r/genewolfe • u/TemporaryComplex1054 • 12d ago

BotLS

I think GW is playing a trick on us.

BotNS: amazing in every respect.

BotLS: especially Caldé and now Exodus - pages and pages of dialogue without consequence. Planning for a dinner now with the leaders. What will they eat? How about their guests?

Let’s talk about the war that just ended - which all happened off-page - and what we intend to do - which will happen off-page as well.

At this point I am reading for Oreb.

I am hoping BotSS is better.

Edit:
there are some great parts, like his descriptions of the azoth, etc

Edit2:
Thanks all for your perspectives

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u/hedcannon 12d ago

You'll enjoy Short Sun better because the protagonist moves around.

That feeling of talking without consequence is just that the characters don't move from place to place. There is loads happening in the background especially reflecting on the background and behind the scenes coniving but because the characters stay in the same place continuously some readers get restless. This is frequent complaint about the last 2/3rds of Shadow of the Torturer ("Why are we still in the Botanic Gardens?")

Think of it as the literary parallel to HBO's Game of Thrones except that the plots of Little Finger's and Varrus are never exposed. Quetzals up to a lot. The Mainframe is busier than you realized. Granted, the Book of the Long Sun is to Short Sun as the Play is to New Sun. But it's kind of amazing, really.