LAKE OF THE LONG SUN - GENE WOLFE

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It’s really hard to imagine what reading these as they came out was like. As with most of America, I’m also reading the Song of Ice and Fire series so I somewhat understand what it’s like to have to wait a few years between books. It’s always hard to keep the world and the rules of this world, and the characters straight in between volumes. Of course, this Wolfe stuff is on another level. Fuck Tolkien, fuck Martin, fuck Herbert, fuck whomever you like for world-building, Wolfe is the king. The universes he creates are stranger and more realized and interesting than any writer I’ve ever read. Real heads know, LeGuin is oft-quoted calling him the Sci-Fi Melville. Anyway, due to the complexity and strangeness of his worlds, I feel it would be really hard to read these books with a year plus break in-between them. I read the BotNS tetralogy back-to-back-to-back-to-back and it was still hard as fuck to follow. This book I was able to read quickly and right after I finished NIGHTSIDE and it was still a bit of a struggle to catch all the hyper-subtle world building that Wolfe engages in. This book pushes the Whorl-world forward. We now have total confirmation that they’re on a ship that seems to have been in space for 300+ years, tho it is still unclear where they are going. Additionally, it’s finally connected to BotNS; apparently Pas is Typhon from the original series and he is the one who built the ship. I might have to go back and read the Typhon sections from BotNS, I don’t remember him mentioning a world-ship. If I recall correctly, he seemed like a figure meant to recall satan from that part of the bible where Jesus is in the wilderness and gets tempted (Wolfe is heavy on the catholic stuff). I remember him offering Severaian endless riches to worship him. Petera Silk is likewise made this offer by a character is LAKE OF THE LONG SUN. Satanic tempting is a big thing for Wolfe it seems. Also, lakes. If I remember correctly, lots of BotNS is lake-based. Anyway, the “plot” wasn’t significantly pushed forward in this volume. We learned a lot more about the Whorl itself and the original set-up. I very much enjoyed the angry robot that got laid-off. I’m hoping there’s more in-the-moment plot in the next 2 volumes. I’ll try to read them somewhat quickly to not lose this Wolfe-momentum. 300 planet ships.