SPOILER WARNING

Wolfe has a great slingshot ending in store for us, but he takes a bit too long getting to it. He continues to develop the characters, and many of them are fascinating. Silk has to adjust to rapidly changing circumstances, and he does so admirably, and without losing who he is at the center. He deals with revelations about the nature of the gods and the Whorl, the generation starship of which he is "cargo," as well as an invasion by a nearby city. He is released from his vow of chastity and marries his Magdalene. He rallies his manteion's populace to leave the Whorl for a new planet, but like Moses does not make the final journey. My primary complaint is that the first half of this final volume does little to advance the developing story; it serves to further illuminate several characters, but I believe it could have been accomplished more briefly.

The Book of the Long Sun lacks the metafictive emphasis that characterizes Wolfe's earlier Book of the New Sun. Long Sun gives us a more straightforward story, but retains the traits that make him one of our best writers: language that is a delight to read, including distinct voices for numerous characters; serious tangling with moral issues; a creative and surprising story, developed with hints along the way that enable the attentive reader to see more, at times, than the characters do; and finally, a wonderful cast of characters, led by Silk himself, one of the great characters of recent science fiction. Wolfe also gives us peeks into the future of the characters who will become colonists on the two planets in The Book of the Short Sun. ( )

Huh?: I loved the first three installments of The Book of the Long Sun. But this . . . I could not believe it was supposed to be a part of the same series. And worse than that, it was of very poor quality. Nothing was resolved or explained, and the plot took a ninety-degree turn that was jarring in the extreme. I personally prefer to excise this book from my memory and pretend that the series was never finished.