{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/sflovers/140", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "sflovers", "thread": { "id": 140, "subject": "Book of the Long Sun, by Gene Wolfe (spoilers)", "messages": 1, "voices": 1, "first": "1996-11-04T22:55:52+00:00", "last": "1996-11-04T22:55:52+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Peter Cash", "address": "cash at convex.com" }, "date": "1996-11-04T22:55:52+00:00", "subject": "Book of the Long Sun, by Gene Wolfe (spoilers)", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I have, for some time, been wanting to write a review of Gene Wolfe's\nlatest series, a tetralogy collectively called, \"The Book of the Long Sun\",\nonce I had read the last book. But after having finished that final volume,\n_Exodus from the Long Sun_, I find myself unable to do so. One reason for\nthis is that a long time has elapsed since I read the earlier books, and\ntoo many of the details have escaped me. (I have resolved never again to\nstart reading a series until all the books are available; it just detracts\ntoo much from the experience.)\n\nHowever, the most important reason why I cannot write a review is that I\nwould find it impossible to do so without discussing at length the ending\nof Exodus, and that means my review would consist mostly of major\nspoilers. If you have not read this series, I will tell you that I enjoyed\nall the books tremendously, right up to about the last twenty pages of the\nlast one. The ending left me feeling, well \"disappointed\" is too\nmild; \"crushed\" may be better.\n\nSPOILER WARNING\n\nIf you haven't read all four books of the Long Sun, I urge you to read no\nfurther - there are major spoilers ahead. They will ruin everything for\nyou.\n\nOne of the reviews quoted on the inside of the dust jacket of Exododus\nsays: \"...One thing is apparent: Mr. Wolfe loves his characters, and it is\nnot possible to accompany them on their long and strange journey without\nsharing that feeling\". Well, that's exactly spot on: I really got to love\nCalde Silk, Chenille (of the perpetually \"jutting breasts\"), Hyacinth,\nMaytera Marble, Maytera/General Mint, and even thieving Auk and Oreb the\ntalking bird. Wolfe got me to care about what happens to them, and then\nright at the end, Wolfe sandbags me.\n\nMind, I know that Wolfe isn't exactly what you would call an upbeat\nwriter. For example, he treats some of the characters in his Soldier books\nvery roughly but, that's the kind of books these are, and you figure it out\npretty quickly (by the end of _Soldier of the Mists_, anyway). And\nconsidering the tone and subject matter throughout the New Sun books (the\nfirst one's called _Shadow of the Torturer_, for heaven's sake) the ending\nis positively light-hearted.\n\nBut the Long Sun books don't come across like this - their tone is not one\nthat would lead you to anticipate the very dark ending. In fact, the ending\nappears to be shaping up to be positively rosy - everybody falls in love\nand gets married, peace looks like it will be restored to Viron, the first\ncolonization ship leaves the generation ship (the \"Whorl of the Long Sun\")\nto carry out its destined mission of conquering new worlds, and so\nforth. In fact, things did look a bit _too_ rosy, and I would have expected\nWolfe to throw in a bit of a shocker to balance the sweetness.\n\nWhat he did was far more than that. (If you are reading this far and\nhaven't read Exodus, I beg you to stop now, before it's too late...) It's\nas though Wolfe says, \"Hah, so you think I'm going to give you a happy\nending? Well, this is a Gene Wolfe (tm) novel, and I'm not going to give it\nto you! In fact, I'm going to show you that everyone you thought was good\nwas in fact rotten, and that life sucks and then you die (if you're lucky)\neven in this novel of mine. So there!\"\n\nHere's what happens in the last few pages (in no particular order of\nimportance):\n\n1. We find out that Maytera Marble lied and isn't the soldier's long lost\n\"Molly\", and that her marriage with him is based on this lie.\n\n2. Hyacinth isn't a Hooker with a Heart of Gold (there's even a long speech\nby Chenille near the end where she tells Silk, \"Hyacinth is pure gold,\nPatera\".) Really, she's a fickle slut who abandons Silk during a hissy\nfit. Right after Silk tells her how much he loves her.\n\n3. Before #2 even happens, Silk is so depressed by what he finds out about\nthe evils of the world that he nearly kills himself. (And it's really not\nclear what happens on the roof of that airship gondola, is it?) But what,\nexactly, did Silk realize? I don't think we're ever told.\n\n4. Viron is going to hell and is being bombed back into the stone age, and\nit doesn't look like anybody can stop the carnage. General Mint is now\ntotally ineffectual. Even if things recover, the town is bankrupt, since\nSilk has taken all its currency - gold circuit cards - to plug into the\nlanding craft. (Huh? You can just take some random circuit cards and plug\nthem in anywhere and they work? Never mind.)\n\n5. Whatever happened to the Gods? They were among the most interesting\ncharacters, but we never find out more about them and their conflicts. The\nGoddess of Love was being hunted; did that stop? The whole plot line just\ngets dropped. Plunk.\n\n6. We find out that the destination of the colony ships is not...er...a\nvery desirable locale, being populated with evil blood-sucking\nshape-shifters who can mimic human form, and all. (Apparently, the head of\nthe Vironese church, Quetzal, was one of Them, and how the hell did he get\non the Ship anyhow? Were the shape shifters really running the show all\nalong?) In fact, the destination is, shall we say, familiar to anyone who\nhas read The Fifth Head of Cerberus novellas. Yuck.\n\n7. We never find out what happens to Silk after he runs off to chase the\npetulant Hyacinth, but it doesn't really matter, since Pas has already said\neverybody's leaving for the lovely locale described in #6, or else.\n\nDo you see what I mean? Isn't this a bit over the top? Or am I\noverreacting? Should I send Wolfe that box of poisoned chocolates, or not?\nI would really appreciate hearing from anybody else who's read all four\nbooks. Hey, I probably missed the _really_ bad stuff.\n\nFor what it's worth, I think item 6 would have satisfactorily shocking and\nironic without all the other bits.\n\nP.S. The bit about the poisoned chocolates is a joke. I shouldn't have to\nsay it, but on the net, you never know..." } ] } ] }