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The Book of the Long Sun #2
Lake of the Long Sun
Lake of the Long Sun is the second volume in the Book of the Long Sun series from science fiction and fantasy master Gene WolfeIt is the far future, and the giant spaceship, The Whorl, has travelled for forgotten generation towards its destination. Lit inside by the artificial Long Sun, The Whorl is so huge that you can see whole cities in the sky. And now the gods of The Whorl begin to intervene in human affairs. A god speaks to Patera Silk, a clergyman at work in the schoolyard of his church. Silk must go on a quest to save his church and his people."Stylistic excellence and topnotch storytelling."--Library JournalAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
335 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1994
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About the author
Gene Wolfe
506 books3,571 followersGene Wolfe was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying a Catholic. He was a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the field.
The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is given by SFWA for ‘lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.’ Wolfe joins the Grand Master ranks alongside such legends as Connie Willis, Michael Moorcock, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Joe Haldeman. The award will be presented at the 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in San Jose, CA, May 16-19, 2013.
While attending Texas A&M University Wolfe published his first speculative fiction in The Commentator, a student literary journal. Wolfe dropped out during his junior year, and was drafted to fight in the Korean War. After returning to the United States he earned a degree from the University of Houston and became an industrial engineer. He edited the journal Plant Engineering for many years before retiring to write full-time, but his most famous professional engineering achievement is a contribution to the machine used to make Pringles potato crisps. He lived in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
A frequent Hugo nominee without a win, Wolfe has nevertheless picked up several Nebula and Locus Awards, among others, including the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the 2012 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. He is also a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/genewolfe
The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is given by SFWA for ‘lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.’ Wolfe joins the Grand Master ranks alongside such legends as Connie Willis, Michael Moorcock, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Joe Haldeman. The award will be presented at the 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in San Jose, CA, May 16-19, 2013.
While attending Texas A&M University Wolfe published his first speculative fiction in The Commentator, a student literary journal. Wolfe dropped out during his junior year, and was drafted to fight in the Korean War. After returning to the United States he earned a degree from the University of Houston and became an industrial engineer. He edited the journal Plant Engineering for many years before retiring to write full-time, but his most famous professional engineering achievement is a contribution to the machine used to make Pringles potato crisps. He lived in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
A frequent Hugo nominee without a win, Wolfe has nevertheless picked up several Nebula and Locus Awards, among others, including the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the 2012 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. He is also a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/genewolfe
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
June 3, 2021
One of the features of the Book Of The Long Sun is its relentlessly increasing scope, which has the effect of leaving its hero, Silk, struggling to keep up with the events he is unwittingly bringing to a head. At the start of this book - whose action lasts only a few days - he is preoccupied with trying to raise an impossible sum demanded by the criminal who has bought his manteion (the place of worship he runs). By the end, he's the head of a faction in a civil war. It makes for a fantasy hero who is also a kind of naif, pushing on through outrageous circumstances with a combination of stubbornness and sincerity.
To get Silk into the right place and the right time and keep him alive requires nudges, and Lake Of The Long Sun is where the book's background plot - internecine strife among the digitised Gods of Silk's artificial world - becomes more prominent (including one of the most gloriously offhand bombshell drops in Wolfe's writing). The population of the Whorl have not precisely been worshipping false idols, but they have been worshipping callous and sociopathic idols who can possess almost anyone at almost any time, and the tango of divine body-hopping rivalry adds a layer of complexity to a deceptively straightforward and un-Wolfeian narrative. (Working out who is being possessed by who is easier second time through, but still hardly simple: for instance, one major character gets possessed at different times by two different 'goddesses' who also loathe each other)
At the same time as we learn more about the gods, we learn more about their world - or at least we do if we haven't already read the back cover of the book. Silk descends into the underworld and returns with knowledge, even if it's knowledge he doesn't quite grok the implications of. The back half of the book is a jostle of revelations - almost every page has something that resets expectations and raises the stakes. But the first, less tempestuous part of the book, with Silk building his relationship with the talking bird Oreb and exploring the sun-beaten environs of the titular Lake, is a treat too, a still point the Book Of The Long Sun can never really return to.
To get Silk into the right place and the right time and keep him alive requires nudges, and Lake Of The Long Sun is where the book's background plot - internecine strife among the digitised Gods of Silk's artificial world - becomes more prominent (including one of the most gloriously offhand bombshell drops in Wolfe's writing). The population of the Whorl have not precisely been worshipping false idols, but they have been worshipping callous and sociopathic idols who can possess almost anyone at almost any time, and the tango of divine body-hopping rivalry adds a layer of complexity to a deceptively straightforward and un-Wolfeian narrative. (Working out who is being possessed by who is easier second time through, but still hardly simple: for instance, one major character gets possessed at different times by two different 'goddesses' who also loathe each other)
At the same time as we learn more about the gods, we learn more about their world - or at least we do if we haven't already read the back cover of the book. Silk descends into the underworld and returns with knowledge, even if it's knowledge he doesn't quite grok the implications of. The back half of the book is a jostle of revelations - almost every page has something that resets expectations and raises the stakes. But the first, less tempestuous part of the book, with Silk building his relationship with the talking bird Oreb and exploring the sun-beaten environs of the titular Lake, is a treat too, a still point the Book Of The Long Sun can never really return to.
January 8, 2023
“A theodidact once wrote that the wise learn from the experiences of others. Fools, he said, could learn only from experiences of their own, while the great mass of men never learn at all.”
This was a really impressive novel from Wolfe, man. Not only in a literary way but it has resonated with me a lot thematically. Silk is an amazing character and thrown into this by a revelation he receives with a god. Having a more honest and straightforward character we’re following is great but we see how these events also slightly shift what he’s willing to do and how far he goes in order to save his manteion or more importantly, hold onto his faith in the process in doing so. Also having certain revelation and things clarified like Pas and the Nine and what exactly happened there was cool which we had some inclinations of as well but also the many different forms of possession by Gods is also interesting. I only wanted to touch on 3 things however in this review because they really stuck with me.
“There are men who are ashamed of their best impulses, because they have come to associate goodness with weakness. Give it to me, please.”
Gene Wolfe had a lot of amazing quotes in this one but this one came to my attention not only because of Patera Silk and his nature but also because of a Malazan quote from Memories of Ice about compassion. Silk’s good hearted nature and nice qualities often get associated with him being weak and people underestimating him. But this honestly makes Silk a much stronger person imo because he’s able to stick to his personality and his values and always do the right thing.
“Silk groped for words. “The gods have to speak to us in our own language, a language that we are always corrupting, because it’s the only one we understand. They, perhaps, have a thousand words for a thousand different kinds of love, or ten thousand words for ten thousand; but when they talk to us, they must say ‘love,’ as we do. I think that at times it must blur their meaning.”
This quote really hit home for me, and started to stick with me the more I kept reading other quotes that had to do with this same theme in this book. Wolfe expresses here through this simple convo of a grieving mother and a priest, that we can never truly know what others are feeling, or how deeply they feel it. We communicate with each other to give others the best approximation of what our emotions are but they make not even come close to what’s going on beneath the surface. Such as for the word love in this case, there’s hundreds of kinds of love or even shades of the emotion but that alone can’t capture what you may be thinking of. This helped me a lot because I am of the mindset that no matter what I do, nobody will understand me and even if I communicate as well as I could, they just won’t get what i’m trying to say. And this quote really opened my eyes to accepting that instead of getting frustrated because although we may use the same words, they can carry vastly different meanings for other people.
“They cannot afford to waste a moment, and though they need not deal with the complexities of abstract thought, they dare not be misunderstood. I, however, am their legate—their envoy to the wealthier levels of our society, where lives are more leisured, but where the need to deal with complexities and abstractions is far more frequent and the penalties for being misunderstood are not nearly so great. Thus I speak as I must if I am to serve the people that I represent.”
Now this brings me to the other part I wanted to talk about, which is possession. We see a lot of possession in this series in only 2 books, which adds a lot of different layers to characters that get possessed and also to Gods/beings that possess others. We see Mucor who projects her spirit onto others and then we have people like Chenille who can be possessed by Gods or other creatures, even chems who can get possessed through their programming. What sticks out for me aren’t the possessions themselves but what happens afterwards, apparently leaving something residual behind. My interpretation of this is that people coming into your lives and leaving an impression on you or no matter how they depart from your lives, they’ll always be there inside of you. This was profound for me when I thought about it more and more, as it doesn’t matter how brief the encounter, someone’s memories can linger in your head forever.
“Even then, there’d be something left behind. There always is.”
November 27, 2022
*** 3.2 STARS ***
The continuing adventures of Patera Silk, only nowhere near as good as Nightside.
Lake of the Long Sun, for the most part, was a slog. It's very different thematically to the first book in the series, Nightside the Long Sun, which was a crime novel set in a spectacular backdrop. Lake very much felt like it was setting up future events, and as a consequence, it was kinda boring.
Throughout the book we are given snippets to the setting and the surroundings of The Book of the Long Sun. It's incredibly interesting. So much more so than the actual story that is being told. I really enjoy Gene Wolfe's prose and decision making regarding his world-building and characters; and I also really liked the first book in this series. However, I wasn't impressed with the way this story was told in this second book, but I hope Gene Wolfe can bring it home with the remainder of the series.
The continuing adventures of Patera Silk, only nowhere near as good as Nightside.
Lake of the Long Sun, for the most part, was a slog. It's very different thematically to the first book in the series, Nightside the Long Sun, which was a crime novel set in a spectacular backdrop. Lake very much felt like it was setting up future events, and as a consequence, it was kinda boring.
Throughout the book we are given snippets to the setting and the surroundings of The Book of the Long Sun. It's incredibly interesting. So much more so than the actual story that is being told. I really enjoy Gene Wolfe's prose and decision making regarding his world-building and characters; and I also really liked the first book in this series. However, I wasn't impressed with the way this story was told in this second book, but I hope Gene Wolfe can bring it home with the remainder of the series.
December 18, 2023
Beidzot man pieleca kādēļ cikls saucas Long Sun!
July 2, 2015
Nije mi se svidjelo. Zapravo kada sve zbrojim i oduzmem u prve dvije knjige se NIŠTA nije dogodilo. RAdnja je spora i ne vodi nikuda. Dijalozi su odlični, pisano je vrhunski, ali, ali, ali... Za ljeto mi treba nešto uzbudljivo, misteriozno, idejno lepršavo. Dosta dosadna knjiga po mom ukusu, vratit ću se Genu za koju godinu, možda za 20-30 :)
July 4, 2020
Volim da citam Dzina Volfa cak i kada je radnja ne tako zanimljiva.
Tako je to sa dobrim piscima :) U ovoj knjizi neke stvari vezane za Viron, Svilu (Silka), Zdrala, Tifona (Pesa) i ostale bioloske ljude, kiborge i bogove postaju dosta jasnije. Poslednjih par glava su kulminacija prve dve knjige i sa nestrpljenjem cekam trecu.
Tako je to sa dobrim piscima :) U ovoj knjizi neke stvari vezane za Viron, Svilu (Silka), Zdrala, Tifona (Pesa) i ostale bioloske ljude, kiborge i bogove postaju dosta jasnije. Poslednjih par glava su kulminacija prve dve knjige i sa nestrpljenjem cekam trecu.
December 13, 2024
The story of Patera Silk continues as larger forces sweep him to and fro while he struggles to save his manteion. The FIRST time I read this book I complained about the narrative dragging. The SECOND time I read this book, I am not convinced that I even really finished the thing as I had no memory of the last third. There's a clear trajectory to the story, secrets are revealed, new secrets manifest, and basically another single day passes. Wolfe has a plan and you have to be a careful reader to appreciate it.
I'm fired up for the next two books. I love this stuff.
I'm fired up for the next two books. I love this stuff.
August 16, 2022
Gene Wolfe does it again!
Stuffed full of fascinating ideas and ever deepening intrigue, Lake of the Long Sun is breathtaking and page-turning entertainment.
Stakes are raised significantly and the scope of the narrative expands exponentially as mysteries become ever more complex and the questions pile up. The frequency at which revelations are laid bare leads to a lot of exposition, which was also heavily prevalent in the first volume of Long Sun, but here seems to prevent the pace from ever reaching the thrilling feeling I got from Nightside's frequent genre shifting. Luckily the things that are revealed are interesting and, alongside the interesting and well defined characters, keep these lengthy sequences from feeling like a bore.
I'm definitely excited to see where this all goes and have full faith that Wolfe is building to something truly remarkable here.
Stuffed full of fascinating ideas and ever deepening intrigue, Lake of the Long Sun is breathtaking and page-turning entertainment.
Stakes are raised significantly and the scope of the narrative expands exponentially as mysteries become ever more complex and the questions pile up. The frequency at which revelations are laid bare leads to a lot of exposition, which was also heavily prevalent in the first volume of Long Sun, but here seems to prevent the pace from ever reaching the thrilling feeling I got from Nightside's frequent genre shifting. Luckily the things that are revealed are interesting and, alongside the interesting and well defined characters, keep these lengthy sequences from feeling like a bore.
I'm definitely excited to see where this all goes and have full faith that Wolfe is building to something truly remarkable here.
January 6, 2023
Possibly my favorite Gene Wolfe novel I've read to date. Something about this book really struck home with me and the realisation of the themes and concepts written here are so beautifully handled and executed. When Gene Wolfe titles a book, oh does he title a book. From Nightside, we see Silk battling with himself, struggling to find a proper balance between a man of piouty (Dayside Silk) and the thief he must become to save his manteion and his very religion (Nightside Silk). In Lake, these ideas are compounded upon and stretched and Silk's very religious beliefs are challenged by the very gods he worships and sacrifices to and even beings that appear to be godlike. And all the while, Silk is still challenged to save his manteion, with even less time to do so and the very government against him.
“Someone who holds in confidence only those secrets he has been told not to reveal can never be trusted.”
Espionage stays at the forefront, as in the very first chapter we pick up where we left off in Nightside. Silk does everything he can to hide the truth without truly lying. Every conversation or meeting seems to have a tension surrounding it that you can't put your finger quite on until it is brought to light by Silk himself or another character who reveals their true nature. Every time you think you know how one character is going to act, they surprise you with either a true showing of human kindness, or a display of human cruelty that makes you question what you believed.
“There is more to be learned from any good teacher than the subject taught.”
In honesty, I have not highlighted enough when reading through these books, there area a plethora of quotes you could pull from these books and apply to your own everyday life without issue, despite these books being written in a world so dramatic, so vastly different, and in time period so far removed from our own. Yet i find myself time and again reflecting on my own personal life whenever Silk has certain revelations or realisations.
“They laughed as though you’d asked a foolish question, because they thought it a foolish question. They were even more mistaken than I, however; and that must be plain even to them now. Yours was a serious and an important question, and you erred only in asking of someone who knew very little more than you did. You must never let yourself be turned aside from life’s serious and important questions by ridicule. Try not to forget that.”
I could go on for days and weeks about this singular novel. It is almost difficult to put into words the meaning and impact that this book alone has had on me. I couldn't put it down. From wanting to know what happened next to Silk, to always trying to uncover the truth that is so clearly hidden yet cannot be found. Even when you think you know where everything is going, Wolfe pulls the rug out from under you and even to the very last sentence of this book you are reeling and flailing trying to grab hold of reality.
“Oh, come now. It was ten years ago, and we spies are supposed to be of sterner stuff.” “Has anybody ever cried for her, Doctor?” Silk asked. “You, or Blood, or Musk, or the brain surgeon? Anyone at all?” “Not that I know of.” “Then let me cry for her. Let her have that at least.”
And now we come to this quote. Even before finishing the book, I knew this one would be special. The sheer chills this gave me was almost cruel. To have a character like Mucor painted as this devil or villain for the entirety of the series so far, and then this one simple line makes you rethink everything you thought you knew. Silk, despite his flaws, is to me a truly good man. Yes he might hide the truth, lie to people when he deems it necessary, and even forget to fulfill certain promises, yet behind it all there is clearly a man who cares not just for himself. He truly cares about the people around him, and even the creatures and beings he cannot phathom.
At last she murmured, “Does love really mean more than life, Patera? Is it more important?” “I don’t know. I think it may be.” “I would’ve said I loved a lot of other things.” Her mouth twisted in a bitter grin. “Money, just for starters. Only I gave you a hundred cards for this, didn’t I? Maybe that shows I don’t love it as much as I thought.” Silk groped for words. “The gods have to speak to us in our own language, a language that we are always corrupting, because it’s the only one we understand. They, perhaps, have a thousand words for a thousand different kinds of love, or ten thousand words for ten thousand; but when they talk to us, they must say ‘love,’ as we do. I think that at times it must blur their meaning.”
To cap off this review that is probably already too long and sounds too rambly, I will leave you with my favorite excerpt from the book. This is a conversation between a female pimp and a priest. I've thought about this quote every day since I've read it and every time it seems to strike me at my heart. I would like to say that I've lived my life filled with love for the people around me, but I find myself questioning what it is I truly love and put value into. What it is that drives me to live.
Thank you Gene Wolfe for sharing this masterpiece.
“Someone who holds in confidence only those secrets he has been told not to reveal can never be trusted.”
Espionage stays at the forefront, as in the very first chapter we pick up where we left off in Nightside. Silk does everything he can to hide the truth without truly lying. Every conversation or meeting seems to have a tension surrounding it that you can't put your finger quite on until it is brought to light by Silk himself or another character who reveals their true nature. Every time you think you know how one character is going to act, they surprise you with either a true showing of human kindness, or a display of human cruelty that makes you question what you believed.
“There is more to be learned from any good teacher than the subject taught.”
In honesty, I have not highlighted enough when reading through these books, there area a plethora of quotes you could pull from these books and apply to your own everyday life without issue, despite these books being written in a world so dramatic, so vastly different, and in time period so far removed from our own. Yet i find myself time and again reflecting on my own personal life whenever Silk has certain revelations or realisations.
“They laughed as though you’d asked a foolish question, because they thought it a foolish question. They were even more mistaken than I, however; and that must be plain even to them now. Yours was a serious and an important question, and you erred only in asking of someone who knew very little more than you did. You must never let yourself be turned aside from life’s serious and important questions by ridicule. Try not to forget that.”
I could go on for days and weeks about this singular novel. It is almost difficult to put into words the meaning and impact that this book alone has had on me. I couldn't put it down. From wanting to know what happened next to Silk, to always trying to uncover the truth that is so clearly hidden yet cannot be found. Even when you think you know where everything is going, Wolfe pulls the rug out from under you and even to the very last sentence of this book you are reeling and flailing trying to grab hold of reality.
“Oh, come now. It was ten years ago, and we spies are supposed to be of sterner stuff.” “Has anybody ever cried for her, Doctor?” Silk asked. “You, or Blood, or Musk, or the brain surgeon? Anyone at all?” “Not that I know of.” “Then let me cry for her. Let her have that at least.”
And now we come to this quote. Even before finishing the book, I knew this one would be special. The sheer chills this gave me was almost cruel. To have a character like Mucor painted as this devil or villain for the entirety of the series so far, and then this one simple line makes you rethink everything you thought you knew. Silk, despite his flaws, is to me a truly good man. Yes he might hide the truth, lie to people when he deems it necessary, and even forget to fulfill certain promises, yet behind it all there is clearly a man who cares not just for himself. He truly cares about the people around him, and even the creatures and beings he cannot phathom.
At last she murmured, “Does love really mean more than life, Patera? Is it more important?” “I don’t know. I think it may be.” “I would’ve said I loved a lot of other things.” Her mouth twisted in a bitter grin. “Money, just for starters. Only I gave you a hundred cards for this, didn’t I? Maybe that shows I don’t love it as much as I thought.” Silk groped for words. “The gods have to speak to us in our own language, a language that we are always corrupting, because it’s the only one we understand. They, perhaps, have a thousand words for a thousand different kinds of love, or ten thousand words for ten thousand; but when they talk to us, they must say ‘love,’ as we do. I think that at times it must blur their meaning.”
To cap off this review that is probably already too long and sounds too rambly, I will leave you with my favorite excerpt from the book. This is a conversation between a female pimp and a priest. I've thought about this quote every day since I've read it and every time it seems to strike me at my heart. I would like to say that I've lived my life filled with love for the people around me, but I find myself questioning what it is I truly love and put value into. What it is that drives me to live.
Thank you Gene Wolfe for sharing this masterpiece.
March 15, 2023
Patera Silk gets in deeper trouble as a civil war and foreign invasion coalesce around him. Not that he's aware of that - we readers struggle to keep up with events just as much as he does. Silk's in danger from spies, soldiers, robots, hyenas, robots again, petty dictators, and giant fish, not to mention all these beautiful women. But he does the best he can. Wolfe is such a pleasure to read. Fun fact: the cover is my favorite in all science fiction.
December 12, 2018
How is it possible that the same Gene Wolfe who hit the tone of a world so perfectly in his New Sun books can fall so flat here?
November 21, 2017
So, I outlined several reasons I love this series already, but I think in the pantheon of science fiction, few come close to touching the worldbuilding ability of Gene Wolfe. His characters are thoroughly engrossing.
As a character, I didn't like Silk much at first. In Lake, Silk starts to become less of a hardline religious zealot. It's a slow process throughout the books of discovering a quiet inner conflict bubbling up inside. His thoughts and actions are always calm. He does embody several religious tenets, such as the ideal of Christian sacrifice and devotion to the poor. At the same times he embodies the Buddhist tenet that existence and suffering are inseparable, and he suffers much throughout the first two books. He always accepts his suffering as not only inevitable, but tries to be grateful for everything in his universe, no matter how frightening. He is kind to every person he comes across, even the murderous duo/couple of Blood and Musk.
There are parts of the series that do stand out to me as a waste of scene. The kite fliers who are attempting to, I only theorize, build a hang glider to determine how flight may be possible on a larger scale, or to possibly determine the nature of the Long Sun itself, wound up a dead end. There are scenes in later books where I questioned this "dead end" as possibly me not being able to see the allusion for what it was, but aside from some minor frustration, the rest of the novel soars much higher.
Many of the scenes revolve around a mystery, propelling the characters to places where we begin to see mechanisms of the giant cylindrical ship that comprises the universe of the characters. But where Wolfe is frustrating, he is also miraculous and surprising. The journey he describes is full of terrors, villains, and we begin to piece together what is actually happening. That being that a ship the size of a country is hurtling through space with hundreds of thousands of people living in cities of the Whorl, but they have long forgotten that they are on a spaceship. Their technology exists in reduced pockets, most obvious in the character of Maytera Marble, a nunlike figure of the religion of Viron that worships the "gods". She is a "chem" which is the local language for robot. But she is also a fully fledged character who becomes increasingly complex as she absorbs DNA from the dead nun, or "maytera" Rose, a 90 year old cyborg whose parts she takes upon that character's natural demise. After this, she takes on memories and characteristics but it isn't explained how this is possible. The only important thing to the plot is how it affects her relationships. Society revolves around survival using the remnants of technology and as we gain access to knowledge of the gods (the novel series only shows us a portion of this pantheon we are told about) who show up in "holy windows" connected to the mysterious Mainframe, we get the idea that these are computer programs or people that downloaded themselves as AIs. It's not entirely clear which.
What we do know is that the Lake is shrinking, and that's bad. It's bad and when we find out that it has to do with the function of the ship itself and the temperature regulation, it fits together that Silk's very existence might be an algorithm of sorts, and whether that is designed by the Outsider or if it merely happens that humanity will spontaneously produce savior-figures when it needs them most remains to be seen. It is truly up to the reader to decide this for themselves.
Much of this novel shows the gradual evolution of Silk to revolutionary figure. His ascension happens entirely from necessity. The world is ready for saviors when it is in dire peril. Certain questions begged throughout the book deal with the "gods" themselves. We get only snippets of their fighting and feuds, and their queen, Echidna, chooses Silk to be calde (similar to the Spanish word for governor, this means the primary leader). But the will of the gods is fiery, cruel, and often confusing. Why did they strip humans of their knowledge of technology, except for the few privileged members of the government and religious order that somehow retain knowledge or robotics, etc.? Why is it no one knows how to pilot the ship itself? Most importantly, why did the "gods" invent a religion based on previous religions (which seems at many points a mishmash of all of Earth's major core beliefs) and order humans on the ship to worship them? Over 300 years they are now regarded as gods unquestioningly and the characters are shocked when they visit and interact with humans. They react with a mix of utter fear and respect, and the expectation those gods know what is best. There really isn't anyone questioning their motives a whole lot but deep inside Silk begins to doubt their holiness, purity and wisdom.
The beginnings of the revolution start at the latter half of this book, and echo into the next two. The overall sense of the ship is that it is both staggeringly huge and frighteningly limited. An impending sense of doom hits one as famine spreads and the machinations of an evil shadow government are exposed. There are so many themes Wolfe hits in terms of how humans will always be affected by religion. The humans of Long Sun are normal humans that don't have the benefit of certain knowledge. And since we the reader are also limited in that knowledge, we tend to be on their level. We don't look down on them. We only have the horrific insight that their world is about to end in some way.
Lake of the Long Sun is a terrific novel visually and spiritually. I especially enjoyed the discovery of Mamelta and I wish Wolfe had gone back to that part of the ship and explained more about the "cards" that serve as money but are actually part of a guidance system, or so we are led to assume. When Mamelta died, I honestly felt like that was a metaphor for the death of knowledge. In this act, we have shades of the Middle Ages forgetting the knowledge of ancient Rome and Greece. And even though we barely know her character, I felt a bit crushed by her loss, and felt Silk's utter helplessness when she drowned. Lake also addresses death, in that religion always tries to find a way to explain death and comfort the living.
Altogether, the series is a masterpiece I can't give enough credit to. Chenille is the most uneven of all the main characters, veering between innocent and selfish, the embodiment of a goddess and whore at once, at times hot and fiery and other times pitiable. Auk goes from being a roughian to a pretty sympathetic down-to-earth man of the people we can look to as the book's main pragmatist. Oreb the talking bird is probably an allusion to Odin's ravens but his childlike personality gets one brief scene from his point of view, and again I wish that had been expanded upon. Wolfe often experiments in unique ways that he doesn't bother to repeat, which make the text both confounding and delectable.
As a character, I didn't like Silk much at first. In Lake, Silk starts to become less of a hardline religious zealot. It's a slow process throughout the books of discovering a quiet inner conflict bubbling up inside. His thoughts and actions are always calm. He does embody several religious tenets, such as the ideal of Christian sacrifice and devotion to the poor. At the same times he embodies the Buddhist tenet that existence and suffering are inseparable, and he suffers much throughout the first two books. He always accepts his suffering as not only inevitable, but tries to be grateful for everything in his universe, no matter how frightening. He is kind to every person he comes across, even the murderous duo/couple of Blood and Musk.
There are parts of the series that do stand out to me as a waste of scene. The kite fliers who are attempting to, I only theorize, build a hang glider to determine how flight may be possible on a larger scale, or to possibly determine the nature of the Long Sun itself, wound up a dead end. There are scenes in later books where I questioned this "dead end" as possibly me not being able to see the allusion for what it was, but aside from some minor frustration, the rest of the novel soars much higher.
Many of the scenes revolve around a mystery, propelling the characters to places where we begin to see mechanisms of the giant cylindrical ship that comprises the universe of the characters. But where Wolfe is frustrating, he is also miraculous and surprising. The journey he describes is full of terrors, villains, and we begin to piece together what is actually happening. That being that a ship the size of a country is hurtling through space with hundreds of thousands of people living in cities of the Whorl, but they have long forgotten that they are on a spaceship. Their technology exists in reduced pockets, most obvious in the character of Maytera Marble, a nunlike figure of the religion of Viron that worships the "gods". She is a "chem" which is the local language for robot. But she is also a fully fledged character who becomes increasingly complex as she absorbs DNA from the dead nun, or "maytera" Rose, a 90 year old cyborg whose parts she takes upon that character's natural demise. After this, she takes on memories and characteristics but it isn't explained how this is possible. The only important thing to the plot is how it affects her relationships. Society revolves around survival using the remnants of technology and as we gain access to knowledge of the gods (the novel series only shows us a portion of this pantheon we are told about) who show up in "holy windows" connected to the mysterious Mainframe, we get the idea that these are computer programs or people that downloaded themselves as AIs. It's not entirely clear which.
What we do know is that the Lake is shrinking, and that's bad. It's bad and when we find out that it has to do with the function of the ship itself and the temperature regulation, it fits together that Silk's very existence might be an algorithm of sorts, and whether that is designed by the Outsider or if it merely happens that humanity will spontaneously produce savior-figures when it needs them most remains to be seen. It is truly up to the reader to decide this for themselves.
Much of this novel shows the gradual evolution of Silk to revolutionary figure. His ascension happens entirely from necessity. The world is ready for saviors when it is in dire peril. Certain questions begged throughout the book deal with the "gods" themselves. We get only snippets of their fighting and feuds, and their queen, Echidna, chooses Silk to be calde (similar to the Spanish word for governor, this means the primary leader). But the will of the gods is fiery, cruel, and often confusing. Why did they strip humans of their knowledge of technology, except for the few privileged members of the government and religious order that somehow retain knowledge or robotics, etc.? Why is it no one knows how to pilot the ship itself? Most importantly, why did the "gods" invent a religion based on previous religions (which seems at many points a mishmash of all of Earth's major core beliefs) and order humans on the ship to worship them? Over 300 years they are now regarded as gods unquestioningly and the characters are shocked when they visit and interact with humans. They react with a mix of utter fear and respect, and the expectation those gods know what is best. There really isn't anyone questioning their motives a whole lot but deep inside Silk begins to doubt their holiness, purity and wisdom.
The beginnings of the revolution start at the latter half of this book, and echo into the next two. The overall sense of the ship is that it is both staggeringly huge and frighteningly limited. An impending sense of doom hits one as famine spreads and the machinations of an evil shadow government are exposed. There are so many themes Wolfe hits in terms of how humans will always be affected by religion. The humans of Long Sun are normal humans that don't have the benefit of certain knowledge. And since we the reader are also limited in that knowledge, we tend to be on their level. We don't look down on them. We only have the horrific insight that their world is about to end in some way.
Lake of the Long Sun is a terrific novel visually and spiritually. I especially enjoyed the discovery of Mamelta and I wish Wolfe had gone back to that part of the ship and explained more about the "cards" that serve as money but are actually part of a guidance system, or so we are led to assume. When Mamelta died, I honestly felt like that was a metaphor for the death of knowledge. In this act, we have shades of the Middle Ages forgetting the knowledge of ancient Rome and Greece. And even though we barely know her character, I felt a bit crushed by her loss, and felt Silk's utter helplessness when she drowned. Lake also addresses death, in that religion always tries to find a way to explain death and comfort the living.
Altogether, the series is a masterpiece I can't give enough credit to. Chenille is the most uneven of all the main characters, veering between innocent and selfish, the embodiment of a goddess and whore at once, at times hot and fiery and other times pitiable. Auk goes from being a roughian to a pretty sympathetic down-to-earth man of the people we can look to as the book's main pragmatist. Oreb the talking bird is probably an allusion to Odin's ravens but his childlike personality gets one brief scene from his point of view, and again I wish that had been expanded upon. Wolfe often experiments in unique ways that he doesn't bother to repeat, which make the text both confounding and delectable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 24, 2025
SILK FOR CALDÉ! 🐦⬛
July 31, 2017
If Nightside The Long Sun was about the protagonist’s self discovery, this second book in the series is about Patera Silk slowly discovering the true nature of his world.
The 4 volumes of The Book Of The Long Sun are set on a multigenerational starship – a fact that Tor reveals on the back cover, but one that is only revealed to the reader in this second book. It’s understandable that Tor did so, as The Long Sun is extremely hard to market: it’s an odd book: a lot more accessible than Wolfe’s magnum opus The Book Of The New Sun, but less lush, and a lot less compelling – at first sight maybe even boring. Tor might have increased its sales, spaceships sell, but the spoiler doesn’t do the reader any service: it takes away part of the joy of discovery, and it sets wrong expectations. Multigenerational starship yes, but no space opera or high tech scifi of whatever ilk.
(...)
Please continue reading this review on Weighing A Pig
The 4 volumes of The Book Of The Long Sun are set on a multigenerational starship – a fact that Tor reveals on the back cover, but one that is only revealed to the reader in this second book. It’s understandable that Tor did so, as The Long Sun is extremely hard to market: it’s an odd book: a lot more accessible than Wolfe’s magnum opus The Book Of The New Sun, but less lush, and a lot less compelling – at first sight maybe even boring. Tor might have increased its sales, spaceships sell, but the spoiler doesn’t do the reader any service: it takes away part of the joy of discovery, and it sets wrong expectations. Multigenerational starship yes, but no space opera or high tech scifi of whatever ilk.
(...)
Please continue reading this review on Weighing A Pig
March 3, 2024
4.5 stars. Big step up from Nightside, which figures since that book was mostly questions and very few answers. Here, things are beginning to click into place, and I'm getting those Gene Wolfe galaxy-brain moments. Stoked to keep going.
July 18, 2024
A-/A
I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed Nightside, although I still really loved the experience of reading (or listening to) it.
For some reason I am struggling to come up with words to describe my feelings about this book. Even in my personal reading journal I’ve struggled to really put my thoughts into words.
Anyways, loved this for the most part, even if it struggles with pacing issues and can be a bit discursive.
I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed Nightside, although I still really loved the experience of reading (or listening to) it.
For some reason I am struggling to come up with words to describe my feelings about this book. Even in my personal reading journal I’ve struggled to really put my thoughts into words.
Anyways, loved this for the most part, even if it struggles with pacing issues and can be a bit discursive.
October 28, 2024
A great read that builds and improves upon the fie first volume like Claw of the Conciliator does upon Shadow of the Torturer. Typical for Gene Wolfe, the story never went where I thought it would, and there's always something happening. Looking forward to reading the next volume!
May 6, 2024
There's something compelling about Silk. He is so earnest.
The story here is too straightforward after New Sun. I have well earned trust issues and keep getting caught up in overthinking.
The story here is too straightforward after New Sun. I have well earned trust issues and keep getting caught up in overthinking.
August 5, 2025
A perfect sequel. Lake of the Long Sun takes everything great about the first book then ups the stakes, fleshes out the characters, and deepens the plot. The cliffhanger is absolutely brutal though!
May 16, 2022
There were some great scenes here, also some really confusing ones too.
I think I have a good idea of what's going on. What I'm curious about is how all this ties to Book of the New Sun. Is this Typhon the same guy from there?
A couple of questions too:
What makes Silk so favored by the gods?
Are their gods actually people's consciousness uploaded to the ship supercomputer?
Where is the ship headed?
I think I have a good idea of what's going on. What I'm curious about is how all this ties to Book of the New Sun. Is this Typhon the same guy from there?
A couple of questions too:
What makes Silk so favored by the gods?
Are their gods actually people's consciousness uploaded to the ship supercomputer?
Where is the ship headed?
September 24, 2024
better than the last one but still a challenge haha
July 31, 2024
This one builds so much on the first one. It makes that first one even better.
May 12, 2022
An excellent follow up to the first novel, the main character is both frustrating and charming in his deep sincerity to his messed up religion.
I love the Christian imagery throughout, the serious but quirky SF ideas, the way Wolfe describes characters and the 'Whorl' (world) of the Long Sun. Like
One thing that does continue to frustrate me is some of the dialog, particularly the 'bad' character Auk's lines - I find it hard to believe in him as a character, he seems to be more of a tool in Wolfe's storytelling kit, but I can live with that as most of the other characters are just so great.
Will take a break from this series, but I will be back soon to read the following two books in the quartet.
I love the Christian imagery throughout, the serious but quirky SF ideas, the way Wolfe describes characters and the 'Whorl' (world) of the Long Sun. Like
One thing that does continue to frustrate me is some of the dialog, particularly the 'bad' character Auk's lines - I find it hard to believe in him as a character, he seems to be more of a tool in Wolfe's storytelling kit, but I can live with that as most of the other characters are just so great.
Will take a break from this series, but I will be back soon to read the following two books in the quartet.
June 22, 2020
I really hope this book series gets better soon like the nerds promised me it would. Definitely one of the weakest storylines of the series: Harkonnen-tier bad guys, black and white moralism, boring dialogue and poorly written female characters leave this at one of the worst I've read. Book of the New Sun was groundbreaking science fantasy with great plot design and this book instead has me following some self-righteous nerd through the longest days of his fucking life.
Maybe I'm being a little harsh but I expected more.
Maybe I'm being a little harsh but I expected more.
September 18, 2020
This is the second in the series and I am not going to review it in depth as it is really just the second part of a very long novel. The novel is very much just the second part of a longer book. This is very much the Gene Wolfe style, where it is not really a book and its sequels, but a larger book cut into marketable lengths. This book is superior to the first in the series. It is more accessible than about anything I have read by Wolfe which is not saying a great deal. It is good and I intend to continue to read the series.
February 19, 2018
Man, this continues to be a frustrating endeavor.
February 27, 2018
Scalding Scylla might be joining the pantheon of my household gods, along with Shai-Hulud and the prophet Bokonon.
September 21, 2021
oreb 4ever
November 17, 2021
Sadly, this book killed my desire to read the rest of the series. It took me three attempts to finish it and I can hardly remember anything.
December 1, 2023
Ugh, everytime I try to review a book on my phone, it ends up getting deleted half-way through. No more writing reviews on my phone. Anyways...
These books definitely aren't as compelling as TBOTNS. There are layers to this story but not as many as New Sun. I've heard it really picks back up once you get into the Book of the Short Sun.
Whilst I also will type my somewhat incoherent summary below, I have also found a summary online, here: https://mbc1955.wordpress.com/2018/07...
This book starts immediately after the events in Nightside. Silk returns to the manterion to find the student, Horn, doing an impersonation of Silk. Instead of being mad, Silk helps him work on his skills. After Horn leaves, Silk is visited by Cheneille, who is actually possessed by Kypris. Patera Remora also briefly shows up to inform Silk that he is getting an assistant, Patera Guro. Cheneille and Silk come up with the idea of extorting Dr. Crane, who is a spy for another city, for the money to save the manterion.
After learning that the council members often meet down by the lake, they travel to the city nearby. Silk decides to head to the shrine of Scylla where he is pulled into a secret entrance (by Scylla?) to the underground tunnels. Inside he encounters and kills Blood's former Talus with Hyacinth's Azoth. After wandering around for a while, Silk is captured by chem soldiers. The soldiers eventually show him one of the bio storage areas. These are people who have been in stasis ever since the Whorl left the world of the Short Sun. One of these bios wakes up and after breaking her out of her storage tank, she and Silk manage to slip away from the soldiers and find an old elevator. This takes them to a spaceship where Silk can see space beyond the Whorl. Manelta(?) begins to repair the ship using Silk's money, which is actually chip boards.
Eventually, they rejoin or are recaptured by the soldiers and taken to the head council member, who is no longer human but whose mind resides in a chem body. He wants to replace the gods. Here, Silk finds Dr. Crane who has also been captured along with a Flier who was "shot" down by Mush and his eagle. The flier refuses to talk and the council member ejects him from the submarine they are in and he drowns. But before this happened, the flier tells Silk that the Sun is failing.
Dr. Crane is able to kill the council member using Silk's azoth. They escape the submarine and are picked up by agents of Dr. Crane. By this point, Silk has realized that he must accede to the wishes of the people by becoming the Calde in order to save the city from the corrupt Council. As Dr. Crane and Silk are at an inn in the city, some soldiers loyal to the Calde find them. They decide to "arrest" Silk in order to get him back to the city where he can take up the mantle of Calde. As they are travelling they are attacked by other loyal soldiers who end up killing Dr. Crane during the "rescue".
These books definitely aren't as compelling as TBOTNS. There are layers to this story but not as many as New Sun. I've heard it really picks back up once you get into the Book of the Short Sun.
Whilst I also will type my somewhat incoherent summary below, I have also found a summary online, here: https://mbc1955.wordpress.com/2018/07...
This book starts immediately after the events in Nightside. Silk returns to the manterion to find the student, Horn, doing an impersonation of Silk. Instead of being mad, Silk helps him work on his skills. After Horn leaves, Silk is visited by Cheneille, who is actually possessed by Kypris. Patera Remora also briefly shows up to inform Silk that he is getting an assistant, Patera Guro. Cheneille and Silk come up with the idea of extorting Dr. Crane, who is a spy for another city, for the money to save the manterion.
After learning that the council members often meet down by the lake, they travel to the city nearby. Silk decides to head to the shrine of Scylla where he is pulled into a secret entrance (by Scylla?) to the underground tunnels. Inside he encounters and kills Blood's former Talus with Hyacinth's Azoth. After wandering around for a while, Silk is captured by chem soldiers. The soldiers eventually show him one of the bio storage areas. These are people who have been in stasis ever since the Whorl left the world of the Short Sun. One of these bios wakes up and after breaking her out of her storage tank, she and Silk manage to slip away from the soldiers and find an old elevator. This takes them to a spaceship where Silk can see space beyond the Whorl. Manelta(?) begins to repair the ship using Silk's money, which is actually chip boards.
Eventually, they rejoin or are recaptured by the soldiers and taken to the head council member, who is no longer human but whose mind resides in a chem body. He wants to replace the gods. Here, Silk finds Dr. Crane who has also been captured along with a Flier who was "shot" down by Mush and his eagle. The flier refuses to talk and the council member ejects him from the submarine they are in and he drowns. But before this happened, the flier tells Silk that the Sun is failing.
Dr. Crane is able to kill the council member using Silk's azoth. They escape the submarine and are picked up by agents of Dr. Crane. By this point, Silk has realized that he must accede to the wishes of the people by becoming the Calde in order to save the city from the corrupt Council. As Dr. Crane and Silk are at an inn in the city, some soldiers loyal to the Calde find them. They decide to "arrest" Silk in order to get him back to the city where he can take up the mantle of Calde. As they are travelling they are attacked by other loyal soldiers who end up killing Dr. Crane during the "rescue".
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