Gene Wolfe

The Soldier — (1986-2006) Latro in the Mist is a 2003 repackaging of the first two books in the series: Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete which were written in the 1980s. Soldier of Sidon is a 2006 continuation. Publisher: Simultaneously cursed with the inability to remember his past and blessed with the ability to speak with gods, a soldier formerly in service to the Great King of Parsa (Persia) seeks answers to his many questions amid the fractured, wartorn landscape of the ancient world. Latro's second-hand view of reality lends a dreamlike quality to a story that mirrors the struggle of human consciousness to explain events beyond its comprehension. In this sequel to Soldier of the Mist, Wolfe achieves a rare blend of history and myth, forming a single shimmering vision of a world unmarked by modern preconceptions.

Latro in the Mist

Latro in the Mist is the omnibus edition containing two of Gene Wolfe’s historical fantasies set in ancient Greece: Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete. They tell the story of Latro, a Roman mercenary wounded while fighting on the side of the Persians at the battle of Plataea. The wound to the head robs him of most of his long term memory as well as his short, limiting him to only about twenty-four hours before he forgets. The other effect is that Latro finds that he is able to see the gods, mythical creatures and the spirits of the dead. On the advice of an oracle of Apollo he sets off on a quest to restore his memory so he can return home that takes him across most of Greece meeting both minor and major deities, as well as famous historical figures.

Soldier of the Mist opens with a dedication to Herodotus, and as would be expected the events of the novel run closely to the events mentioned by Herodotus during the Persian-Greco war. It is evident that Wolfe knows his history well and the text is very true to form. Good research is the backbone of historical fiction, and you feel in Wolfe’s writing a genuine enthusiasm for the period he is writing about. In addition to that his knowledge of Greek Mythology is first rate in regards to both major and minor deities, as well as the various regional differences. Wolfe obviously knows more about ancient Greece than myself (Which is no small amount), so it seems a bit funny to be saying this sort of thing, but it is only to illustrate the accuracy of Wolfe’s details.

The major theme of the work is memory as the novels are epistolary, each book being one scroll of the daily notes Latro made in order to be able to be aware of the past by reading each day. As a result, the story often jumps around because unless someone tells Latro to makes notes (usually his slave girl Io) then he does not know he is supposed to. There are also parts of the novel when Latro is imprisoned and the scroll is taken away from him, so for those periods there are no entries and we only learn of the events retrospectively when Latro recovers the scroll. There are also occasions on which Latro is indisposed and other people write entries for him. One of the most important entries in the second book is written by Pindar in prose similar to Greek poetry and must be studied in order to discern what is happening.

It is easy to recommend Latro in the Mist as it contains two fantastic novels. It has great characterization, not only in Latro, but in his companions Io, and Seven Lions, as well as the lesser characters like Palos, and Eleta. For fans of history it includes many actual events as mentioned earlier, as well as a number of famous figures such as the widowed queen Gorgo, (I wonder how many people would have got the reference in a pre-300 world?), and the great poet Pindar. In typical Wolfe fashion both the novels contain a great deal of allusions instead of statements of fact. The historical and political situation is never really spelled out explicitly, and when the gods appear to Latro, they are very rarely named. Instead Wolfe gives us snippets of myths about them, relations to other gods, what they are worshiped for, etc. so some prior knowledge of Greek mythology goes a long way when trying to understand the novel. That being said, the novel is never obscure to the point of being non-sensible if you lack prior knowledge in these areas. As Neil Gaiman said of Wolfe, he is a smart writer who doesn’t lord it over the reader about how smart he is, he is a smart writer who writes to make the reader feel smart, too. Be warned though, if you want to get the most out of these novels, you might need to read these first. —Paul Charles Smith 
FanLit thanks Paul Charles Smith from Empty Your Heart of Its Mortal Dream for contributing this guest review.

Soldier of Sidon

Soldier of Sidon is the third book in Gene Wolfe’s Soldier series. Latro is a Roman mercenary who fought against the Greeks at Thermopylae. In spite of his battle prowess, he now wakes every morning with no memory of his past ever since receiving a blow to the head. Will Latro ever recover?

Gene Wolfe originally told Latro’s story in Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete, published in 1987 and 1989, respectively, and later published together in 2003. So this third installment has been a long time in the making. Considering how long Latro’s story has been waiting, readers could be forgiven for expecting Soldier of Sidon (published in 2006) to be a disappointment. Fortunately, both Wolfe and Latro have aged very well.

Years have passed and Latro still cannot remember what happens from one day to the next, which requires him to record his story at the end of each day and to read about his past each morning. It’s an imperfect solution, but, luckily, Latro is resilient — and still quite dangerous with his beloved sword, Falcata.

In Soldier of Sidon, Wolfe sends his hero into Egypt rather than back to Greece. As Latro floats down the Nile, he meets friends, lovers and enemies, though he can rarely tell which is which. Poor Latro, he continues to be tested by gods, sorcerers, and soldiers, all of which is quite a challenge for a man who has no memory. It can be a little difficult for readers to keep up as well if they aren’t paying attention.

In Soldier of Sidon, Latro and his story move at a fast pace, but not so fast as to keep Wolfe from writing fantastically nuanced scenes. As per usual, there is a great deal to be inferred from the dialogue. One of my favorite scenes from Soldier of Sidon finds Latro’s deeds measured by the Egyptian gods — like most of Wolfe’s narrators, Latro is brave but he admits that he lies quite often — and he is nearly eaten by Ammit. If Latro’s first two novels were somewhat opaque for readers without a strong background in Greek mythology, Soldier of Sidon thankfully does not require quite as much expertise. Ammit has a crocodile’s mouth, and it doesn’t take much time in the public library or on Wikipedia to figure out that you wouldn’t want to be eaten by her.

Four decades into his career, Wolfe’s writing remains reliably rich and his plots full of mystery, swords, and dazzling damsels (who are not necessarily as distressed as they appear). As in the first two Soldier books, Wolfe does his best to tell Latro’s adventures without overlooking the day-to-day life in an ancient civilization. Soldier of Sidon is a fine work, and perhaps the best thing about it is that it leaves room for a fourth novel. —Ryan Skardal 

Stand-alone novels:

Pirate Freedom — (2007) Publisher: As a young parish priest, Father Christopher has heard many confessions, but his own tale is more astounding than any revelation he has ever encountered in the confessional... for Chris was once a pirate captain, hundreds of years before his birth. Fresh from the monastery, the former novice finds himself inexplicably transported back to the Golden Age of Piracy, where an unexpected new life awaits him.  At first, he resists joining the notorious Brethren of the Coast, but he soon embraces the life of a buccaneer, even as he succumbs to the seductive charms of a beautiful and enigmatic senorita.  As the captain of his own swift ship, which may or may not be cursed, he plunders the West Indies in search of Spanish gold.  From Tortuga to Port Royal, from the stormy waters of the Caribbean to steamy tropical jungles, Captain Chris finds danger, passion, adventure, and treachery as he hoists the black flag and sets sail for the Spanish mainland. Where he will finally come to port only God knows...

Pirate Freedom

It’s hard not to approach a Gene Wolfe novel with high expectations. After all, the man is responsible for some of the most brilliantly mind-bending science fiction and fantasy written in the last few decades. Such high expectations can make it hard to write an objective review (if such a thing is even possible) when the new book in question is quite good but just doesn’t blow you away like, say, his Book of the New Sun or The Wizard Knight. Make no mistake: Pirate Freedom is a great piece of fiction, but in terms of Gene Wolfe’s body of work, it just doesn’t rank as high as I’d hoped.

Our narrator, Chris, is an American who, as a boy, moves to Cuba with his father and is enrolled in a religious boarding school. Eventually he becomes a novice in the monastery, but as time passes, he realizes that he is not cut out for the life of a monk. When he leaves the monastery, he gradually becomes aware that Havana looks quite different from when he last saw it: somehow, he has been transported to the 17th century. To earn some money, he signs on as a sailor, and before long, he becomes a pirate, prowling the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy...

As is often the case in Gene Wolfe novels, the protagonist narrates the main events from a later stage in life, and there are lots of interesting connections and contrasts between the framing story and the meat of the novel. In this case, adult Chris is now a Catholic priest, back in modern times and reminiscing about his time as a pirate. As a result, Pirate Freedom frequently deals with questions of morality. After all, Chris-the-pirate swings from being ruthless to compassionate: when he just exits the monastery, he feels bad about stealing some bread, but eventually he becomes a feared pirate, with all the raiding and stealing that entails. By the end of the novel, we’ve seen him risk himself to free slaves, but Chris also seems to feel that torturing someone for gold is more justified than torturing for sport. This tension, between Chris as a Catholic priest and Chris as a feared pirate, is the most interesting aspect of Pirate Freedom.

Most of the novel, however, focuses on the actual adventures of Chris and his band of pirates in the second half of the 17th century, looting and raiding their way across the Caribbean. Gene Wolfe is obviously very familiar with the historical period and with sailing terminology, resulting in a story that feels much more authentic than your average Pirates of the Caribbean-type yarn. However, it’s hard be to completely immersed in the (occasionally very exciting) pirate adventures because “modern Chris,” the Catholic priest, tells his story in the most straightforward, plain-spoken way possible, and frequently interrupts the story to relate events of his current life, e.g. his work at the church or the community center. While this highlights the moral ambiguity of the main character, it also takes away from the excitement of the pirate story — which takes up most of the novel.

As so often with Gene Wolfe, the narrator is writing the story for himself, not for the reader, and as a result he doesn’t always bother to explain those things that are obvious to him — such as his full name, his origins, his environment, or even his true emotions. As a result, the reader has to puzzle the picture together from details scattered throughout the text. There are a few almost casual references that seem to indicate that the framing story is set in the near future, or maybe even in a parallel dimension, on an Earth that’s slightly different from ours. For example, Chris briefly mentions that he was “genetically engineered” to be tall, and he occasionally refers to monorail transportation that doesn’t seem to fit into our current time — and that’s not even mentioning Cuba’s political situation in the book. It’s hard to shake the idea that the story of “modern Chris” might be just as interesting as his pirate adventures, but because Chris wants to talk about his time as a pirate, we’ll never know. As a matter of fact, this involuntary self-editing also pops up when Chris is relating his exploits as a pirate: some events are only hinted at, because he is embarrassed by them, or doesn’t feel like describing them, or because he just doesn’t think they need to be explained further. The occasional “That’s all I’m going to write about that” hides what could be some of the most gripping material in his story.

A final aspect of Pirate Freedom that needs to be highlighted is the religious one. One of the reasons why I’ve always admired Gene Wolfe tremendously is his ability to infuse his religious beliefs into his stories in a tasteful but highly meaningful way, without becoming preachy or offensive to non-religious readers. Because his main character is a Catholic priest, you’d expect religion as a theme to pop up again in Pirate Freedom — and you’d be correct, because there are many religious references and symbols to be found throughout the novel, some more obvious than others. One of the strongest themes running through the novel is that of absolution and forgiveness, with Chris reinstating the practice of taking confession in his church, occasionally rationalizing his own sins away, and dealing with the betrayals and mistakes of his companions. Taking things a step further, the entire novel could possibly be seen as a confession, with Chris seeking absolution by recounting his past misdeeds.

Related to these religious themes, there’s one brief section focusing on abuse by Catholic priests that may cross the line for many people: Chris seems to feel that boys should be able to fight so they can protect themselves from being molested by priests and so they can defend girls. Or as Chris writes:

The boys were the victims of those priests, I am not arguing they were not. But those priests were the victims of the people who had taught the boys that even a little bit of violence is the worst thing in the world. The priests had only one victim, or that is how it seems to me. Those people had two, because the priest was another.

Whether this is Gene Wolfe’s opinion or just something Chris feels (which would be marginally more understandable, given his background and what happens to him early on in his sailing career), it still left a sour taste in my mouth.

In the end, Pirate Freedom is another solid and intriguing novel by Gene Wolfe, and a book you’re guaranteed to think about for a long time after turning the final page — especially because the end provides a mind-bending twist, which admittedly is almost par for the course with this author. While Wolfe deftly uses his narrator to add several meaningful layers to the story, making this much more than just another pirate novel, it’s a technique I found admirable more than enjoyable. Still, despite occasionally feeling annoyed while I was reading the book, I kept going back to it, pondering the many subtleties and their implications that only hit me days after I finished reading. When weighed against the rest of Gene Wolfe’s works, I doubt many people will consider this one of his strongest novels, but nevertheless it’s still a unique, thought-provoking and elegantly written story. Recommended for Gene Wolfe fans (and pirate enthusiasts of course), but if you’re new to this author, try The Book of the New Sun or The Wizard Knight. —Stefan Raets

An Evil Guest — (2008) Publisher: Lovecraft mets Blade Runner. This is a stand-alone supernatural horror novel with a 30s noir atmosphere. Gene Wolfe can write in whatever genre he wants — and always with superb style and profound depth. Now following his World Fantasy Award winner, Soldier of Sidon, and his stunning Pirate Freedom, Wolfe turns to the tradition of H.P. Lovecraft and the weird science tale of supernatural horror. Set a hundred years in the future, An Evil Guest is a story of an actress who becomes the lover of both a mysterious sorcerer and private detective, and an even more mysterious and powerful rich man, who has been to the human colony on an alien planet and learned strange things there. Her loyalties are divided — perhaps she loves them both. The detective helps her to release her inner beauty and become a star overnight. And the rich man is the benefactor of a play she stars in. But something is very wrong. Money can be an evil guest, but there are other evils. As Lovecraft said, "That is not dead which can eternal lie."

The Sorcerer's House — (2010) Publisher: The new Gene Wolfe fantasy novel is told entirely in a series of letters. Only Wolfe could have made this so gripping, a surprising page-turner of a book. In a contemporary town in the American midwest where he has no connections, an educated man recently released from prison is staying in a motel. He writes letters to his brother and to others, including a friend still in jail. When he meets a real estate agent who tells him he is the heir to a huge old house, long empty, he moves in, though he is too broke even to buy furniture. He is immediately confronted by supernatural and fantastic creatures and events. His life is utterly transformed. We read on, because we must know more and we revise our opinions of him, and of others, with each letter. We learn things about magic, and anotherworld, and about the sorcerer Mr. Black who originally inhabited the house. And then, perhaps, we read it again.

The Sorcerer's House

The Sorceror's House is a beautifully subtle new novel by master fantasy and SF author Gene Wolfe. The novel's protagonist is a recently released convict who, seemingly by complete coincidence, comes into possession of an abandoned house. As he moves in, he discovers that the house already has a few odd inhabitants...

A large part of the enjoyment of this novel is the process of discovery, as the protagonist slowly finds out more and more about the odd nature of the house and its inhabitants, as well as the relations between the other people living in his new town. Because I don't want to spoil this process of discovery, I won't say much more about the plot of the novel, aside from the fact that it will slowly suck you into its own twisted reality, and that it's perfectly suited to be read and re-read, because everything, from the very first page on, will have acquired a new meaning by the time you're done reading The Sorceror's House for the first time.

Fans of Gene Wolfe know that this author likes to play games with unreliable narrators, such as the protagonist of the SOLDIER books, whose memory is wiped out at the end of every day, or Severian from The Book of the New Sun, who claims to have a perfect memory. In the case of The Sorceror's House, the novel actually consists of a series of letters. The vast majority are written by the erudite and intriguing main character, and addressed to his twin brother, his former cell mate, or his brother's wife. It's the epistolary format of The Sorceror's House that sets up lots of opportunities to twist the reader's perspective, because it allows the writer of the letters to tailor the content (not to mention tone) to the addressees. The very last letter of the novel is a perfect example — and I guarantee you’ll have a smile on your face when you read it.

I wouldn't call The Sorceror's House a major novel in Gene Wolfe's impressive oeuvre, at least when compared to masterpieces like The Book of the New Sun or THE WIZARD KNIGHT, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a supremely elegant fantasy novel, with a memorable narrator and a Twin Peaks-like atmosphere of "everyone in this small town has a secret". If you're already a fan of the Wolfe, definitely pick up a copy of The Sorceror's House... and if you're not, maybe this quote from Neil Gaiman (about THE WIZARD KNIGHT) will convince you: "Gene Wolfe is the smartest, subtlest, most dangerous writer alive today, in genre or out of it. If you don't read this book, you'll have missed out on something important and wonderful and all the cool people will laugh at you." —Stefan Raets

Home Fires — (2011) Publisher: Gene Wolfe takes us to a future North America at once familiar and utterly strange. A young man and woman, Skip and Chelle, fall in love in college and marry, but she is enlisted in the military, there is a war on, and she must serve her tour of duty before they can settle down. But the military is fighting a war with aliens in distant solar systems, and her months in the service will be years in relative time on Earth. Chelle returns to recuperate from severe injuries, after months of service, still a young woman but not necessarily the same person — while Skip is in his forties and a wealthy businessman, but eager for her return. Still in love (somewhat to his surprise and delight), they go on a Caribbean cruise to resume their marriage. Their vacation rapidly becomes a complex series of challenges, not the least of which are spies, aliens, and battles with pirates who capture the ship for ransom. There is no writer in SF like Gene Wolfe and no SF novel like "Home Fires".

Home Fires

Before Chelle left Earth to fight in the war against the alien Os, she contracted (entered into a civil marriage) with Skip. If she returned, more than twenty years would have passed for Skip but only a few years for her: Skip would be a successful, rich lawyer, and she’d be his beautiful, young contracta. Fast forward to the start of Home Fires, the latest novel by all-round genius Gene Wolfe: Skip is indeed a rich, successful partner in his law firm, and Chelle returns to Earth, still young and beautiful but physically and mentally affected by war’s traumatic experiences. To help welcome his contracta home, Skip sets up a meeting with her estranged and (more importantly) dead mother, arranging to have her brain scan uploaded into a new body. When Skip and Chelle go on a cruise to rekindle their relationship, Chelle’s mother shows up on the ship under an assumed name, and a complicated plot involving mistaken identities, spies, hijackers and cyborgs gets underway...

Home Fires is a good novel, but falls far short of what Gene Wolfe is capable of at his best. Part of the problem is that the vast majority of the story is told from the perspective of Skip Grissom, and Skip happens to be the least interesting component of this tale. A successful lawyer, he approaches his renewed relationship with Chelle and their wild adventures on the cruise in a very rational, almost distant way. Because of his cerebral approach and understated way of describing things, it feels as if there’s a filter between the reader and the novel’s events that mutes much of their impact, unfortunately making Home Fires more bland than it could have been. Here’s a story in which a traumatized soldier returns home from interstellar war, her mother is improbably returned to life, their cruise ship gets hijacked, numerous other wild adventures occur — and it occasionally feels as if you’re reading a deposition rather than the exciting SF story this could have been.

This is partly because Home Fires is filled with puzzles within puzzles, and you never quite know or understand everything that’s going on. Large chunks of dialogue consist of Skip or someone else patiently explaining how they figured out one particular mystery — why someone did something, or what someone else’s real identity may be, and so on. You can almost imagine the lawyer pacing back and forth, deliberately leading the members of the jury through his reasoning as he makes his case. As a result, the story sometimes feels too contrived: everything keeps getting explained after the fact, giving you the feeling you missed too much before and need the brilliant lawyer to unwrap it for you. Fortunately, Gene Wolfe softens the impact of this cross-examination style by following each chapter by a shorter “Reflections” sub-chapter featuring Skip’s private thoughts, which adds a more personal touch to the novel.

Home Fires has a complex and interesting plot that expands in scope as more details are revealed. As is usually the case with Gene Wolfe, he offers more hints than explicit descriptions of his characters and especially his novel’s setting, in this case a resource-depleted future Earth split into at least three large political entities. Wolfe is also a master at forcing his readers to dig a little deeper to realize how poignant some of the issues and events of his stories are. If you take a step back (or as the case may be, a step forward) to consider Home Fires a bit more deeply, you’ll see that there’s a lot of emotion roiling under the apparent calmness of the narration. Unfortunately, this technique didn’t work as well for me this time as it did with past novels by this author, leading me to rank Home Fires towards the bottom of Gene Wolfe’s impressive bibliography.

Regardless, even a minor Gene Wolfe is still a major event. As usual, there’s a lot of food for discussion here, and enough hidden or implied material to fill a much larger novel than Home Fires’ relatively modest 300 pages. Despite not working 100% for me, it still had my head spinning several times and kept me considering and re-considering elements of the story for days. Wolfe’s most recent novels have all ranged from good to great, but I can’t help but hope that, with his next work, he’ll reach the truly mind-bending ranges of his older classics again. —Stefan Raets