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Title: On Blue's Waters : Volume One of 'The Book of the Short Sun' by Gene Wolfe ISBN: 0-312-87257-7 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 02 September, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.81 (26 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A new quest on a new world
Comment: With On Blue's Waters Gene Wolfe begins a new trilogy to stand with (and perhaps complete) the other series in his Urth cycle, the Book of the New Sun and the Book of the Long Sun. This trilogy, called The Book of the Short Sun, tells the story of the adventures of the settlers of the Whorl, a generation starship, as they colonize two habitable planets, Blue and Green.
In this trilogy Wolfe has adopted a rather unadorned first-person voice, stylistically suitable for the novel's narrator, a seemingly straightforward man named Horn. Horn was a teenager when he boarded a lander to leave the Whorl: Now he is a man in middle age, well settled on Blue with a wife and children and a prospering business. Yet he readily leaves to search out his former teacher and mentor, the one-time Calde of the City of Viron, Patera Silk.
On Blue's Waters follows Horn as he begins his quest for Silk, which will, over the course of the trilogy, take him across Blue (much of the narrative takes place aboard a small ship), to the virulent jungle planet Green, and at last back to the Whorl where he and Silk were born.
Blue was not uninhabited when the humans offloaded from the Whorl. It's former owners, known variously as the Vanished People and the Neighbors, are still seen from time to time. This species, as well as humans, are plagued by creatures known as inhuma. As Green makes its approach toward Blue the inuhuma fly from one planet to another, where they feed off the humans as they fed off the Neighbors, gaining nourishment and more from the blood they drain.
Horn makes his way toward the city of Pajarocu, where a working lander waits to return to the Whorl. Along the way he collects a surrogate family. There is Seawrack, a siren-like woman who is a foster child of a strange entity of Blue's oceans; Krait, an inhumu who becomes Horn's adoptive son; and Babbie, a hus, an animal of Blue who cannot speak, but may be intelligent.
Much has been made here and elsewhere of the difficulties in accessing the writings of Gene Wolfe. Wolfe writes dense, subtle and sometimes contradictory novels, and often employs a highly ornate style. Some have suggested that On Blue's Waters is perhaps a place for Wolfe neophytes to begin, as Horn "speaks" far more plainly that Severain, the narrator of The Book of the New Sun. In truth, however, this simplicity is, like so much of Wolfe's work, deceptive. The nature of many characters remains unclear throughout the series; motivations are never plainly explicated. The events may seem to be clear -- Horn leaves his home and family, sails across an ocean, finds new friends -- but are, perhaps, far less understandable than they first seem to be.
In truth, On Blue's Waters is vintage Gene Wolfe. If you are among his fans (as I am), it is an engrossing and wholly satifying return to his themes of virtue, piety, sin and redemption, as well as a first rate romp across an alien world. If you've read and enjoyed other volumes of the Sun series, you must continue onto the Book of the Short Sun. However, if you've disliked Wolfe in the past, there's no assurance this novel will provide a friendlier introduction.
The hardbound edition is a very handsome volume, with good binding and paper (something which would be of great importance to Horn) and a nice dust jacket design. I would recommend the purchase of a hardcover edition to Wolfe's fans, as there is no writer more worth rereading.
Rating: 5
Summary: Worth reading twice
Comment: I read this book the first time it came out, then I reread it when I receieved the second (In Green's Jungles)in the trilogy to refresh my memory.
Written as if it were an actual journal, the narrator describes his journey and its purpose: an odyssey across the oceans of the planet Blue to reach a spaceship that will return to the Whorl (a generation starship) to retrieve a god-like man named Silk, who is believed to be capable of saving the narrator's city from self-destruction. There are also the the events currently happening to the character, who is the Solomonesque Rajan (a type of ruler)of a people far from his native land. Both stories escalate in tension. During his odyssey (and I use this word deliberately), the narrator encounters a number of wonderfully drawn characters. There is the blind and probably crazy robot Maytera Marble and her 'granddaughter' Mucor, who is capable of sending her spirit across the whorl of Blue. (Both are characters from the Long Sun series; it is best to read Long Sun first, but not necessary.) When leaving the rock, the hero is joined by Mucor's loyal hus named Babbie, an eightlegged creature of enormous intelligence. Later, he will also encounter a mermaid and her goddess Mother and an inhumu, a vampire-like creature from Blue's twin planet Green.
Have you wondered why I haven't named the main narrator? That is because it is unclear exactly who he is. Ostensibly, it is Horn. Throughout, Horn describes physical changes that have occurred to him. He occasionally lapses into describing Horn in the third person. He also carries artifacts that at one time belonged to Silk, including a night chough and an azoth. It is likely that he is a least partially Silk, though that is unclear.
Running out of paper, the narrator quickly describes the climax of both stories, which are more cliffhangers than legitimate endings.
Throughout are references to his visit to the planet Green, which are tantalizingly vague but detailed enough to whet the appeptite for the next two books, and then there are the numerous references to his failure to find Silk. Yet if he is at least partially Silk as seems probable, then what happened on Green and did he reach the Whorl?
Like nearly all Wolfe novels, it demands an enormous amount of patience and focus on the reader's part. It is initially disorienting because it is the rambling thoughts of the narrator and because it is difficult to know exactly who he is; it is definitely worth a second and perhaps even a third reading. It is not a novel for readers who want those nine billion page pale Tolkien imitations; it is not a beach novel. If your definition of speculative fiction encompasses only the innumerable Star Trek paperbacks (and those terrible crimes against the wallet: the hardback novels), then this novel is not for you. It is a difficult read, but for the patient and careful reader it offers the pleasure of discovery and thoughtful analysis as well as the wonderful style we have come to expect from Wolfe. Sadly, while it will no doubt be enjoyed by the many Wolfe fans and perhaps a few other adventurous souls, it will largely be ignored by both the critics and the majority of readers. This is shameful, for this is likely to be one of the greatest American novels of the last hundred years.
Rating: 4
Summary: Hungry for More
Comment: The colonies of Blue are in a state of technological decay. They employ what tools and weapons that have been passed to them, but lack understanding. In short, their society is slipping backwards. With the hope of renewal, one man is sent home to bring back a much-needed "god" for his people. On Blue's Waters is the first part of Horn's story, of which he is the narrator. Though the basic story is simple, a good deal of strangeness happens from point A to point B, not all of it comprehensible. To complicate matters, Horn is an unfaithful narrator, and cannot always be trusted to give an accurate account of events. He admits to embellishing, or even outright lying-though he never says about what exactly. Knowing this forces a high degree of involvement on the reader, making us wonder what the real truth looks like underneath all the words. It can be taxing on a lethargic imagination, but also very rewarding. I took notes while reading; I marked passages, and underlined dialog. At times I felt I was studying rather than reading. There are few books that grip me like that.
I highly recommend Wolfe for readers who aren't bothered by unsolved mysteries and inexplicable events. I find many similarities between Wolfe and M. John Harrison, especially the Viriconium series. Fans of one will surely appreciate the other.
NOTE: On Blue's Waters is book one of the BOOK OF THE SHORT SUN. Though it is a beginning, it is also a continuation of a previous trilogy, The BOOK OF THE LONG SUN.
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Title: Epiphany of the Long Sun: Calde of the Long Sun and Exodus from the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun, Books 3 and 4) by Gene Wolfe ISBN: 0312860722 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 04 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Litany of the Long Sun: Nightside the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun (Book of the Long Sun, Books 1 and 2) by Gene Wolfe ISBN: 0312872917 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Urth of the New Sun : The sequel to 'The Book of the New Sun' by Gene Wolfe ISBN: 0312863942 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 15 November, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Sword & Citadel : The Second Half of 'The Book of the New Sun' by Gene Wolfe ISBN: 0312890184 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 15 October, 1994 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Shadow & Claw : The First Half of 'The Book of the New Sun' by Gene Wolfe ISBN: 0312890176 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 15 October, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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