Subject: Urth of the New Sun

From: John Cherniavsky <jcc at mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1987 13:29:35 +0000

Just finished Gene Wolfe's latest, Urth of the New Sun (Tor
Hardcover).  Written very much in the style of the three
predecessors. Some, but not everything, explained (at least to my
satisfaction). More complete review with minor spoilers later also
review of Jack Vance's latest.

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From: Kai Quale <quale%si.uninett at tor.nta.no>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1987 08:56:02 +0000

>review of Jack Vance's latest.

Huh ?!? The *series* is called Book of the New Sun. The fourth book
is called *Citadel of the Autarch*. I have never heard of UotNS. Is
it the fifth ?

Kai

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From: Chuq Von Rospach <chuq at plaid.sun.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1987 17:44:40 +0000

>is called *Citadel of the Autarch*. I have never heard of UotNS. Is

It is the fifth. It starts a new cycle in the New Sun series. Tor
hardcover, also a Gollancz Hardcover in the UK.

And if you want to be technical about it, the fifth book is really
"Castle of the Otter" which is a small non-fiction book that
explains the background and etymology of Urth. Wonderful book, if
you can find it. Fortunately there is a Science Fiction Book Club
edition.

Chuq Von Rospach

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From: obrien <obrien at aerospace.aero.org>
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1987 16:17:50 +0000

I haven't seen many mentions of this yet, so here's a mini-review.

I'm biased, I admit it.  I'm one of those insufferable *****'s who
thinks "The Book of the New Sun" is the best thing the field's seen
in the last ten years or more.

In some ways I found the new offering a disappointment.  To a large
extent it merely seems to be a confirmation of the tenuous
conclusions one could draw from "The Book of the New Sun" if one
worked hard enough at it.  It also does not weave as rich a
tapestry, but this may be because it is only a third the length of
the earlier work.  If one considers it a short story following a
novel, it does quite well.

   There is room for the pleasant speculation that is so much a part
of the earlier work.  One possibility: Do we meet Jason in the new
book?

    For those who love Wolfe's use of language, that is here, in
full.  And it does serve to explain one or two incidents in the
earlier books that were, to me, almost completely incomprehensible
(such as the very mysterious run-in with Apu-Punchau in the stone
city).  Although it is not of the same length or complexity as the
earlier book/books, it is certainly a worthy successor.  For me, it
passed the final test: after reading it, I haven't been able to read
anything since.  Everything else seems tepid and shallow in
comparison.

Recommended, but only for those who have read "The Book of the New
Sun".

Mike O'Brien
obrien at aerospace.aero.org

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From: Not That One! <mcnc!rti!xyzzy!kjm at rutgers.edu>
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1987 06:15:23 +0000

_The Urth of the New Sun_ is here, and it's a knockout.
  This is the long-awaited sequel to _The Book of the New Sun_, Gene
Wolfe's monumental four-volume novel about the life under the dying
sun of the cradle of mankind, Wolfe's masterpiece.
  _Urth_ begins immediately after _The Book_ ends: Severian the
Torturer, Autarch of Urth, Examplar of Man, has boarded the ship
that will take him far from Urth to face judgement to determine
whether he will bring a White Fountain to rejuvenate the Sun. The
ship is enormous, possessing sufficient mass to generate a
gravitational field about 1/8th that of Urth. Severian spends some
time wandering about it, exploring this world, while various
factions attempt to assassinate him. He spends a fair amount of time
falling great heights without suffering serious injury and evading
hostile forces trying to prevent his success.
  After he arrives at the planet of judgement, in the universe of
Yesod, he discovers both how important and unimportant he is in the
eyes of God; eventually, he is returned to Urth, but things have
changed. The latter half of the novel entails his encounters on
Urth, in a variety of identities and locales, until his final
arrival at his true berth.

  I really don't want to go into any detail in a general review;
however, I will mention that the beautiful prose, oblique
story-telling, intricate time-travel, grand philisophical insights,
and general brilliance of _The Book_ are all here, although fewer of
them than in the original, which was, after all, much longer. A
great deal of _Urth_ is concerned with making more plain the
unravelling of mysteries established in the first; since I was
confident in my understanding of most all of that work, they came as
no surprise. However, I will state that _Urth_ was completely unlike
my expectations of it, and disappointed me not in the least.
  From what I understand, there will be no further volumes detailing
the life of Severian; this was intended as the coda to the concerto
of _The Book_, and after its final (uplifted) note, we must deduce
the rest of Severian's life ourselves--and with him, the life of
Man.
   Yes, _Castle_ is a _New Sun_ book (actually, I believe it was
published fourth, between _Sword and Citadel_ and is very worth
getting from the SFBC. Besides interesting insights into _The Book_,
it also has memorable bits about being a convention guest and plans
to put MX missles on wooden sailing ships in the Pacific.

Kevin J. Maroney

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From: ames!lll-tis!ptsfa!pbhyc!djo <ames!lll-tis!ptsfa!pbhyc!djo at ucbvax.berkeley.edu>
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1987 23:31:44 +0000

kjm at dg-rtp.UUCP (Not That One!) writes:
>that will take him far from Urth to face judgement

Uhhh...I suppose this is *technically* correct, since at the end of
tBotNS Severian says he is writing immediately before boarding the
ship...but what is not mentioned in tBotNS, and is mentioned only in
oblique references in tUotNS, is the decade Severian has spent as
Autarch.  The *action* of tUotNS, thus, begins long after the
*action* of tBotNS ended.

>A great deal of _Urth_ is concerned with making more plain the
>unravelling of mysteries established in the first

This is, for many, the biggest complaint with tUotNS; most of us
liked the vague, implied feel of those "mysteries" -- the answers
were always there, if you could figure them out; but now the puzzle
has been taken away.