaking in, along with an exorcism of a bordello, are the sum of NIGHTSIDE THE LONG SUN. It's a slow and simple start, the action of this book takes place over merely two days, but in the following books the pace builds exponentially.The Book of the Long Sun may not be as poetic and full of sophistry as The Book of the New Sun, but it's immensely good reading. Wolfe's use of Christian allegory (much stricter here than in the earlier work), and a plot full of revolution, war, and political mystery is a fine work.

LAKE OF THE LONG SUN is the second volume of this series that is linked to Wolfe's acclaimed work The Book of the New Sun. The first volume, NIGHTSIDE THE LONG SUN, was a slow and simple introduction to the Whorl, the giant starship sent out from Urth, and its inhabitants, including the protagonist young Patera Silk. LAKE OF THE LONG SUN picks up the pace significantly, and much is revealed. The book consists of several plot threads that dance around each other but never quite touch. The morning after another theophany occurs in Viron, Silk goes to a remote shrine at Lake Limna in order to confront Crane and extort money from him to save his manteion. Through a coincidental occurence, Silk is lost in the tunnels beneath the city, tunnels that go to the very outside of the Whorl. There, he meets an enigmatic woman who remembers the creation of the Whorl, and for the attentive reader the story's link to The Book of the New Sun is revealed. Meanwhile, back in Viron, political intrigue continues and everyone but Silk himself is certain that Silk must become Caldé of Viron. Auk and Chenille search for Silk at Limna, and Chenille has a run-in with another goddess.The Christian allegory is slight in LAKE OF THE LONG SUN, and the most touching moment is when Silk speaks to Crane of a scene revealed to him in his enlightenment from the Outsider. The next volume of the series, CALDÉ OF THE LONG SUN, is the most visibly Christian of the work, but LAKE has its moments, too.

After LITANY, readers who have enjoyed the series so far should move on to EPIPHANY OF THE LONG SUN, which includes the second half, that is the third and fourth novels of the series.

I first started reading Gene Wolfe a couple years back when I read his New Sun books. I was impressed by the original tetralogy - The Shadow of the Torturer, The Claw of the Conciliator, The Sword of the Lictor and The Citadel of the Autarch - while I was less awed by his follow-up, The Urth of the New Sun. It was clear, however, that Wolfe is a good writer who understands what makes science fiction/fantasy writing stand out: interesting characterization, exotic settings and well-constructed plots, with an avoidance of the regular genre cliches.

The Book of the Long Sun is another Wolfe tetralogy that demonstrates that a decade after his New Sun books, Wolfe is still in top form. Litany of the Long Sun comprises the first two books of the four: Nightside the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun. The volume opens with a young man named Silk getting a divine vision. Silk is a patera - a rough equivalent of a priest - in some sort of far future space colony referred to as the Whorl. This world is clearly artificial and is illuminated by a long glowing light that is the Long Sun of the title.

Although seeming set in the future, in many ways things have regressed technologically, and the Whorl is now filled with city-states that are often at odds with each other. The people worship a series of gods that are vaguely reminiscent of the Greek or Roman gods. In particular, there are nine deities that require worship and a number of minor gods. One such god, the Outsider, is responsible for Silk's vision.

This vision will lead Silk on a series of adventures as he tries to save his manteion (roughly, a church) from purchase by a shady yet wealthy man named Blood. These adventures will teach him much about the nature of his world and the gods that inhabit it.

There is a lot that goes on in this first volume, and the plotting is intricate enough that I have only scratched the surface. Since really each book is merely a segment in the entire story, it is hard to review them (or even Litany) individually; in a way, it is like reviewing individual chapters in a novel. But everything that I've read in this story thus far (that is, the whole Litany), shows that this is another good work by Wolfe, on a caliber with his New Sun works. This, so far, seems to be really good science fiction (with a few dashes of fantasy).

(note: this review encompasses the entire Book of the Long Sun)

WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS:

If your tastes in speculative fiction are refined to the point that you can no longer stomach the latest Star Trek novelization (time travel as deus ex machina in every single plot line is now enforced by Executive Order) you would serve your palate well to indulge in Wolfe's masterful opus. Please forgive the exuberant hyperbole, but quite frankly his tetralogy is the Ulysses of speculative fiction. A person could devote an entire lifetime to unraveling its mysteries. It will test your patience, will and mental ability. The reader, like an augur, will need to divine clues from the entrails of Wolfe's twisted lexicon. (Disclosure: we may have read that last sentence somewhere else, so if you are the original author, send us a note and we will cite you. Until then, we will claim it as our own).

WHY YOU SHOULD PASS:

Wolfe has always been into punishing his readers with his characteristic obtuseness, but in Long Sun he takes his lexiconic sadism to a whole new level. This is a very dense and layered book. Not only is it difficult to grasp what is occurring at a given moment, but as soon as a chapter begins to build some steam and we begin to empathize with the characters, the plot abruptly halts and switches to one of the other, various parallel plot lines. He keeps his characters at arm's length from the reader. We never get the chance to connect emotionally with any of them. The only character in the book that we seem to identify with isn't even human. Oreb the talking bird can communicate more in his disyllabic utterances than the other characters can in pages of dialogue.

His main characters also have a tendency to speak in a very stylized slang that is difficult to understand. Others may speak in the Queen's English, but employ extremely annoying mannerisms interspersing their words with non-words such as "ah, uh, um, ahem, etc." in dialogue passages that may continue for several pages. These parts cannot be "skimmed" because they may contain important plot points. The abused reader is then required to slog through these frustrating lines. Any reader who manages to finish every word of these books should be mailed a Merit Badge by the publisher.

A novel needs to be more than an exercise in sterile word-smithing and genius plot-development. At some point, the reader wants to actually enjoy what they are reading. Stephen King put it best when he wrote about the unspoken agreement between the author and reader. If the reader agrees to commit the time to follow the author to the end of the story, the author promises to make it worth it. This tetralogy is a serious time commitment, but in the end it is too long a journey to undertake with strangers.

READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW AT INCHOATUS.COM

The story is of Patera Silk, a devout priest whose future is enmeshed with the gods he serves, takes place within the Whorl, a giant, cylindrical starship that has traveled for generations and is faced with political rebellion and war. Through a series of strange events, Silk finds himself caught up in intrigue and espionage, running against a major crime lord, befriending a cyborg soldier, and encountering at least one of the gods of Mainframe. All of the characters are rich in detail and truly engaging. Oreb the talking bird is my favorite! The books of the Long Sun stand on their own but is also part of the universe of the books of the Short Sun.

The mysteries in the Book of the Long Sun are clear (though abstract at times, rewards the reader with repeated reading). THE LONG SUN gradually introduces a plot that will later shakeup the city of its setting and by the end of the four-volume work totally change the Whorl in which the characters live. The transformation of Silk from naive dogmatic priest to a secular authority of sophisitication is interesting and enlightening. These stories are a part of me and will stay with you too long after you've read them. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

There are billions and billions of stars out there, but none of them are especially close. Absent hyperspace jumps, relativistic speeds, or reliable hibernation technologies, the generation ship is the way to send people to the stars. A lot can go wrong in a multi-century journey between the stars, however, and the generation ship that somehow gets lost and forgets it's a generation ship is a staple of sci-fi lit ... or at least it was back in the 1950s and 60s.

In Wolfe's tale, the "long sun" is a heating and lighting element that runs the length of the "whorl"--a miles-long cylindrical ship that rotates on its long axis. It is so-called in contrast to the disc-shaped "short sun" that people knew in the world before. People in the whorl are generally ignorant, superstitious, and at best minimally conscious of being space voyagers. They worship as gods the men and women responsible for building the whorl, gods that communicate with them through big-screen TVs that have some sort of mind-hacking software built in.

Patera Silk is a celibate parish priest in a religion dedicated to worship of the gods. One day while playing basketball with boys in the parish school, Silk receives a vision from a minor god telling him that he must save his poor parish, which the church hierarchy has already (without telling him) sold to a gangster. Thus begins a journey that will lead Silk to, in a few short days, consort with thieves and prostitutes, attempt murder and extortion, and become the most loved and hated figure in his native city of Viron.

It is tempting to contrast Silk with Severian, the narrator/protagonist of Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. There is a great deal separating Severian the guilt-ridden torturer and executioner from the optimistic, public-spirited, and deeply religious Silk. Yet, they are both fatherless men (Severian is an orphan), raised into and largely by centralized institutions--the Torturers Guild for Severian, the church for Silk--and are by chance thrust into the most important affairs of their day. Because both men are, in the larger scheme of things, naive, honest, and innocent, they help expose the corruption at the core of their respective societies. Also, both are victims of literary whimsy; in no reality would their adventures be remotely plausible.

Potential readers should be aware that any new Wolfe novel is a chore to begin. I had to re-read the first few pages of this book several times before I got a handle on what was happening, and I had to read quite a bit more to recognize that "Patera" was a title ("Father") and not a first name. Furthermore, Wolfe novels move very slowly; there's a lot of descriptive detail and a lot of internal debate. Finally, while LITANY is nominally science fiction, it falls on the very soft edge of sci-fi. Wolfe gets a lot of adulation from critics for his literary style, but there's a reason his name rarely comes up in discussions among fans.

A young priest enlightened (or was it just a burst vessel?) by a being known only as the Outsider, sets out in the company of thieves and prostitutes (or are they?) to save his temple from demolition. Along the way he bumps shoulders with strange gods (but are they really?), tangles himself in political movements, and learns some deep mysteries about the place they call the Whorl. Just remember, nothing is exactly as it seems in a Gene Wolfe book.

All seven-hundred pages of the first half of this work take place in approximately four days. Wolfe doesn't write action adventures, so gird up your patience and be ready for some less than brisk, albeit highly interesting reading. Overall, the story is a quest: hero is burdened with a weighty task, goes off to fulfill objective, and gets tangled up with all sorts of crazy characters and strange adventures along the way. But with Wolfe, nothing is ever pat, easy to explain, or simple to understand. Be ready to take notes and still not know what just happened.

All in all, very interesting; very different. My largest gripe is that when I look back over what we learned in those seven-hundred pages, I think 'It didn't have to be so long.' I think maybe those silly editors fear using the big red pen on the Mighty Wolfe.

... to the world created in The Book of the New Sun. The story here is gripping, and the world is thoroughly convincing. I look forward to reading the Long Sun books ... and journeying further into Gene Wolfe's wonderful books.