Bridge of Birds / New Sun 1/2
Jan. 7th, 2005 10:30 pmBarry Hughart, Bridge of Birds
Mystery story set in "an ancient China that never was." Beautiful, funny, well-constructed. Third re-read; some of the plot doesn't hold up quite as well the third time through, but it's still the best Oriental fantasy I've ever read. Now if only Hughart would write more than just the two sequels . . .
Gene Wolfe, Nightside the Long Sun
Book of the Long Sun, vol. 1. Wolfe's most accessible work, I think. He's put a lot of work into building the world [er, Whorl], and while there are aspects of "see how smart I am" they aren't overpowering.
I don't really know how to talk about this series without just explaining What's Going On right up front, and where's the fun in that? Patera Silk is a priest who receives enlightenment from one of the lesser gods of his pantheon, and goes off breaking & entering a rich man's house to try and steal the deed to his church. Along the way he acquires a talking bird, meets a demon-possessed girl (or maybe she can just astrally project), becomes one of the first people in his city in a very long time to see a goddess, falls in love with a courtesan, and acquires a deadly weapon. Not much actually /happens/ but there's a lot of setup for the future.
Gene Wolfe, Lake of the Long Sun
Long Sun vol 2, in which Revelations occur. Silk, his raven Oreb, and a couple of friends visit a lake. More gods and goddesses appear, occasionally possessing people. Silk goes under the lake to an ancient complex, accidentally revives a woman who's been asleep for around three hundred years, and has a conversation with her, during which he learns little and we, the readers, learn an awful lot, such as that this series is roughly contemporaneous with the Book of the New Sun.
This series really is good stuff. There's a lot to process, but not so much that it overwhelms you (like New Sun), and Silk is a much more recognizably human character than Severian was. The book's not written in first person, either, which helps with the understanding.
Mystery story set in "an ancient China that never was." Beautiful, funny, well-constructed. Third re-read; some of the plot doesn't hold up quite as well the third time through, but it's still the best Oriental fantasy I've ever read. Now if only Hughart would write more than just the two sequels . . .
Gene Wolfe, Nightside the Long Sun
Book of the Long Sun, vol. 1. Wolfe's most accessible work, I think. He's put a lot of work into building the world [er, Whorl], and while there are aspects of "see how smart I am" they aren't overpowering.
I don't really know how to talk about this series without just explaining What's Going On right up front, and where's the fun in that? Patera Silk is a priest who receives enlightenment from one of the lesser gods of his pantheon, and goes off breaking & entering a rich man's house to try and steal the deed to his church. Along the way he acquires a talking bird, meets a demon-possessed girl (or maybe she can just astrally project), becomes one of the first people in his city in a very long time to see a goddess, falls in love with a courtesan, and acquires a deadly weapon. Not much actually /happens/ but there's a lot of setup for the future.
Gene Wolfe, Lake of the Long Sun
Long Sun vol 2, in which Revelations occur. Silk, his raven Oreb, and a couple of friends visit a lake. More gods and goddesses appear, occasionally possessing people. Silk goes under the lake to an ancient complex, accidentally revives a woman who's been asleep for around three hundred years, and has a conversation with her, during which he learns little and we, the readers, learn an awful lot, such as that this series is roughly contemporaneous with the Book of the New Sun.
This series really is good stuff. There's a lot to process, but not so much that it overwhelms you (like New Sun), and Silk is a much more recognizably human character than Severian was. The book's not written in first person, either, which helps with the understanding.