Subject: (whorl) Kirkus review of RttW

From: akt <akt at attglobal.net>
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 20:18:58 +0000

IMO, this early review for booksellers does not include spoilers (yes, I
am also one of the people you can put on your hate list), but if you are
super-sensitive, you may want to skip it. I do not believe in "spoiler
space." Caveat lector.

RETURN TO THE WHORL. This, the third and final part of Wolfe’s Short Sun
trilogy, itself the sequel to a tetrology, the Book of the Long Sun,
concludes the saga of Patera Silk, the one-time ruler of an immense
starship, the Whorl, the story’s narrator, Horn, various other
characters--some of whom may have become composite--and the planets that
the Whorl’s colonists have populated. So much is clear. For the
remainder, Wolfe includes his usual teasing list of “proper names in the
text,” which helps less than not at all. Also, this time, Wolfe provides
a typically elusive recap and update guaranteed to disconcert readers
not already perplexed--Wolfe’s demands on his readers grow more onerous
with every volume. If by this point you have even a tenuous idea of what
the series is all about, you’ll certainly enjoy the finale. For the rest
of us mere mortals, Wolfe’s grace and power evoke gleams of admiration
even as we float away on a tide of indifference.

-alga

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