The Urth of the New Sun

This book is the Coda to TBNS and in finishing it I feel as though I've completed a great labor, and I regret that I did not take the time to write out my thoughts for each volume of Severian's journey because I find it to have mirrored my own in reading through this series. From murky and confused beginnings, down winding steps filled with monster and mystery, to a clearing of understanding and repentance this series has engulfed me in its world.

At the same time I'm glad I waited to comment until I'd reached the story's conclusion as no single part of the series should be judged on its own merits. Even this book, very much separated from the tetralogy, is part of the larger whole and mainly serves to shed light on some of the questions that plagued its contemporary reader.

I can't credit Gene Wolfe's storytelling enough, and in reading Neil Gaiman's, “How to Read Gene Wolfe” I am inclined to agree despite having never met the man, that he is, “a ferocious intellect, vast and cool and serious, who created books and stories that were of genre but never limited by it. An explorer, who set out for uncharted territory and brought back maps, and if he said “Here There Be Dragons,” by God, you knew that was where the dragons were.”

This series, and its individual pieces, are far from perfect and problem free. Parts of the series are, from a modern viewpoint, dogged by conservative thought and generalizations, misogyny and religious zeal. Very much a Christ allegory it was interesting to read from the perspective of a man convinced of God or at least in the message of the Church. Fortunately this series is a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts; Wolfe's writing matures as the story goes on, and in so doing adds a layer of congeniality to what could have otherwise been a clumsy retelling of Jesus goes to Nazareth. Mixing science fiction, fantasy, and religion beautifully I can completely understand why this work is considered a masterpiece and a foundational text on the level of LoTR.

My original review for this just said "Too tidy!! Why??" One thing I loved about BOTNS was the way you really just get tossed into this world with little explanation and have the opportunity to put things together for yourself. Urth ties things up a little too neatly for me; I enjoyed the ragged edges.

This is the coda novel of the series, 'Book of the New Sun'.

It is mostly SciFi content but skinned in the fantasy world of the protagonist Severian. In this final book he is doing crazy time jumps back into events set through the first four books, and some of the strange elements of the original story start to find explanation. The whole thing demands concentration as it's easy for important things so slip by. On the other hand, I was sometimes scratching my head to remember the characters that appear in the final book from their original settings. And when I did remember them I realised that much of the story is hidden by Wolfe's technique of hinting at things as if he wants to have the last laugh, "Ha! I knew you would not get that bit." He's an evil genius author.