Return to the Whorl: The Final Volume of 'The Book of the Short Sun' (Book of the Short Sun, 3)

Gene Wolfe has done more for the potential of speculative fiction than anyone else. After I read this book for the first time, I was impressed, but I wasn't sure if there was as much beneath the surface as I expected from a Wolfe book.After re-reading it and pondering it at great length, I think that Wolfe has done such a good job making supposedly secret things obviously hinted at in the text that we stop looking for the right questions to ask because we THINK we know all the answers. If you think you have figured out everything on one reading of this text about the changes in an individual and in a home that render it impossible to go home again, here are some questions that I have found the answers to (at least, I think so)on a close re-reading (I wouldn't advise reading these questions unless you've read the text at least once):When exactly does the majority of Horn's essence leave the narrator to go ride a beast with three horns? (and what is that beast?)Why are plant genetics important to the story?Why does the narrative technique and tone change so drastically between On Blue's Waters and In Green's Jungles? Why is that island on Blue made up of big trees, and why is it important? Who and what are the vanished people, and why do the animals with doubled limbs seem so similar to the ones we have on earth? Why does the narrator travel (a debatable word) to Urth, and what is the REAL importance of the secret of the inhumu, which is no secret at all? How many fair young girls in the text are spies? What is the fate of Urth? What really happens to Horn when he falls in the pit, and why do the Vanished People appear to him at that particular time? Why is the fact that Urth's sea is saltier than Blue important? How can we know that there will probably be no more New/Long/Short Sun books? What does the Cummean have to do with the inhumu and the vanished people? Is Chenille really stuck in Sinew's basement on Green? Why does Babbie look more human than Cillinia (Scylla)in the narrator's "dream" travel?The didactic message of this text has been exposed on the surface, but the real conflict has been hidden by the master. You have to learn to look for the right questions (as with any Wolfe story) to ask the text (I've tried not to spoil this fine work; but I feel it is impossible to spoil a Wolfe book.) Remember to ask why, and you will find that Wolfe makes much more sense and has plotted out his universe with far more reason and surprising skill than the surface message would indicate.I have managed to answer all of the above questions to my satisfaction (but perhaps not to everyones) and hope to find more of the right questions to ask of this masterpiece, Gene Wolfe's best work since The Book of the New Sun (and I believe it MIGHT even contend with that as my favorite book). Never stop asking the text questions, and it will not fail you; believe me.

I envy those of you who have never read Gene Wolfe. That you still have the opportunity to discover, to experience, to feel in your heart and gut this unique and most talented writer... Wolfe truly deserves to be widely recognized, to be studied and celebrated in literary circles and our schools and universities. Instead he is pidgeon-holed as a science fiction writer, even if that lable is preferenced with accolades.I've read nearly all of his work (and how sad that makes me) and maintain THE BOOK OF THE SHORT SUN is Wolfe's best. And my favourite novel, period. All the SUN novels are fantasatic, and to access SHORT SUN you'll have to read the terrific LONG SUN series first - such terrible punishemnt! But SHORT SUN stands as an acheivement even lovers of Wolfe's work find hard to describe beyond beyond the words "great", "inspiring", "magnificant"... Insert your adjective here. There is really no way to describe this work that comes close to doing it justice. It is a tour de force in writing, first. That anyone could simply write this well is almost beyond comprehension. I found myself stopping and just shaking my head in absolute awe in many places at the brilliance of Wolfe's prose. Then there is Wolfe's respect for the intelligence of his audience. In SHORT SUN as in most of his work, he never disrespects his reader. You have to pay attention when you read Wolfe. If you want simple entertainment, don't read him. If, however, you want more than the novel version of Jersey Shore, Wolfe will reward you like few writers.I have read thousands of novels. Most of the classics. The literary giants. The bestsellers, in and out of genre. Wolfe is my favorite writer, and SHORT SUN my favorite Wolfe. If you are willing to invest your attention, you will find no better exploration of spiritual trial, the meaning of identity, of friendship, and, perhaps most important, what it means to be a good person in a fallen world, and just how threatening that can be to everyone around you. Good fishing. Good fishing. Good fishing!

Completion of the Book of the Short Sun trilogy. Patera Horn finally finishes his quest for Silk, and to no one's surprise he wasn't as far away as he thought. Or maybe he was. I guess it depends on how you want to look at it. The "deep secret" of the inhumi is revealed, though it wasn't much of a secret if you were paying attention. The weakest point was the last few chapters, penned by Horn's children instead of Horn himself. A strange and unnecessary shift, especially since the final scene did not include any of them, so how could they have possibly been able to retell it? On the plus side, the holes left by the previous books are satisfactorily filled, and connections with the original Book of the New Sun trilogy are established. Astral projection to Blue, Green, the long sun whorl, and the red sun whorl ensues.

Happy happy great thank you

Can there be any better writer currenly working in this genre? Apparently simple narration which covers the fact that we have an unrerliable narrator who understands as little about what is happening as we do!All the clues are there to the real "underlying" true story, but it remains tantalisingly out-of-reach - much like real-life!Is this fantasy or science fiction - much like Clarke's view that any technology sufficently advanced could be mistaken for magic - you are never quite sure whether the character's in Wolfe's universe are simply bewildered by what they see and just explaining an ancient forgotten technology as best they can or are truly experiencing inexplicable phenomena?The book sometime seem to be more about writing itself and how you tell a story than what is actually occurring - so Horn always makes us aware that we are reading sheets of paper which may run out at any time and that he has written this for his beloved wife - but if she is so much in his feelings why has he left her and been unfaithful numerous times, why does he never return to her?Seen as a truly good man and more like a god by most, Horn is presumably only writing this whole account out of guilt for his own shortcomings with regard to his wife and out of a sense of inadequcy in the face of a baffling universe that he never really makes sense of.But this is just an example of the many open questions left for you to answer - as others have said : this and it's 5 predecessors repay constant re-reading to yeild up all their secrets - if they ever will?

Love Gene Wolf. As advertised and delivered on time!