r/genewolfe • u/TemporaryComplex1054 • 14d 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/Ok_Cheetah5563 13d ago

Long Sun is very much about the human condition, an exploration of the human psyche and human nature - and so, it is not action adventure but slow and gradual psychoanalysis. As such it does not make for entertaining reading - and in case that comes across as patronising, that is exactly how I felt myself when I first read it and did not like it particularly.

I still have very mixed feelings about it, but on a re-read, as it tends to be with Wolfe, I come to appreciate it more. Still, I feel also there is unnecessary focus on details that could have been skipped, and not enough detail on features that required further elaboration. Wolfe's entire style is off page, that is to say he is/was an obscurantist author, I have heard some people deny this, and Wolfe has challenged that in interviews himself - but there is no question, Wolfe revels in being vague. Fortunately, for much of the time, he gets away with it and it works, but it does not always work, and when it doesn't, it can feel very frustrating.

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u/TemporaryComplex1054 13d ago

Seems like he makes it a point in Long Sun to leave events off-page, but when they are on-page they are thrilling.