The Urth of the New Sun

The Book of the New Sun, Book 5

By: Gene Wolfe

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

The long awaited audiobook sequel to Gene Wolfe's four-volume classic, The Book of the New Sun.  

Listeners return to the world of Severian, now the Autarch of Urth, as he leaves the planet on one of the huge spaceships of the alien Hierodules to travel across time and space to face his greatest test, to become the legendary New Sun or die. The strange, rich, original spaceship scenes give way to travels in time, wherein Severian revisits times and places which fill in parts of the background of the four-volume work, that will thrill and intrigue particularly listeners who enjoyed the earlier books. But The Urth of the New Sun is an independent structure all of a piece, an integral masterpiece to shelve beside the classics, and one itself.

©1987 Gene Wolfe (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Yes! Finally!

I've been reading and rereading all of The New Sun series, both in paper and audio form, and have missed having a good studio version of book five, I. E. Wolfe's great trick of extending his series in order to answer (still in Wolfe-y fashion) a few more questions raised by the first four. So happy to have a complete audio set to dive between the sun's now.

Beautiful coda to a master piece

The book of the new sun marked my introduction to the writing of Gene Wolfe whose work I have become obsessed with since. I'm openly admitting to my bias here. Though I felt this one differed from the books of the tetralogy in overall tone and pacing, there are some very interesting loose ends tied up in interesting ways I had not imagined. So much so that I will need to read this one a second time to truly appreciate. Davis' narration is beyond great as always. For hardcore Wolfe fans I'd say it's a must read. For fans of the book of the new sun left wanting more, I recommend this but not without saying to expect something a bit different.

hard to understand

I really enjoyed the previous books in the series. this however went right over my head.

Well written but unnecessary

SPOILERS (though if you read them you may be doing yourself a favor)

You do not need to read this book, it is extraneous to the other four, and perhaps detracts from them. Suffice it to say that what you suspected of Severian's nature both in the future and the past, as implied many times in the book of the new sun, is true. This book is well written, but being deprived of the mysteries that you enjoy at the end of the new sun is not so welcome as you might believe. It's a bit like having the ability to use the force explained by midi-chlorian.

Not at the same level as the previous three

First the books are amazing. This one not so much. Overdosed on punk steam and christianity.