Litany of the Long Sun

Book of the Long Sun, Books 1 and 2

By: Gene Wolfe

Narrated by: Jason Culp

Litany of the Long Sun contains the full texts of Nightside the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun that together make up the first half of The Book of the Long Sun. This great work is set on a huge generation starship in the same future as the classic Book of the New Sun (also available in two volumes from Orb).

©1993, 1994 Gene Wolfe (P)2022 Audible, Inc.

Awesome narrator

Coming from the Book of the New Sun series I was a little thrown off by the different narrator. But damn this guy is really good, I love the voices he does.

Good ideas, but...

Note: my review encompasses this and the next book (really they are both pairs of books) in this series.

I thought the idea(s) behind this book were really, really interesting. But for me, the story never paid off. The dialog is recursive and tangential; with lots of exposition. And certain details of the story don't really make sense; for example, how could a society that built a generation starship devolve into such a primitive medieval state after only 300 years, despite the presence of functioning futuristic technology in its midst?

This first book pair was more solid than the second; the second book pair created a lot more questions than answers, and introduced one other twist in the epilog that was just plain weird. The whole thing just never quite came together for me, and I don't plan on reading more in this series.

It is a great story

It took a couple of hours to get into it.
Ride out that first couple of hours and you’ll be happy.

Discovering the (supposed) truth of the setting

Gene wolfe is the master of worldbuilding for all time. Following Silk through his ignorant yet wise escapades makes me love him more than any protagonist

Finally a worthy audio version of this classic

Culp's performance of the many characters is distinct and consistent, and helps keep the reader's focus tight in the middle of what eventually becomes a fairly convoluted plot.

Let's be honest though, the performance succeeds or fails on one question, and the answer to that question is: yes, he nails the voice of Oreb the talking bird. Fish heads?