{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/sflovers/151",
    "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": 151,
    "subject": "Gene Wolfe, _On Blue's Waters_",
    "messages": 2,
    "voices": 2,
    "first": "1999-10-20T10:52:30+00:00",
    "last": "1999-10-20T15:51:30+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<sflovers-v24-147-2@digest.sf-lovers>",
      "from": {
        "name": "David Kennedy",
        "address": "kennedyd at bireh010.europe.nortel.com"
      },
      "date": "1999-10-20T10:52:30+00:00",
      "subject": "Gene Wolfe, _On Blue's Waters_",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "If anyone else but Gene Wolfe had embarked on their third trilogy in the\nsame fantasy sequence there'd be cries of complaint at the crass\ncommercialisation. However, it's a new set of books by Wolfe and I for one\nwill happily read anything he writes!\n\nNo spoilers other than general comments. Spoiler for the Long Sun series.\n\nI was irritated by the end of the Long Sun books, I felt that the\nappearance of the inhumi (spelling?) as they approached Green and Blue\ndidn't fit with the rest of the series and was something of a slapped on\nending.\n\nSince then I have read, er, memory failure, _The Fifth Head of Cerebus_?\n(The one with the three interlinked stories of shapeshifters.) This\nestablished some context for the ending of the Long Sun books, but I still\ndidn't like it.\n\nI'm happier now. Wolfe addresses this issue directly in the new book,\nhaving the protagonist Horn (the youngster Silk knew in the Long Sun\ntrilogy) wonder about the events at the exodus from the Whorl. It looks\nlike this will be a central story element in this series.\n\nThe style is quite different from the Short Sun or Long Sun books. As you\nwould expect the narrative isn't linear and straightforward but he doesn't\nplay too many games with the reader. The writing is more transparent than\nbefore, with less of the layered imagery of the Short Sun books for\nexample. This is due in part to the story being told by Horn I suppose. He\nhas a markedly different view of the world from Silk (or so he tells us)\ndespite being hugely influenced by him. Once I started to dis-entangle\nevents I enjoyed this book hugely.\n\nAnyway, I'll reserve judgement until I read the rest of the series, but I\nalways find other people's reading of Wolfe's books to be much more\nincisive than my own!\n\nAnyone want to tell me what they though was worth remarking on? Please?  (I\n_want_ something to look for when I reread it)\n\nDavid Kennedy"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<sflovers-v24-147-3@digest.sf-lovers>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Kevin J. Maroney",
        "address": "kmaroney at crossover.com"
      },
      "date": "1999-10-20T15:51:30+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: Gene Wolfe, _On Blue's Waters_",
      "in_reply_to": "<sflovers-v24-147-2@digest.sf-lovers>",
      "reply_link": "subject",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "While I think that _On Blue's Waters_ is Wolfe's best novel in 20 years,\nand that's saying *quite* a lot, thank you, I don't think it's a good place\nto start. It is the fifth volume in a seven-volume series*, and quite a lot\nof the emotional and intellectual interest of _OBW_ depends on prior\nknowledge of the characters and situations as depicted in _The Book of the\nLong Sun_.\n\nIn short, this is *not* the Gene Wolfe book to start with. \n\nI usually recommend _The Fifth Head of Cerberus_ as the Wolfe book to start\nwith; if you read all of it and don't like any of it, you probably aren't\ngoing to like much else of Wolfe. However, if you like it, the odds are\nexcellent that you'll want to read more and will enjoy it when you do.\n\n*Minor and oblique spoiler below\n\nAnd it's also the 10th volume in a 12-volume series, since _The Book of the\nLong Sun_ is an indirect sequel to _The Book of the New Sun_, and the\nconnection between the _New Sun_ and _Long Sun_ narratives is going to\nbecome much more important in the final two volumes of _The Book of the\nShort Sun_.\n\nKevin Maroney"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}