From: Bjjp2@aol.com
Subject: (whorl) Re: Digest whorl.v010.n093
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 14:05:50 EST

In a message dated 00-03-31 00:31:22 EST, you write:

<< Re my posting on difficulty in even getting started on the Long Sun =
 books because of the writing style some months ago in urth.v028.n079 and =
 replies in n080-n082, I took the advice given and read OBW - and loved =
 it.  So then I went back and made myself read all the Long Sun books in =
 one hit (assisted by mantis' booklets).
 
 I still think Long Sun is very disappointing.  The third person style of =
 diction chosen is flat and to my mind rather boring, anaesthetising =
 Wolfe's linguistic genius (so on display in OBW and TBNS).  The ideas, =
 while interesting, did not require four volumes to present.  As for the =
 meticulous plotting suggested by Alice Turner, I can only say this was =
 not evident to me -  on the contrary I had the impression that unlike =
 TBNS the series was not fully written in advance, if only because Exodus =
 is twice as long as the three preceding volumes.  Nor did much of the =
 plotting seem to lead anywhere - to take one random example, what was =
 the value of the long (and boring, at least to me) chapter on the visit =
 to the talus factory in Exodus? >>

I'm a long-time Wolfe fan (and lurker) and I agree with respect to the Long 
Sun books. I liked the first one, but found subsequent volumes extremely 
disappointing. I also found much of the series tedious. Do we really need 
three pages to describe to Silk how a needler works? Seemingly endless 
discussions while wandering around the tunnels?  Because it's Wolfe, I 
recognize the distinct possibility that maybe I'm just not smart or 
perceptive enough to understand the point, but the fact remains that I found 
myself skimming pages at times in the Long Sun books.  I agree that the Short 
Sun series is shaping up to be another masterpiece.

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