Long Sun 3/4 / Mutts 8 / Short Sun 1
Jan. 16th, 2005 10:35 amGene Wolfe, Caldé of the Long Sun
Long Sun 3, in which Silk gets put in charge of the city, more or less. There's a rebellion that's been in progress since the end of the last book that gets sort of resolved. I really don't remember a lot about this volume, but I don't doubt that it was important to the plot.
Gene Wolfe, Exodus From the Long Sun
A conclusion to the series. Some backstory revelation, an invasion of Silk's home city, and [as expected] a departure from the Whorl. The series started to fall apart just a little in this volume; the return of the god Pas in particular felt forced. That's overshadowed by the way-coolness of what's at the end of the Long Sun, though.
And then you get the epilogue, where Wolfe sets up for the next series and tacks on his standard confusing-narrator issues to an otherwise somewhat straightforward series. Bah. Bah, I say. This cheapens the work he's done building up the characters in the rest of the book. Bah. [The series as a whole is still my favorite of his work.]
Patrick O'Donnell, Mutts: I Want to be the Kitty
Cute comic strip about pets and owners. O'Donnell writes some of the best cats I've ever seen [Bucky and Catbert are parodies; Mooch is much more real], and his artwork is distinctive and functional. He's not always as funny as Darby Conley or Stephan Pastis but he's got heart, and that's worth something.
Gene Wolfe, On Blue's Waters
Book of the Short Sun volume 1. Hoo boy. The narrator issues are back in force here. The book is told in first person, but the cast of characters distinguishes between the 'protagonist' and the 'narrator.' Ow.
This is the story of Horn, a pupil of Silk's, who now lives on the planet Blue with a bunch of colonists from the Whorl. He's been sent back to the Whorl to find Silk and bring him to Blue to rule over the colony. [Silk got separated from the departing colonists at the end of Long Sun.] The book's split between two timelines: Horn writing down his journey from home to the lander that will eventually take him to the Whorl, interspersed with Horn talking about what's going on in his life right now. If this sounds confusing, it is. Adding to the confusion, the people he's hanging around with are calling him Silk, though he's convinced that he's Horn. Ow ow ow.
This isn't anywhere near as easy a read as Long Sun. I question whether it'll be as rewarding, too.
Long Sun 3, in which Silk gets put in charge of the city, more or less. There's a rebellion that's been in progress since the end of the last book that gets sort of resolved. I really don't remember a lot about this volume, but I don't doubt that it was important to the plot.
Gene Wolfe, Exodus From the Long Sun
A conclusion to the series. Some backstory revelation, an invasion of Silk's home city, and [as expected] a departure from the Whorl. The series started to fall apart just a little in this volume; the return of the god Pas in particular felt forced. That's overshadowed by the way-coolness of what's at the end of the Long Sun, though.
And then you get the epilogue, where Wolfe sets up for the next series and tacks on his standard confusing-narrator issues to an otherwise somewhat straightforward series. Bah. Bah, I say. This cheapens the work he's done building up the characters in the rest of the book. Bah. [The series as a whole is still my favorite of his work.]
Patrick O'Donnell, Mutts: I Want to be the Kitty
Cute comic strip about pets and owners. O'Donnell writes some of the best cats I've ever seen [Bucky and Catbert are parodies; Mooch is much more real], and his artwork is distinctive and functional. He's not always as funny as Darby Conley or Stephan Pastis but he's got heart, and that's worth something.
Gene Wolfe, On Blue's Waters
Book of the Short Sun volume 1. Hoo boy. The narrator issues are back in force here. The book is told in first person, but the cast of characters distinguishes between the 'protagonist' and the 'narrator.' Ow.
This is the story of Horn, a pupil of Silk's, who now lives on the planet Blue with a bunch of colonists from the Whorl. He's been sent back to the Whorl to find Silk and bring him to Blue to rule over the colony. [Silk got separated from the departing colonists at the end of Long Sun.] The book's split between two timelines: Horn writing down his journey from home to the lander that will eventually take him to the Whorl, interspersed with Horn talking about what's going on in his life right now. If this sounds confusing, it is. Adding to the confusion, the people he's hanging around with are calling him Silk, though he's convinced that he's Horn. Ow ow ow.
This isn't anywhere near as easy a read as Long Sun. I question whether it'll be as rewarding, too.