Shadow & Claw: The First Half of The Book of the New Sun Kindle Edition

Wow!This is an extremely challenging read. It rivals "Moby Dick" in linguistic complexity. Frankly, my Kindle worked overtime using fast Wikipedia and Dictionary look-ups features for the vocabulary used. Often, multiple times on a single page! The challenge is two fold: 1) the archaic terms used: 40% are in the dictionary, 40% are in Wikipedia, and 20% are in neither (the author simply creates). I really do not know how the book could have been accurately read at the time it was written because the Internet (and its associated speed) did not yet exist & 2) many sentences are constructed in an archaic way as well. I am telling you, the vocabulary used would have driven William F. Buckley Jr. (well known for his expansive vocabulary, FYI) running to the dictionary routinely.I read a lot and have a Master's...this is a challenging read up with the most complex I have every read or heard about. I am 59 and have a gracious amount of books under my proverbial "belt".It is written in the first person in the very distant future as a memoir of sorts. The original writer from the future has a sort of photographic memory which is used to add credibility to the detail of the story. The actual author (I.e., Wolfe) has an appendix stating that it was translate into our current English (Circa 1983). So, the actual author is merely a translator. He states that there are numerous word substitutions for various reasons as it is set in the future.The terminology used spans from the Classic Greek era of time (~500 BC or so) of time to ~1983. It spans European and Arab cultural references and terminology references.The work is impressive and very much worth the read. It is in the top handful of Scyfy reads every written IMHO. I caution anyone who attempts to read this to use a reader. The fast look-up capability is essential to appreciating the work. Reading a hard copy would be an effort in frustration unless you have a Masters or PhD in literature along with advanced degrees in ancient history.I love this book. I suppose I love for the piece as a work of literature, but I think I love even more because it made me work so hard to read the work in a way needed to appreciate it.Highly recommended!Postscript: I have read several other reviews that give a poor rating. This novel is set on Earth with the sun dying. Far into the future. Society has de-evolved into many roles and practices more common a Medeival/Roman/Greek blend. High tech and interstelller space travel are ancient memories. It is male dominated but with several strong females. I feel many of the poor reviews were by readers who gave up and did not finish this challenging read. The Appendix mentioned above covers terminology used; the accuracy of the story is covered multiple times discussing the author's photographic memory.Bottom line: the reader has to work while reading this book. It is not a "sit on the beach and read a page an hour" type book. You are working with the author with every sentence. Most people are not use to or prepared for this level of effort. When you finish this book you are rewarded handsomely with a sense of true accomplishment. This book is the equivalent to a large portion (40% or so) of a single college class in literature. 1.5 credits or so. IMHO.

Just finished reading the first four books. What follows is a first read impression colored by interpretations by Wright and Aramini here and there <strong>(plus a little more than my review of "Sword and Citadel"):</strong>Yeah, it's kinda everything you've heard about it: A puzzle, a religious allegory, a masterpiece, a prank. Some of the religious imagery is immediately apparent. For instance, Typhon tempting Severian with world power in exchange for an oath of allegiance comes straight from the gospel when Jesus is tempted by Satan in the desert with a similar bargain. Others are not so obvious. His friends, Drotte, Roche, Eata, Thecla, Dorcas as well as most major characters, Vodalus, Jolenta etc. are all saint names. These as well as the arcane vocabulary are invitations to the reader to read deeply and explore. This is one of Wolfe's main goals--to get you to stop and think about what you're reading. Yes you can enjoy the read not knowing any saints names. But to the beach reader interested only in a lazy summertime read without much engagement, BotNS may leave you unsatisfied. In fact, even with a deep read I'm left wondering to some extent "what the hell did I just read?" Again, this is Wolfe's intent.<b>But let me digress just a bit. You probably have heard of the interpretation of the white knight standing on a desolation landscape holding a colorful stiff pennant wearing a gold reflective visor with no eye slits. And you've probably heard that this is a picture of an astronaut on the moon holding an American flag. Now, that scene is brilliant. But unless you've read that interpretation, it's totally unclear to me how you are supposed to come to that conclusion--so arcane are Wolfe's clues and references! Yes, white knight/gold visor etc. equals astronaut. I get it. But how the hell am I supposed to figure that out on my own!? Scenes like that make me wonder what else am I missing? </b>To dig deep is to embrace the murky. All through the four books I thought, "I don't get ("blank"--whether "blank" is Baldanders and Talos or the Autarch, or the Sanguinary Field duel) but what I'm reading has a deeper meaning." Severian is clearly a Christ figure. He resurrects the dead, is tempted by a Satan, endures suffering, and by the end of the read clearly is meant to lift humanity up from a cruel existence. But also, by the end, you wonder what is his motivation? Is he a Christ/hero, successful through his own efforts (aided by God), or is he merely a pawn in a game set in motion by aliens with their own goals and motivations making Severian the recipient of good luck instead of rewards through personal effort and Divine Intervention? This flies in the face of Campbellian/Jungian analysis. And this too is a major goal of Wolfe--to break the mold and formula of what we call "good fiction."Campbell illuminated the hero's quest via Jung. And from that we get cookie cutter heroes from Hercules to Luke Skywalker and everyone in between. Wolfe breaks these Jungian rules to the enjoyment of the reader. And this more than anything points to Wolfe's genius. He knows the rules of good writing. And he knows how to break them while keeping us reading and wanting more.I don't pretend to know every allegory and inference Wolfe makes. And this too, I think, is his intent. While the biblical and classical scholar will understand many of them I think he leads the reader down many dead ends. But these dead ends are no disappointment--they are, in fact, new story elements disguised perhaps as writer's pranks. This too is his intent. After all, not every effort a hero makes is successful and rewarded. A hero (and a reader) experiences dead ends too.But are these pranks real, or are they the product of a reader's ignorance to the larger world of literature? Again, this is Wolfe's invitation to deep reading. He invites you to reread and enjoy again perhaps with a deeper understanding this time. As for me, for now, I'll continue on with Urth of the New Sun and further analysis and interpretation of the Solar Cycle. I may come back to Book of the New Sun later. Maybe I'll see something new and Urth shattering.

Fantasy literature has often been looked down on as a teen market or a less than serious escapist out let. It’s twin sibling, Science Fiction, is often used to discuss big philosophical issues, mortality, the sustainability of culture, dystopian futuristic possibilities and even the very essence of where life came from but Fantasy literature rarely offers anything so deep. There are a few authors that bring something exceptional to the table, the grandeur and span of Tolkien’s story telling, the acid laced multiverse of Moorcock’s heroes and the Dickensian density of Mervyn Peake but much of the canon is derivative and sadly lives up to the low expectations many place on the genre.That was why revisiting this series of books, books I read in my youth but probably didn’t fully appreciate at the time was enlightening for the fact that for everything I have said is often lacking in the genre, Gene Wolf, proves that there is a better way.The story is simple but as I will explain later, it isn’t the story that is the real selling point. Severian is a young man brought up in the bosom of a very ancient guild, a guild of torturers, an organisation who via strict codes operate as the impassive face of justice as decreed from above. After allowing an act of what he sees as mercy towards a prisoner in his charge he is banished from the guild and so begins a journey through a world he has barely experienced. The first few chapters set off down a very traditional fantasy path but when Severian finally encounters the city around him to head into exile the scope of Wolfe’s writing is revealed.We learn of the world at the same pace as Severian himself, much of it as mysterious and strange to him as it is to the reader and this is where perspectives change. Initially the descriptions of this city give it a medieval or ancient feel but hints are given that this is not just another arbitrary setting with the typical swords and sorcery settings plundered for the sake of familiarity. This is actually Earth in the far future, one where the technology of this distant time seems like magic to his (and thus our) uneducated eyes. Small pieces of detail make reference to our own times, a time now ancient history in the timeline of the books.But like all good literature it is also the quality of the writing that stands it apart from the pack. The story is being told by Severian in later life, so we are reading a memoir of his life and so the narrative is surrounded with insights, reflections and hindsight’s from a position where the narrator is already aware of the full scope of the story, his final destiny and the effects of the choices that he made along the way. It is this quality, along with the strength of the writing that add some wonderful philosophical dimensions to the story, a chance to rethink the twists and turns of his life and their role in his journey.To add to the mystery the back-story of society is coloured in very slowly and Wolfe’s use of archaic and often invented words add to the exotic feel. There is a complex class structure which we learn about as our protagonist does, the guilds and history of the world around him often hang half finished allowing the reader to mentally complete the picture and even Severian’s own childhood is only hinted at as the narrative requires.It is a series, which is slow and subtle, rich in detail rather than action and all the better for it. It is also Severian’s story own we are allowed into only via his recollections and thoughts. Many fantasy’s can be summed up easily, A fellowship must destroy a ring to save a world, Thomas Covenant must defeat Lord Foul to preserve the Land, this series of books is much more difficult to predict and is much more about the journey, a slow unravelling of information which follows the ethic of “it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.”

Incredibly descriptive and so it really puts you in the shoes of the main character, Severian. Wolfe’s use of old language - seemingly lost in time - makes it a trifle more difficult to understand some sentences for the average reader but you’ll soon get into the rhythm and it becomes a masterpiece as created by Wolfe’s fascinating ability to make text flow.

Though apparently highly acclaimed, this book is slow, rambling and seems to go nowhere. If your looking for excitment and adventure then be sure to look elsewhere!

Brilliant a must read!!

Bought all the books of the New Sun after reading the reviews.Slow to develope but very compelling once you become familier with the style of writing. The Characters are very well described and you soon care what happens to them all.One of the best stories I have read for a while.If you like Sci-Fi then go ahead and read them.