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A review by thepancreas11
The Book of the New Sun - The Shadow of the Torturer, The Claw of the Conciliator, The Sword of the Lictor and The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe
1.0
I got through seventy pages in three months, and then I put it down. I realized I got no joy from it, that I would find reasons not to read it. Seeing Neil Gaiman's praise on the cover made my heart sink, but I admit defeat. I feel like I just watched all the raw footage from "Planet Earth", the hours of following around some bird waiting for it to do something, and I don't even have David Attenborough to narrate. Actually, I finally understand why people say, "I don't really get science fiction."
I don't doubt the prowess of the author or the beauty of the prose. This clearly took some writing, I just wish it led to something more fulfilling. All the time and effort went into saying things in a complex way rather than saying complex things. The plot meandered and never really held my interest, even when I could get through the fog of the unreliable narrator and the futuristic language. I feel like I would have gotten just as much by trying to read Harry Potter in French. At least then, I know something interest will happen in the end, and hey, maybe I can learn some French along the way.
See, the beauty of Harry Potter is that all the effort went into making the story interesting, rather than the writing. You can zip through those books in a day and get everything you need. You can also read them slowly or re-read them and get more out of them because the little details mean something. They are complex and accessible simultaneously. Can you imagine if J.K. Rowling spent thirty pages describing all the things in Hagrid's hut? Actually, I'd rather read that than this book. This book was like listening to someone describe the intricacies of their obscure PhD research. I guess that's why millions of people have read Harry Potter and I know one person that has ever read this book.
I don't doubt the prowess of the author or the beauty of the prose. This clearly took some writing, I just wish it led to something more fulfilling. All the time and effort went into saying things in a complex way rather than saying complex things. The plot meandered and never really held my interest, even when I could get through the fog of the unreliable narrator and the futuristic language. I feel like I would have gotten just as much by trying to read Harry Potter in French. At least then, I know something interest will happen in the end, and hey, maybe I can learn some French along the way.
See, the beauty of Harry Potter is that all the effort went into making the story interesting, rather than the writing. You can zip through those books in a day and get everything you need. You can also read them slowly or re-read them and get more out of them because the little details mean something. They are complex and accessible simultaneously. Can you imagine if J.K. Rowling spent thirty pages describing all the things in Hagrid's hut? Actually, I'd rather read that than this book. This book was like listening to someone describe the intricacies of their obscure PhD research. I guess that's why millions of people have read Harry Potter and I know one person that has ever read this book.