The Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
Review by Bowden P. (Trey)
This is a nice coda for the Book of the New Sun, and because of that Urth of the New Sun will be compared to it. And I’m afraid it will be found a bit wanting…
Urth of the New Sun takes Severian far beyond the Solar System to confront the aliens that have reduced Earth to the status of the The Book of the New Sun – barbaric and primitive. It even takes him beyond the scope of the universe itself.
The ship that takes Severian on his journey is a world unto itself, traveling at relativistic velocities and even faster than light itself. Gene Wolfe plays with this to good effect by having the crew made up of people from different worlds and time periods. Because after all, faster than light is time travel.
The journey itself and the trial of Severian at his destination are about two-thirds of the book and fairly satisfying in terms of ideas, characters and development. Even in Urth of the New Sun Severian still tends to treat and see women as bed mates. Because of this, Wolfe fails the Bechdel test here. Still, its not a bad book.
The last third of the book is about Severian’s return to Earth and here Wolfe makes explicit that faster than light travel, is time travel. Severian gets repeatedly tangled up in the destiny of the Commonwealth and that of the Conciliator. And for all the brain bending elements, I found this portion less satisfying than what had come before. Why? Well, Wolfe begins to make extensive use of the metaphor of the stream Severian walks for time and time travel. This makes some sense given that he (and us the reader) are not equipped with senses to properly deal with it. By using this, Wolfe is able to compress it and make it a bit less confusing. Literalist that I am, I find the approach less satisfying than others. Still, it is beautiful and well wrought, just not to my taste.
Did I like the book? Yes.
Did I like it as much as the rest of the series? No, but it was still worth the time to read.
Likes: Playing with relativity and FTL as time travel without making it the focus of the plot; Severian’s desire to save Earth – for all that I find him less than heroic, he still has a good heart and head; Severian’s fate(s).
Dislikes: Severian – all too often I find his personality and tendency to screw any human(oid) female a bit old; Heavy reliance on metaphor.
Verdict: **** (four stars)
Suggested for: Wolfe fans and fans of the Book of the New Sun series.
