BOOK OF THE NEW SUN - No Spoilers | Experience, Ranking, Male Gaze, & More

[00:00:00]Today I'm going to be talking about Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolf. I'm going to keep my thoughts spoiler-free in this video. However, I may get into very mild spoilers when I talk about The Male Gays because I feel it is important in order to set up expectations appropriately. I will not give away anything substantial about the series. I'm not giving away any of the bigger reveals. So, starting out, I have the two Tour Essentials editions here. And so, these are bindups of Book of the New Sun. Starting out with Shadow and Claw, which is a bindup of book one, The Shadow of the Torturer, which was first published in 1980, followed by The Claw of the Consiliator, which was first published in 1981. And then the second bindup, Sword and Citadel, with The Sword of the Litor, which was first published in 1981, and then the Citadel of the Atar, which was first published in 1983. Both bindups have excellent introductions by Aydah Palmer who is the writer or author of the Terra Agnata series. And then both bindups also have the artwork of the incomparable Don Mates. And I also additionally read Earth of the New Sun.

[00:01:05]And this one was published in 1987 and I read this on ebook. Something worth mentioning is that book of the new sun, this tetrology and earth of the new sun are part of the larger series called the solar cycle by gene wool which also includes a subsequent series called earth of the long sun and then earth of the short sun. I don't remember what order those two come in but those follow other characters in third person narration whereas book of the new sun and earth of the new sun follows arc in first person. Uh, but I have not read the other series in the solar cycle. And for some additional background, Book of the New Sun was originally supposed to be a novella called The Feast Day of St. Catherine, but clearly that evolved into this full series. And what are we dealing with here? As an overview, we are dealing with a time so far in the distant future that the sun is dying and so Earth is in a state of decline. We are following a character named Searian in first-p person narration, a person who claims to have a perfect memory. And Searian is chronicling his story from the future, describing his journey as he was raised in a citadel to be a torturer, ends up getting exiled, and then ends up going on this crazy wild adventure. And the important thing also to note about this series is that it's part of the dying earth subgenre. Now, while I'm not well read in this subg genre by any means, I did read Jack Vance's The Dying Earth before reading Book of the New Sun, and it was very clear to see the influence that Vance had on Gene Wolf's writing. And one thing you could say that is in common with these two series in addition to a sun that's fading away and a Earth in a state of decline is the blend of science fiction and fantasy elements. Because when you read Book of the New Sun, when you start out, you may notice certain aspects that feel like a medieval fantasy story. You're dealing with a citadel setting. You have a prophecy.

[00:03:06]You have a character who ends up carrying a big sword. He gets exiled as a young man. All those things feel very familiar to us as fantasy readers.

[00:03:16]There's the torturers guild, of course, but there's also a guild of witches. And so there are many elements that feel very fantasy-ike, very fantastical. And yet then you start to notice that technology is surrounding us. We have space travel, we have robotics, we have all types of interesting technology at hand. So it is a blend of science fiction and fantasy in my opinion. And I think this blend is interesting because you see with that blend of science fiction and fantasy that there seems to be an interplay with the past and future. So, I'm going to go ahead and transition to the themes with that because we do have this interesting relationship between past and future. We also have the intersection between torture, being a torturer and being merciful. We have memory and unreliability. We also have the relationship between man and animal and the hierarchy of existence. We also have the relationship between justice, cruelty, and punishment and the role of obedience to do the unthinkable. One more theme I do need to mention is that of identity. Identity is heavily explored in the story. It is something that takes on a whole other dimension, especially as it relates to unreliability, memory, and so many other aspects that are explored in the series.

[00:04:33]This is not an exhaustive list of the themes, but there are certainly themes that stood out to me as a first-time reader. And alongside all of this, we also have quite a bit of Catholic symbolism. And in fact, symbolism is important in this story as Searian has a very famous quote in the first book in the shadow of the torturer talking about how we think ourselves the creator of symbols when in fact they create us giving us a little nudge as readers to pay attention to these symbols throughout Book of the New Sun. But if you are somebody who is interested in Catholic theology, you may find certain elements that that have a twist on them in terms of how it's referencing that.

[00:05:15]When it comes to Wolf's writing, his pros, I think that this could relate to the conversation about difficulty level.

[00:05:22]As Book of the New Sun has a reputation for being difficult, and many people feel intimidated by this work, myself included. I was a little intimidated to start the series hearing the reputation it had for being quite cryptic and challenging. Uh I will say that when it comes to this question or this matter of book difficulty or confusion, I am of the opinion that there are some works out there I am certain that are pretty dense and maybe seemingly impenetrable or that require you to go very slowly to analyze every little detail to try to take in what the author is trying to communicate. Then there are works like Book of the New Sun and I would put this in a category alongside Molas and Book of the Fallen by Steven Ericson where I think there are different levels of reading. I know many will say this, you don't have to worry about understanding every little thing in Book of the New Sun, especially as a first-time reader.

[00:06:15]This series was written for the reread experience. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy it as a first-time reader, and that doesn't mean you have to study the heck out of it as a first-time reader.

[00:06:25]You can certainly sit back and enjoy the surreal journey that is Book of the New Sun. And I know I'm not the first to say that like you don't have to understand and study it in depth. However, if you want that journey, if you want to go deeper and study the symbolism as it presents itself and study the connections or analyze every single sentence and figure out what Wolf is actually doing, it certainly has that potential for a deep reader. It certainly has so much to offer for somebody who wants that kind of experience, who enjoys that complexity or who enjoys that puzzle-like nature to writing. But what I'll say from my own experience, when I read Shadow of the Torturer, I was surprised how easy it was to read in a sentence by sentence way, I did not find that the pros itself to be dense, even though Wolf does insert some archaic terms at times, terms that of course I did not know the meaning of. Um, so I did not find it difficult in that way. What I found surprising about the readus is that it was a smoother reading experience than I expected. The chapters are very, very short. But what I learned, especially in the first discussion I had about Book of the New Son over on John from Talking Stories channel, is that there were several things I missed. There were several things hidden in plain sight that I completely missed. And something that Wolf does as a writer is he will describe one thing or get one idea in your mind, one concept in your mind, and then you realize he's describing something completely different than what you initially imagined. And if you pay careful attention, you can catch those things. But again, you don't have to go that far to understand all of it at once. With that out of the way, I'll go ahead and also add that as you read on in Book of the New Sun, it will get you to look back on previous books in a different way. It'll start revealing more and more as you go along. So, it is one of those situations where you get more context as you move forward. I probably overused the word cryptic when I described this series, but it does have a very puzzlelike quality to it and one that I actually found very satisfactory because as I read on and realized the connections between books or realized what Wolf was doing, I found it entertaining. I found it fun. I found myself laughing out loud at times. And I'm not somebody who gravitates towards puzzle-like stories. Like that's never been something that draws me to a book.

[00:08:52]But I found it to be a fun experience in Book of the New Sun. As for the tone and mood of the story, I think you might expect it to be quite macob and dark given that we're in a world in decline and we're following a torturer character. And what I'll say is that yes, there is a darker gloom that pervades the story. At the same time, it's not as horrorike as you might expect. It doesn't have as much graphic violence as you might expect. There's also something a bit eccentric and off-kilter and quirky in the character writing and in some of the more odd things that happen in the series. It It's trippy as heck. It starts to unfold to become weirder and weirder. So, I wouldn't be put off if you're concerned about graphic violence. I don't think that's something that's quite as prominent in this series as again you might expect. I'm going to give my recommendations that you can take or leave when it comes to this series and my own experience here. I recommend not spacing the books out too much. I think I read the Tetrology and Earth of the New Sun within the span of about a year, maybe a little bit longer than that. And I think that that was the best approach.

[00:10:00]There is a weird cohesion that underlies the story, but there are a lot of things that happen. And so if you put too much space between books, you might miss some of those connections. I think it really is the best experience to not space them out too much. I did put some space between books, but not as much as other series. I will also say this about my reading experience. I did not resort to any podcasts or wikis or Reddit posts or anything of that nature when I was reading the series. And that's my approach to reading. I personally prefer working through the text on my own, trying to extract my own interpretation, draw my own inferences. I know some people are different, though. they enjoy reading a chapter, listening to the Alzobo podcast or whatever it is and and trying to enjoy the series that way. And I don't think there's a right or wrong way. I just know for me, I feel like stories become more meaningful to me when I try to work it out on my own first. But to clarify my approach further, I read Shadow of the Torer on my own and then I joined a big discussion over on John from Talking Stories channel, realized how many things I missed. And then after that, I invited Jake from Nerdle Level Rising to buddy readad the rest of the series with me, reading one to two chapters a day.

[00:11:12]And that approach was pretty much perfect for me. I read the chapter or two chapters for the day. I wrote in my reading journal as I do to try to again explore in my own understanding of what I read and notice what stood out to me.

[00:11:26]Then I would talk it out with Jake and together we would both forge new connections based on what the other person noticed. And sometimes we would be noticing the same thing, but it would still spark some new ideas in the two of us. And Jake, like me, also didn't resort to podcasts, Reddit threads, wikis, or anything like that. The fun thing about buddy readading this with Jake, especially at that pace, is that he had such a great light-hearted attitude about the series, so he didn't feel bogged down or frustrated if he didn't understand things. He had an open mind and a light-hearted approach, and I think that that made it so much fun to talk things over with him. He also had some wonderful observations. So, I think that experience was perfectly ideal for me, uh, and I think for Jake as well. If you find a good buddy read partner, that might be something to consider. And if you prefer, again, podcasts and all those resources, they are there if you want them. I did look up stuff after I finished the series just to see other stuff I missed. And I have to say this, like I I do understand the need to reread the series to catch everything, but sometimes I feel like there are things in this series that Wolf fans catch that I will look back on and think, "How did you make that leap? How did you get from here to here? So, there are some parts of this series that still elude me a little bit, but it was still fun to try to figure it out. From here, I'm going to go ahead and talk about the male gaze, and I have so many disclaimers before I start. For one thing, I'm clearly just one female reader. I'm not the arbiter of this topic. And also I want to go ahead and mention that when I come across any essay or misogyny or male gays content in storytelling, my approach is usually to try to take into consideration the time it was written as well as what the author is doing with this material. Uh whether they are tying it in thematically somehow, whether they are trying to explore a certain aspect of the human condition, I'm trying to take into consideration different angles. So, usually if I come across that content, I don't shut down. I try to keep going and see what is to become of it. That said, I do not judge anybody who shuts down when they come across that or DNFS a book because of that. And I also have to say that just because I have issues with certain things in books or certain things don't appeal to me, I'm not one to say that the author shouldn't have written this or it shouldn't have been in the book. I am of the opinion that authors have permission to write whatever they want to write. And yet I also have permission to feel and think whatever I feel and think. That permission should go both ways. So with that out of the way, I'm going to be frank here. Searian is a misogynist. And if you read Book of the New Sun and Earth of the New Sun, you have to commit to the idea that you are following in first person narration a misogynist character. And in this case, expectations did work against me.

[00:14:21]Unfortunately, I did receive communication from certain people that gave me the impression that this would be something I would come to understand in greater light as I went on in the series, that I would uh understand what Wolf was doing with it, that maybe it had a thematic purpose, or that maybe Searian had some kind of redemption arc.

[00:14:43]But neither of those things came true for me personally. So, unfortunately, that was a factor for me. I can't say whether my expectations being different would affect the way that I engaged with the series in that in that content, but I can say that it certainly played a role in maybe causing me to feel a bit more negative about this content than I would otherwise. And I do again recognize there is space in literature for following a character like this as it is a part of the human condition unfortunately. But my problem with it in this series is I didn't feel like it served as big a thematic role as I might have expected when I spoke about the themes of Book of the New Sun. This isn't one of the themes that immediately came to mind and yet it was there. It was present. I think you find as early as book one that Searian has some issues with women and it only gets worse as you go on. To be explicit about the content, there is sexual assault. Searian also has a tendency to look at a certain female character as sexually desirable and childlike or look at a woman who is showing the signs of age and is to be pied. And then there is also some remarks about a woman's weight and body size in a way that I found uncomfortable. Also this tendency to compare sex with one character to sex with another character. And just to be clear, I I don't have a problem if a character sees a character of the opposite sex and finds her sexy or gets turned on in some way by how she looks.

[00:16:16]I think that's part of human nature, but it was the way Searian did it that was pretty creepy in my opinion. And another thing to add to all of this is that Searian's identity is complicated. And that's putting it mildly. I think even from book two on you will start to see just how complicated this character is from where he comes from from early age to where he ends up a few times in the stories. So there are different angles to understanding him uh and also questioning his reliability as I mentioned. So the way that he thinks women see him might not in fact be the way women see him. I think those are all things to consider. But that said, the misogyny, the male gays, the sexual assault, I didn't feel like this was deeply examined in the story even though it was present. But it was there and it was something that unfortunately bothered me more and more as I went on because I got to book five and I realized, wow, not only has Searian not changed when it comes to this, but he's completely dug in on his views. And the sad thing about it is that it did emotionally distance me from Seian as a character. Now that said, Book of the New Sun is more of a cerebral journey than it is an emotional one. I would say it was more of like a mentally fascinating experience. But after I read that section in Earth of the New Sun, there was a later moment for Searian that Jake and I read. And Jake, I know he wouldn't mind me sharing here because he shared it in our discussion together.

[00:17:46]He got emotional for Searian in a certain moment. I understood where he was coming from and I appreciated hearing his feelings and thoughts about that scene, but for me, I couldn't feel it because I just couldn't feel for an unapologetic misogynist. I just completely felt detached from him emotionally at that point. So, it is something that I did struggle with when I came across this in the storytelling.

[00:18:10]And I also want to say that I'm not a closed book on this topic. I'm open to conversation. And I'm open to rethinking my views about it because one of the most amazing things about Book of the New Sun is the way that it can invite you to relook at certain angles of the story in a new way. I think it's very multi-layered in that way. But at this moment, I'm very unsatisfied with that how that topic was presented. I haven't quite heard anything that has swayed my feelings about that at this point. Now, I'm going to go ahead and get into my ranking of the books. And as I give my rankings, I'll try to add some extra details that I didn't mention in previous sections of this video. And so at the very bottom, I'll start with the bottom first and lead to my favorites.

[00:18:52]At the very bottom of my ranking, I will have to give it to The Citadel of the Otark. That is book four in Book of the New Sun. I think that this book had some really great things going for it. I really enjoyed the beginning sections. I thought the reveals at the end were pretty fascinating, but it didn't floor me as much as I thought it would. And I found the military focus in this one maybe not as much to my liking, even though it did open up other parts of the world that I think are important in the story. Next up from there is going to be The Claw of the Consiliator, which is book two and Book of the New Sun. One thing that's really important about this particular installment is that it has a bit of theater. you find out theater has some significance in Book of the New Sun. One thing I also didn't mention about Book of the New Sun is that there are certain chapters that are devoted to story time. So that's something that I think you have to be okay with getting a departure into some kind of tale or fable that has some allegorical significance. But yes, there is a play that happens and uh the ending of The Claw of the Consiliator is absolutely bonkers. I think it might be the most bonkers ending of the series in some ways, even though every ending is pretty wild. Then next up from the claw of the consiliator is going to be the shadow of the torturer. So that is book one and I will never forget the beginning of this book. I think that the citadel setting is so incredible. There is a library in the citadel that I found out had some huge influence from Bourhees. And so if you've read Bourhees before, then you might notice some pretty significant ties to Bourhees in that library scene.

[00:20:42]I won't give it away. One up from Shadow of the Torture is Earth of the New Sun.

[00:20:47]This is book five. I do not think you can have a complete experience of this tetrology if you do not additionally read Earth the New Sun because not only does it clarify things that happened earlier in the series, but it continues the story and it reaches a conclusion in Earth of the New Sun and it had a conclusion that I found far more satisfactory than the ending of Citadel of the Otar. And then in first place is going to be The Sword of the Ler. The Sworded Elector for me was the best story from beginning to end. I loved the walled fortress city setting and the jungle settings. It just felt like it had the most incredible arc with the most highs and lows along the way. One thing I didn't mention when I described Wolf's writing style is that Searian as a narrator tends to be very contemplative. He has so many melancholic reflections and I think that the ones that happened in sort of the ler stay with me the most. I connected to Wolf's writing the most in Sword of the Ler to the point where I was copying quotes and sending them to friends. Uh but I did feel that this one was the most powerful for me personally. And I think that just about concludes my ranking. So, if you want more spoiler-filled thoughts from me, please check out the spoiler-filled discussion I had on Jake from Nerd Level Rising's channel that was with Jake and Isamwise.

[00:22:10]And in summary, I'll say this was an extraordinary work of science fiction and fantasy. It's probably groundbreaking even within the dying earth subgenre. And I don't imagine I will ever read anything quite like it again. Even though it's had its influences on other authors like Christopher Rockio and Ayah Palmer, I I'm pretty impressed overall, even though I did have some things that didn't appeal to me in the storytelling.

[00:22:35]As I mentioned, those are my thoughts for now. I would love to hear from you in the comment section below. Is this something you're interested in or planning to read? I hope this was helpful, if not interesting. And if you have read it, let me know that as well.

[00:22:48]Thank you so much for watching and have a great rest of your day. Bye-bye.