A Question

Stuart Hamm · 22 Jun 2007, 15:42 · from 2007-June.txt.gz

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From: hammstu at sbcglobal.net (Stuart Hamm)
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 08:42:49 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: (urth) A Question
In-Reply-To: <641788.10299.qm at web54505.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <485607.91146.qm at web81410.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

I love the Long Sun as well, and greatly enjoyed re-reading a few months back, but I'm not sure I agree that it's a good starting place...there's an awful lot of dialogue and it's easy to get trapped down in those mines...

jason wichlacz <borisdancing at yahoo.com> wrote:  I've decided that Long Sun is a great place to people.
I started with New Sun and it took me several tries
before I got thru it. I love it now and enjoyed it
then too but it was work. I know now that Wolfe is
worth the work but when breaking in a newbie it might
make sense to give them something a little more
user-friendly. Long Sun has warmth, humor, likable
charcters, action, and introduces us to some of Gene's
larger themes and puzzle play in a somewhat more
gentle way. I just finished reading Long Sun to my
wife and she loved it. I think she trusts Gene enough
now to try either Latro or Severian but I don't think
she would have stuck with either without the inro to
what Wolfe can do given in the slightly more gentle
form of Long Sun.

It was Megan who while working in a book store hooked
me on Neil Gaiman and especially Wolfe and all I can
say is Thank you, thank you thank you thank you.

Jason

--- Megan Bugge wrote:

---------------------------------

Book of the New Sun is a perfect place to start. The
trick to getting someone to stick with the books is to
be honest. It is a challenging read, more so than
anything I've ever read before. It is also dark and
beautiful. The beginning is slow, but it is on
purpose. Trust this author. You will be rewarded for
your loyalty. (at least this has always worked for
me)

Of course, the Soldier series is everything described
below, and might be easier to chew. On the other
hand, if someone does not like BotNS...? Perhaps it's
a trial by fire sort of a deal. GW isn't an author
for people who like to be spoon fed their stories.

~Megan

---------------------------------

I am probably in the minority on this, but I think the
Soldier series is a fantastic place to start. It's
language is as clear-cut as The Knight's is, but it's
set in a world most people are at east passing
familiar with. Maybe if you include a little cheat
sheet that translates the places and gods from
Latro-speak into English, they could at least surf
through the story and wallow in Wolfe's brilliant
realization of ancient Greece. They're bound to
realize there's more down below...

---------------------------------
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