I read this book in two nights and I much regret that hastiness. The beauty and horror of Gene Wolfe is in his writing style. He has one of the most "true" to character writing styles that I have ever read. He writes his main character, Severian, so honestly that half of the prose blends into poetry and dreams, as they most likely do in most people's heads. So when you read it too quickly, it floats by like a good dream you once had.

The content of the plot is pretty standard epic. Severian travels through the wilderness of the world and into plenty of different environs, unbelievably managing to meet up with every interesting person on the planet again and again. Not to say this is a bad thing, a story without a monomyth would be a boring thing indeed. And in this area, I think this book succeeds more greatly than it's prequel (or prequels technically). The only thing that is lacks in content, in my opinion, is romance. He doesn't develop any further romances and the longings he has for past romances are all bittersweet ones. More connections to humanity would have continued to enhance my own connection to Severian, I believe.

The plot is also honest, which I've come to admire over time. People randomly die, there is often sadness, things are not wrapped up, and most tellingly, the main character will often exaggerate or lie. His speech and actions often deviate from his thought process greatly. This, especially combined with times when he's drugged or weary, leads to an interesting edge of not really being sure of what's going on. Like I said before, this is a double-edged sword. It's hard to really feel for a character who speaks in such a self-centered manner and relates his feelings and thoughts in such an indirect way.

Because of this, I don't think I can ever say that Gene Wolfe's stories (if they are all similar to this style) will be my favorite, but I admired the amazing control of language and style found in this novel. It is of a level of quality rarely found in modern-day science fiction and fantasy and to be treasured. This novel is in my list of only a couple books that really demand a re-read. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/432819.htm... ( )

I greatly enjoyed the first book of this set, but found this one a little bit of a letdown. Entertaining in many places, and engrossing in others, this book also felt like it was sleepwalking at times. Still worth reading, but it was much easier to put down than its companion. ( )

Speaking strictly from a story perspective, this proved to be a bit more interesting than the previous volume - but that's not really the point of it. I finished this feeling like I'd missed most of what it was really about, and had to surf the net and read various reviews and essays on it to begin understanding the layers. I'm still not entirely clear on some of it. ( )

A series unlike anything else you have ever read in any genre. Reading Wolfe, especially in this series, is to me very much like reading a painting. He can be tough to follow so reading this book does require you to think, as he makes extensive use of metaphors to paint the picture/story for you and time lines are mixed together with little explanation. That said, I found it be a very rewarding read, unique all around and easily one of the best sci-fi/fantasy stories ever written. ( )