Gene Wolfe

A first volume in The Book of the Short Sun trilogy follows Horn and his family, new settlers on the planet Blue, as Horn voyages in search of the lost leader Silk to convince him to return and bring prosperity. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

Volume One of 'The Book of the Short Sun'

On Blue's Waters

On Blue's Waters is the start of a major new work by Gene Wolfe, the first of three volumes that comprise The Book of the Short Sun, which takes place in the years after Wolfe's four-volume Book of the Long Sun. Horn, the narrator of the earlier work, now tells his own story. Though life is hard on the newly settled planet of Blue, Horn and his family have made a decent life for themselves. But Horn is the only one who can locate the great leader Silk, and convince him to return to Blue and lead them all to prosperity. So Horn sets sail in a small boat, on a long and difficult quest across the planet Blue in search of the now legendary Patera Silk. The story continues in In Green's Jungles and Return to the Whorl. "By any standard, Wolfe's beautifully composed, meditative, thrilling, and tricky-beyond-belief 'science fantasy' is a work of the highest art."--The Washington Post Book World At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Sunyi Dean

Retro Thursday, you cry? Well, I've studiously avoided anything to do with Blue/Green/Whorl for years, out of a deep-seated but legitimate terror that I'd discover Patera Silk had actually died, either at the end of Long Sun or in the intervening time.

He might well die in Green or Whorl (though I doubt it for Green, otherwise have a third book?) but at least so far, he appears not to have in Blue, since he's somewhat contactable; I can therefore finish the series. 

Gene Wolfe's writing is, as ever, fluid and thoughtful; it reads less complex than previous narratives which makes me sad (he apparently felt the need to tone this down over time.) However it does suit Horn's style a little better, this being intended as "pure" Horn without Nettle's input, as we had in Long Sun. (One gets the impression that Nettle was extremely clever).

I am always, as ever, amazed by Wolfe's confidence. He doesn't rush, and has no trace of Authorial Anxiety (a real thing). He doesn't force action out of a fear that readers will get bored. It goes at the pace he sets, in the direction he wants, and no faster or further than that. We are so often accustomed in books to authors chivying us along - look here, follow that, note this - that I think we are increasingly unused to just being allowed to sit back and consider events.

On Blue's Waters Volume One of 'The Book of the Short Sun'

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