Order and Schedule Discussion

October 25, 2015 11:44 AM

What order should we read the Solar cycle in? What should the Schedule be?

Ordering by publication date would be fairly traditional (New Sun -> Long Sun -> Short Sun).

As an alternate suggestion, we could start with Long Sun, as it is more friendly to those new to Wolfe.

As for a schedule...one a month? That would have us finishing this off in a year. I'm open to suggestions.

Here is a complete list of the books in the Series:

Book of The New Sun
The Shadow of the Torturer (1980)
The Claw of the Conciliator (1981)
The Sword of the Lictor (1982)
The Citadel of the Autarch (1983)
(Coda)
The Urth of the New Sun (1987)

Book of The Long Sun (alternate entry point)
Nightside the Long Sun (1993)
Lake of the Long Sun (1994)
Caldé of the Long Sun (1994)
Exodus From the Long Sun (1996)

Book of the Short Sun
On Blue's Waters (1999)
In Green's Jungles (2000)
Return to the Whorl (2001)

posted by justalisteningman to Reading Gene Wolfe (3 comments total)

Just my two cents, but I almost always advocate publication order reading of any series.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:26 PM on October 26, 2015

I have read the Book of the New Sun the most times, so I wouldn't feel like I was missing out if we started somewhere else.

But it is the natural place to start, and if someone was encountering these books for the first time, I would strongly counsel they start with the Book of the New Sun. (Even though I agree that the narrative of the Long Sun is a little bit easier to pick up.)
posted by grobstein at 6:33 PM on October 28, 2015

Any order is good by me!
Has anyone listened to the audiobooks and are they good?
posted by bq at 2:40 PM on December 17, 2015