Nightside the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun) [Hardcover]

Gene Wolfe (Author)

Book Description

Series: Book of the Long Sun | Publication Date: April 1993

The Whorl, a giant starship world whose origins are shrouded in legend, is ruled by strange gods and peopled by a human race changed by time. By the author of The Book of the New Sun. National ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wolfe's first novel since Pandora by Holly Hollander (1990) is a vivid and compelling evocation of life inside an interstellar spacecraft so huge that a whole world of cities and wildernesses exists within it, and so old that its origins and purpose are mere legends to its inhabitants. Patera Silk, a young priest in one of the city of Viron's poorest temples ("manteions"), receives a mental message from one of his gods, an enlightenment which invests his life with urgent meaning. On the same day, however, he learns his manteion had been sold for back taxes and may well be dismantled. Armed with the conviction of his revelation, Silk enlists the aid of a local but decent-hearted thief, intent upon breaking into the mansion of Blod, the new owner of the manteion, to convince (or even force) him to guarantee its survival. From that point on, Silk is drawn even deeper into the shady world outside his temple walls. But for all its interest, the plot is hardly the most powerful element. The atmosphere of Wolfe's spacecraft seduces and amazes, details and mystery piling upon each other to yield a sense of palpable otherworldliness. The environment of the long sun--so called because the ship's cylindrical interior is lit by a central tubular "sun" extending the length of the ship--comes energetically alive, and readers will be grateful that this book begins a four-volume series. If this first taste is any test, Wolfe has embarked on an epic to rival his acclaimed Book of the New Sun.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Inside the giant spaceship known as the Whorl, the gods speak to their worshipers through a complex system of augury and technology until one man discovers the existence of a new god and unwittingly begins a revolution. Wolfe's stylistic genius allows him to infuse standard elements of mystery and adventure with multiple layers of nuance and symbolism to create a transcendent and mysterious whole. Resonating with undertones from the authors' "Book of the New Sun" saga, this first in a four-volume series is a strong addition to any library's sf collection.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 333 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (April 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031285207X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312852078
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,356,333 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 The first volume of the Book of the Long Sun slowly unravels, November 6, 2001

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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

NIGHTSIDE THE LONG SUN is the first volume of Gene Wolfe's four-volume work The Book of the Long Sun, which is a 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. After NIGHTSIDE THE LONG SUN, the reader should be voraciously desiring the next book in the series, LAKE OF THE LONG SUN.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beginning of a great journey, March 6, 2011

By 

stephen hess (greensboro, nc United States) - See all my reviews

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

Long Sun may be the most conventional of Wolfe's work, at least on the surface. Perhaps because it's told in third person, unusual for Wolfe, it seems more like other, lesser works of SF, until you really begin to understand what's happening, the astounding complexity of the world Wolfe is showing his reader... and you once again are humbled by the talent of this writer. There are no equals to Wolfe writing today; it saddens me he is not a household name, though given the current state of our culture, I understand why he isn't. You have to pay attention to Wolfe. Don't let the simpicity of his prose fool you - not a word is out of place, Wolfe's control over his story should never be doubted.

There's no reason to talk about plot, here. This isn't about plot, though this is one of the more traditional Gene Wolfe works you will find. But the power of Wolfe is not plot. Wolfe is about ideas, about humanity's place in creation, about gods and God, about redemption and determination, about what it is to be human, to want to be human, about failure and dealing with failure, about the loss and rebirth of faith, epiphany, and, finally, understanding of one's place in the universe.

Wolfe rewards like few writers. It's hard work to read him; it takes effort, you have to think, to consider, to realize he is apt to reveal important informantion at any time. There isn't anything, not one word, that isn't meant to be there, no compromise in his respect for his reader's intelligence. But in the end, when you finish a major Wolfe work like Long Sun, you'll have a greater appreciation for what it means to be human. And you'll wish you too could find an Oreb, or have been taught by a Matera Marble, or perhaps, could have spoken, just once, to a Patera Silk.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sorry to have the first so-so review, but...., January 4, 2001

By 

R. Cusolito "bob_c_03865" (Plaistow, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

I write this review after reading the whole series. Perhaps I would have written a more favorable review if I had written it after just reading this volume. The story here plods along very slowly, and may not appeal to anyone who is not used to Gene Wolfe's complex writing. If you want a really good Wolfe series, pick up his "New Sun" books. This one seems as if it hold a lot of promise, but ultimately disappoints.