I have to admit to being slightly lost for words about what to say of the third and fourth Books of the New Sun. I'm apparently not the only one. After reading a few reviews of these novels, it seems there's little substance between enraptured "this justifies the existence of science fiction" and "it's confusing and boring". Those who sing high praises certainly don't try and interpret what is going on, they are content to talk of "staggering scope" and Wolfe's unique genius.The true analysis and discussion has been happening on urth.net since 1997 (and presumably elsewhere before that since the books were published in the 80s) by a dedicated group of fans who have each read the book many times. I poked around in the archives for a few hours, and there's a lot of interesting stuff there, the theory that Nessus is Buenos Aires was interesting, and rang true to me. Dorcas being a vampire I decided I didn't buy, but there was much interesting discussion about blood bats....If it's in the book, it has probably been discussed there.
At the end of Shadow and Claw I was full of questions, and although I didn't enjoy the read, I have to admit I was intrigued. This was a complex puzzle with many twisty passageways. By the end of the fourth book some of that feeling of intrigue remained, but I honestly just didn't care that much what happened anymore.
Here's a collection of 'ends' of sorts that may or may not be correct (sort of spoilers watch out). So Baldanders is like a reverse Frankenstein who created his own doctor, the Claw is a thorn, or maybe nothing special at all, and whenever you go up or down, or through a corridor there is probably time travel involved. Oh and maybe there are two Severians, or at least a complex time-travel relationship with himself. Great. I understand approximately nothing more.
If I was to read it at least two more times I might have a chance. Even Severian/Wolfe tells me to:
Have I told you all I promised? I am aware that at various places in my narrative I have pledged that this or that should be made clear in the knitting up of the store. I remember them all, I am sure, but then I remember so much else. Before you assume that I have cheated you, read again, as I will write again.At least this time I was very aware of what I was getting into. There continued to be plenty of 'autochthons', 'zoanthrops', 'cultelarri', 'deodands' and 'remontados': i.e. ancient english words sprinkled throughout the text that the kindle dictionary was woefully ill-equipped to handle. And the alzabo makes a real-life appearance in a chilling experience where Severian fights it as it speaks with the voices of the family it has just consumed:
More hideous than the speaking of a corpse could ever be, I heard the voice that had called "Open, darling," at the door. It said: "Yes, I am injured. But the pain is nothing much, and I can stand and move as before. You cannot bar me from my family forever." From the mouth of a beast, it was the voice of a stern, stamping, honest man.I had a little chuckle at the blatant Deus Ex Machina call-out of Master Malrubius in a spaceship:
None but the poor playwrights do it, they say, but those who say so forget that it is better to have a power lowered on a rope, and a play that ends well, than to have nothing, and a play that ends badly. Here is our rope - many ropes, and a stout ship too. Will you come aboard?Another favourite passage of mine was storytime with the Ascian in the field hospital. It seemed straight out of Catch-22.
If Wolfe deliberately placed all the clever plot points and hidden references attributed to him by fans, it is an amazing piece of work. Even if he didn't, and his intention was just to create a story that was sufficiently complex and open to interpretation that fans would be analysing it frame by frame like the Zapruder film for decades to come, that's certainly impressive in its own way. Unfortunately it is still a pretty horrible read.
2.5 stars.
