One of my absolute favorites and I'm hoping folks want to talk about it.
Hands down my most reread book. Me, an atheist, never imagined a twisty/puzzly novel about the life and times of future space jesus would speak to me so deeply.
The prose is multidimensional and layered with meanings that only come into focus once you know where it's going.
Some of my favorite examples:
- The title of chapter 1
- Severian first finding his dog.
- Thecla's story of a fortune teller predicting she would sit on a throne.
- The ending of book 1
- The ending of book 2
Any other trek fans delighted by Group of Seventeen in book four, realizing it was 10 years ahead of the TNG episode "Darmok"?
I haven't read any of the long sun books but I feel like I understand that feeling. Fwiw, I first finished all 4 books and was only satisfied with the end of book 3. Thankfully there's so much meat between those endings that it kept me going.
That disappointment is what made me realize that I must have missed some important details and start an immediate reread.
Once I started over on the first book it was amazing to realize how the clues are just everywhere. I'm reading the exact same words, but this time they're hitting way harder.
I didn't give it enough of a chance, I know that.
I've been reading crap popcorn scifi lately, but the deeper ones need a lot of focus I haven't had lately.