What do you think?
Rate this book
The Wizard Knight #2
The Wizard
Sir Able returns to Mythgathr on his steed Cloud, a great mare the color of her name. Able is filled with new knowledge of the ways of the seven-fold world and possessed of great magical secrets. His knighthood now beyond question, Able works to fulfill his vows to his king, his lover, his friends, his gods, and even his enemies. Able must set his world right, restoring the proper order among the denizens of all the seven worlds.
The Wizard is a charming, riveting, emotionally charged tale of wonders, written with all the beauty one would expect from a writer whom Damon Knight called "a national treasure."
The Wizard is a charming, riveting, emotionally charged tale of wonders, written with all the beauty one would expect from a writer whom Damon Knight called "a national treasure."
587 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Gene Wolfe
512 books3,209 followersGene Wolfe was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying a Catholic. He was a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the field.
The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is given by SFWA for ‘lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.’ Wolfe joins the Grand Master ranks alongside such legends as Connie Willis, Michael Moorcock, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Joe Haldeman. The award will be presented at the 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in San Jose, CA, May 16-19, 2013.
While attending Texas A&M University Wolfe published his first speculative fiction in The Commentator, a student literary journal. Wolfe dropped out during his junior year, and was drafted to fight in the Korean War. After returning to the United States he earned a degree from the University of Houston and became an industrial engineer. He edited the journal Plant Engineering for many years before retiring to write full-time, but his most famous professional engineering achievement is a contribution to the machine used to make Pringles potato crisps. He lived in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
A frequent Hugo nominee without a win, Wolfe has nevertheless picked up several Nebula and Locus Awards, among others, including the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the 2012 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. He is also a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/genewolfe
The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is given by SFWA for ‘lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.’ Wolfe joins the Grand Master ranks alongside such legends as Connie Willis, Michael Moorcock, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Joe Haldeman. The award will be presented at the 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in San Jose, CA, May 16-19, 2013.
While attending Texas A&M University Wolfe published his first speculative fiction in The Commentator, a student literary journal. Wolfe dropped out during his junior year, and was drafted to fight in the Korean War. After returning to the United States he earned a degree from the University of Houston and became an industrial engineer. He edited the journal Plant Engineering for many years before retiring to write full-time, but his most famous professional engineering achievement is a contribution to the machine used to make Pringles potato crisps. He lived in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
A frequent Hugo nominee without a win, Wolfe has nevertheless picked up several Nebula and Locus Awards, among others, including the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the 2012 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. He is also a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/genewolfe
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 177 reviews
March 24, 2011
Wolfe is a flawed genius. I read this book and it's prequel in 48 hours while I with laid up with a cold. It is easily one of the best fantasy books I have ever read. I would put it an a shelf next to Lord of the Rings and Alice in Wonderland. While it's achievements are incredible it's shortcomings are equally enourmous. Wolfe as usual has created an enormous and breath takingly realized world. One that is vivid and recognizable as well as wondrous and strange as fantasy should be.
His prose, dialogue and characters are masterfully done. His command of plot is stunning. As usual the mobius strip like creation he makes out of the over all plot is a tour-de-force- a puzzle that like a game of chess is working on many layers. A reader could return to the book again and again and find new hidden meanings and riddles. ( I still find myself scratching my head over the time travel trickery involved in his magnum opus The Book of the new Sun).
However . . . unfortunately, Wolfe's strengths as a writer seem to have blinded him to a huge list of annoying tics and traits flaws that made hundreds of pages so unenjoyable it was at times unbearable to keep reading. The major ones are worth noticing for any writer, fantasy or otherwise:
1. He often skips the battle scenes or glosses them over hastily.
2. In order to create his abundance of puzzles and riddles his first-person unreliable narrators withhold essential infortmation over and over again. Pull this trick once in a great while and it is a formidable device with powerful results. But doing all the time and it feels like your being taken for a long ride by a story teller you can't trust. No reader enjoys that.
3.The middle of the book should have been trimmed a lot. (Basically everything that occurs in the land of the giants is extremely dull.Unfortunately that's a third of the series. The beginning is 5 stars the end is 5 stars the middle is zero. I speculate that Wolfe knew his begining and end but created filler in order to stretch a 1 volume story into 2)
4. His heros are too virtuous. The reader never feels there is much chance of the hero actually failing.
4.5 And because his heros are so dependable, his HUGE cast of supporting characters are sadly not given much to do. They do a lot but it has no GRAVITAS. It matters not, as they are overshadowed by the main character. Which is a shame because all of his characters are vivid and often quite beleivable. This is perhaps his biggest flaw.
5. His characters spend way too much of the time playing 20 questions with eachother. Wittily fencing with eachother, trading little bits of information. It is a strange tic that he imbues all of his works with.
Lastly all of Wolfe's work is basically a re-telling of the story of a Christ figure.This, and the fact that he is quite challenging is probably why he is not more popular.This writer is a maverick and his mistakes are as big as his talents.I am sure I will ponder this book for a long time to come. Likewise I don't plan on reading another book by Gene Wolfe for a long to to come either.
His prose, dialogue and characters are masterfully done. His command of plot is stunning. As usual the mobius strip like creation he makes out of the over all plot is a tour-de-force- a puzzle that like a game of chess is working on many layers. A reader could return to the book again and again and find new hidden meanings and riddles. ( I still find myself scratching my head over the time travel trickery involved in his magnum opus The Book of the new Sun).
However . . . unfortunately, Wolfe's strengths as a writer seem to have blinded him to a huge list of annoying tics and traits flaws that made hundreds of pages so unenjoyable it was at times unbearable to keep reading. The major ones are worth noticing for any writer, fantasy or otherwise:
1. He often skips the battle scenes or glosses them over hastily.
2. In order to create his abundance of puzzles and riddles his first-person unreliable narrators withhold essential infortmation over and over again. Pull this trick once in a great while and it is a formidable device with powerful results. But doing all the time and it feels like your being taken for a long ride by a story teller you can't trust. No reader enjoys that.
3.The middle of the book should have been trimmed a lot. (Basically everything that occurs in the land of the giants is extremely dull.Unfortunately that's a third of the series. The beginning is 5 stars the end is 5 stars the middle is zero. I speculate that Wolfe knew his begining and end but created filler in order to stretch a 1 volume story into 2)
4. His heros are too virtuous. The reader never feels there is much chance of the hero actually failing.
4.5 And because his heros are so dependable, his HUGE cast of supporting characters are sadly not given much to do. They do a lot but it has no GRAVITAS. It matters not, as they are overshadowed by the main character. Which is a shame because all of his characters are vivid and often quite beleivable. This is perhaps his biggest flaw.
5. His characters spend way too much of the time playing 20 questions with eachother. Wittily fencing with eachother, trading little bits of information. It is a strange tic that he imbues all of his works with.
Lastly all of Wolfe's work is basically a re-telling of the story of a Christ figure.This, and the fact that he is quite challenging is probably why he is not more popular.This writer is a maverick and his mistakes are as big as his talents.I am sure I will ponder this book for a long time to come. Likewise I don't plan on reading another book by Gene Wolfe for a long to to come either.
August 4, 2021
Episks ieskats bruņinieku literatūrā!
March 7, 2013
The Knight - Gene Wolfe
The Wizard - Gene Wolfe
One story, two books.
I expected to LOVE these - I'd really been anticipating reading them.
But - I didn't love them. I tried, but I just didn't.
For one thing, this story uses the exact same gimmick as Wolfe's The Book of the Short Sun trilogy (you are reading book written for an unseen, not-present person). Not only that, I am sorry, but the narrator has the EXACT SAME VOICE as in that other book. It is written as the exact same character, even though superficially, they are supposed to be two very different people. If you've read one of these books, the similarity will be unavoidable and distracting.
Another distraction is that the main character is an American boy who, wandering in the woods, slips into a complicated hierarchy of seven other worlds altogether. Due to the magic of an Elf-Queen, he is instantly transformed into the shape of an older, big, muscular man.
The shape/age change is used in the book to some degree, mainly for the repeated philosophical observation that most men feel like boys masquerading as men.
But the fact that he is American, or even from our world, is not utilized in the story at all. He forgets most of his life in our world, it hardly ever comes up, and is not essential to the plot in any way. It's just an unnecessary complication. Odd things occur - and it's almost as if the character just doesn't react - not like an American would react, and really not like the typical inhabitant of the world where he is would react either. It's just sort of odd. And dull.
I hate to say it, but the books are kind of boring. They're slow-moving, and I just didn't feel that Wolfe's usage of classic fantasy elements worked very well. (Not nearly as well as in any of Wolfe's other books that I've read.) His hierarchy-of-worlds had some interesting elements to it, and some of the characters, especially the fire-elf 'sisters' were cool - but I feel it either needed more action or a more-coherent philosophy pulling it all together.
The Wizard - Gene Wolfe
One story, two books.
I expected to LOVE these - I'd really been anticipating reading them.
But - I didn't love them. I tried, but I just didn't.
For one thing, this story uses the exact same gimmick as Wolfe's The Book of the Short Sun trilogy (you are reading book written for an unseen, not-present person). Not only that, I am sorry, but the narrator has the EXACT SAME VOICE as in that other book. It is written as the exact same character, even though superficially, they are supposed to be two very different people. If you've read one of these books, the similarity will be unavoidable and distracting.
Another distraction is that the main character is an American boy who, wandering in the woods, slips into a complicated hierarchy of seven other worlds altogether. Due to the magic of an Elf-Queen, he is instantly transformed into the shape of an older, big, muscular man.
The shape/age change is used in the book to some degree, mainly for the repeated philosophical observation that most men feel like boys masquerading as men.
But the fact that he is American, or even from our world, is not utilized in the story at all. He forgets most of his life in our world, it hardly ever comes up, and is not essential to the plot in any way. It's just an unnecessary complication. Odd things occur - and it's almost as if the character just doesn't react - not like an American would react, and really not like the typical inhabitant of the world where he is would react either. It's just sort of odd. And dull.
I hate to say it, but the books are kind of boring. They're slow-moving, and I just didn't feel that Wolfe's usage of classic fantasy elements worked very well. (Not nearly as well as in any of Wolfe's other books that I've read.) His hierarchy-of-worlds had some interesting elements to it, and some of the characters, especially the fire-elf 'sisters' were cool - but I feel it either needed more action or a more-coherent philosophy pulling it all together.
May 17, 2019
One small piece of advice: when you have finished The Knight, please suppress any unwillingness to read this sequel just after. This I am afraid to say I have not done myself and something I regret. Some readers say Wolfe turned a straightforward fantasy YA story into a multilayered tour-de-force, the good old metaphor of the peeled onions book which I like a lot so I use it a lot too since I am no literature critic, just a reader so it won't contribute to my own dishonor.
There are parts of the book that are not pleasant such as war and battles, but that is the point: they are not. I like better the sharing of friendship parts and the dreamy descriptions of a 7 layers world that calls upon Nordic Mythology and the talking about honor. Of course, you know that Wolfe's books are never an easy ready, but never unpleasant since the great joy of his books is to fill in the lacunae he has meant to leave to the reader to fill in.
Classic stuff. I must say this is more in the vein of Jack Vance's Lyonesse than Lord Of The Rings. but all three are the caramel part of this chocolate candy called Fantasy, so much missing good stories to be told because of so few being ripped off.
There are parts of the book that are not pleasant such as war and battles, but that is the point: they are not. I like better the sharing of friendship parts and the dreamy descriptions of a 7 layers world that calls upon Nordic Mythology and the talking about honor. Of course, you know that Wolfe's books are never an easy ready, but never unpleasant since the great joy of his books is to fill in the lacunae he has meant to leave to the reader to fill in.
Classic stuff. I must say this is more in the vein of Jack Vance's Lyonesse than Lord Of The Rings. but all three are the caramel part of this chocolate candy called Fantasy, so much missing good stories to be told because of so few being ripped off.
January 30, 2021
Even better the second time through. This drags in a the middle a bit, but there is so much stuff going on that you can savor it and take your time. The quintessential faery/Arthurian/portal medieval fantasy of our time. Just love it.
September 10, 2020
Much tougher to follow than the first one, but that may have just been me. I'll need to re-read these one day.
January 5, 2015
The Wizard continues (and finishes?) the heroic journey began in The Knight. The reader has already watched Able transform himself into a knight, and so that plot is done and not continued here. Instead we find at the outset that Able truly died at the end of the last book, and has been in Skai perfecting his knightly skills. He returns as a being of truly vast power, inherent in his person, his servants, and his magical arms and armor. I think it's important to understand that. In the first book, he mastered his fear to be a knight. In this book, he doesn't have much to fear, but he is still a knight. He binds himself, or his honor binds him. He bows, kneels, and obeys those who have no way of compelling his actions, no way other than a claim on his obedience. (He is not quite perfect in this. He's still human.) If Game of Thrones is brilliant in its exploration of characters acting in self-interest, The Wizard Knight is an uplifting meditation on duty.
As many reviewers have noted, the middle of this book has the feel of an interlude. In fact, it is a second heroic journey. It's the journey of Toug, a boy who it turns out is very similar in character to Able. He wants to be a knight, and must fight, win, lose, learn, and be taught along the way. He is not, however, gifted the great power Able is. Toug is not a hero out of legend, but he is still the stuff of a great knight. It would be a difficult argument as to, between Toug and Able, who was the better knight.
And then there is Sir Svon the Swan. He truly is a swan. Throughout the first book, he is an ugly duckling. He is arrogant, a bit cowardly, and ungracious. But in the Wizard he matures, displays great bravery, and earns his redemption.
The driving goal of both books, the McGuffin, is Able's conversation with King Arnthur. It is another treatise on duty, the duty of the king to his subjects, in which the Valfather is a model, because the Valfather models himself on the one above him.
Like all Wolfe books, there is here a captivating, enthralling story exquisitely written. There is also, if you care to look deeper, some philosophy and hidden meaning. I haven't unraveled all of it's secrets yet.
One of my favorites though, was the name of the narrator. Wondering all through both books what his real name was, we find it, just where I should have expected it, at the close of the letter. He signed it with his real name, Arthur "Art" Ormbsy. Or, translated, Arthur Pendragon.
As many reviewers have noted, the middle of this book has the feel of an interlude. In fact, it is a second heroic journey. It's the journey of Toug, a boy who it turns out is very similar in character to Able. He wants to be a knight, and must fight, win, lose, learn, and be taught along the way. He is not, however, gifted the great power Able is. Toug is not a hero out of legend, but he is still the stuff of a great knight. It would be a difficult argument as to, between Toug and Able, who was the better knight.
And then there is Sir Svon the Swan. He truly is a swan. Throughout the first book, he is an ugly duckling. He is arrogant, a bit cowardly, and ungracious. But in the Wizard he matures, displays great bravery, and earns his redemption.
The driving goal of both books, the McGuffin, is Able's conversation with King Arnthur. It is another treatise on duty, the duty of the king to his subjects, in which the Valfather is a model, because the Valfather models himself on the one above him.
Like all Wolfe books, there is here a captivating, enthralling story exquisitely written. There is also, if you care to look deeper, some philosophy and hidden meaning. I haven't unraveled all of it's secrets yet.
One of my favorites though, was the name of the narrator. Wondering all through both books what his real name was, we find it, just where I should have expected it, at the close of the letter. He signed it with his real name, Arthur "Art" Ormbsy. Or, translated, Arthur Pendragon.
October 8, 2013
So very great. Incredibly impressed by this, and it's crazy different from the first book. While The Knight is extremely episodic, tied together mostly by character and setting. At times it felt like a serialised novel, in that there were links between chapters, but those didn't seem as important to the chapter you're reading. This, of course, is used to great effect. All the details return and compile and so on.
Anyrate, the Wizard, the second book, is almost the exact opposite. It's more narratively driven and follows everything rather sequentially without time jumps or moving too much around the world. It feels very different, too, and the only thing that holds it to the first is character and setting, but all those details from the beginning continue to play a role. The world gets richer and we discover more, now that Able knows so much more and can do so much more. Moving from the episodic nature of the first, it becomes a grand epic in the second.
Still, the book is about hiding and so much is hiding what characters actually think but showing them doing. Able himself is an extremely simple character who moves in very complex ways. It's one of the most remarkable things about the novel. Able just does things, even when they seem at odds with what he tells you about himself, despite how honest he is. He also does things that seem completely senseless at times.
I think this is actually one of the most true to life renditions of what humans are actually like. We lie to ourselves and each other, but the things we do show everyone exactly who we are. What's interesting about this, too, is how these actions people take are never challenged. They're simply accepted, and they're run across a morality that's purely hierarchical, no matter how absurd. Without ever challenging the medieval worldview [which it's embedded in] it shows all of its deficiencies, but also accepts them as the way things are. It's very peculiar but quite interesting, to see things done this way, since we're trained that books make value judgments about its characters and the world.
I've always thought that was stupid.
But, yeah, such a great novel and so much I could say about it. But I'll leave it here and just say to read it.
Anyrate, the Wizard, the second book, is almost the exact opposite. It's more narratively driven and follows everything rather sequentially without time jumps or moving too much around the world. It feels very different, too, and the only thing that holds it to the first is character and setting, but all those details from the beginning continue to play a role. The world gets richer and we discover more, now that Able knows so much more and can do so much more. Moving from the episodic nature of the first, it becomes a grand epic in the second.
Still, the book is about hiding and so much is hiding what characters actually think but showing them doing. Able himself is an extremely simple character who moves in very complex ways. It's one of the most remarkable things about the novel. Able just does things, even when they seem at odds with what he tells you about himself, despite how honest he is. He also does things that seem completely senseless at times.
I think this is actually one of the most true to life renditions of what humans are actually like. We lie to ourselves and each other, but the things we do show everyone exactly who we are. What's interesting about this, too, is how these actions people take are never challenged. They're simply accepted, and they're run across a morality that's purely hierarchical, no matter how absurd. Without ever challenging the medieval worldview [which it's embedded in] it shows all of its deficiencies, but also accepts them as the way things are. It's very peculiar but quite interesting, to see things done this way, since we're trained that books make value judgments about its characters and the world.
I've always thought that was stupid.
But, yeah, such a great novel and so much I could say about it. But I'll leave it here and just say to read it.
December 1, 2008
Revision:
So upon further pondering... this book is certainly 4 stars. I don't know why I was grading it harder for certain, but looking back I would have to bring down a lot of other books to feel like I was properly grading these things.
And as for my claims on the main character... umm, false. It is a way to read it perhaps, but it really doesn't fit. I next jumped to Able (the main character) is to Wolfe as Prince Myshkin is to Dostoevsky. But this is rather presumptuous on my end (presumptuous that I actually understand the intention of either author) and I think again totally missing the boat. It could perhaps make for an interesting discussion, but I don't think Wolfe is trying for something that creates an especially accurate parallel.
I think my original comparison from the last book actually still holds up the best. Parzival. Except I am not entirely certain what Wolfe intends a modern audience to do with an example of knighthood. Wolfe himself most blatantly cites Gawain and the Green Knight. And this has similar explorations as Parzival. But I think the Parzival parallels are far more obvious. Although thankfully Wolfe mostly keeps his hands clean of the courtly love tradition. It is somewhat vaguely present but not as relevant as it is in the Eschenbach and Anonymous ventures.
Anyways, all this to basically say, the book keeps on giving. I still hold to my emotional detachment problem, though do not want to press it as too dramatic. But basically I keep pondering this book. I would say that's a pretty good sign of the books longevity.
-------------------------------------------
Initial Review/Wandering Pondering/Airheaded-Thing:
There is a part of me that still wanted to give this three stars, but I didn't think that would properly convey how I felt about this book. I think I am actually grading this harder than most my books because of the quality of the writing. And to reemphasize the point which I made for The Knight, the writing for this book is simply incredible. I can't stress that enough. However, I can't completely place my thumb on what kept me from loving these books entirely.
I am pretty sure one complication was a lack of emotive connection with the main character. Or many of the characters for that matter. There are several characters I thoroughly enjoyed, but I rarely ever felt a sympathetic note for any character. There was one that I found myself rooting for at times. But it wasn't the main character. I didn't dislike the main character, he was just ... well for lack of a better explanation, he was a "you" character. Now, I don't think I could win an argument for this point, and I actually think I could raise some pretty good points to defeat myself, but intuitively the main character comes across as intended to be a vessel for the reader in Wolfe's world. Now this may sound similar to almost any other fantasy novel, but it is not exactly what I mean. He is not the eyes of the reader, who is being introduced into the fantasy world. He is the reader. This of course sounds like I should then associate quite well with him. But in the end it acted quite differently. And I will unfortunately fail at trying to properly explain that.
And if this covers my review in a negative pallor it is not meant to be. I am unfortunately stressing the faults. Let me say some excessive general praise which I will then qualify into nothingness: This is the best contemporary fantasy I have read, post-Tolkien (I wouldn't call Tolkien contemporary, but I just want to be clear). I will say The Book of the Dun Cow/The Book of Sorrows are not contemporary fantasy, because I think it doesn't fit in the contemporary fantasy mold and most importantly because I don't want to pitch that battle. That's why I hate "best" style comments... Hyperbole somehow broke in me.
Basically if you never thought you would find a challenging read in the fantasy section, and want one, read this. And it is not only challenging, it is entirely worthwhile.
A side-note: A passing knowledge of Norse mythology/cosmology could help. He has a number of allusions, plenty I imagine I didn't pick up. But the Norse myths are a bit more foundational than the rest. It is not essential, but I think it would help you get your legs under you.
I could keep creating blurbs and tangents on this book... I think it will just cloud things up more... I think I am going to stop.
So upon further pondering... this book is certainly 4 stars. I don't know why I was grading it harder for certain, but looking back I would have to bring down a lot of other books to feel like I was properly grading these things.
And as for my claims on the main character... umm, false. It is a way to read it perhaps, but it really doesn't fit. I next jumped to Able (the main character) is to Wolfe as Prince Myshkin is to Dostoevsky. But this is rather presumptuous on my end (presumptuous that I actually understand the intention of either author) and I think again totally missing the boat. It could perhaps make for an interesting discussion, but I don't think Wolfe is trying for something that creates an especially accurate parallel.
I think my original comparison from the last book actually still holds up the best. Parzival. Except I am not entirely certain what Wolfe intends a modern audience to do with an example of knighthood. Wolfe himself most blatantly cites Gawain and the Green Knight. And this has similar explorations as Parzival. But I think the Parzival parallels are far more obvious. Although thankfully Wolfe mostly keeps his hands clean of the courtly love tradition. It is somewhat vaguely present but not as relevant as it is in the Eschenbach and Anonymous ventures.
Anyways, all this to basically say, the book keeps on giving. I still hold to my emotional detachment problem, though do not want to press it as too dramatic. But basically I keep pondering this book. I would say that's a pretty good sign of the books longevity.
-------------------------------------------
Initial Review/Wandering Pondering/Airheaded-Thing:
There is a part of me that still wanted to give this three stars, but I didn't think that would properly convey how I felt about this book. I think I am actually grading this harder than most my books because of the quality of the writing. And to reemphasize the point which I made for The Knight, the writing for this book is simply incredible. I can't stress that enough. However, I can't completely place my thumb on what kept me from loving these books entirely.
I am pretty sure one complication was a lack of emotive connection with the main character. Or many of the characters for that matter. There are several characters I thoroughly enjoyed, but I rarely ever felt a sympathetic note for any character. There was one that I found myself rooting for at times. But it wasn't the main character. I didn't dislike the main character, he was just ... well for lack of a better explanation, he was a "you" character. Now, I don't think I could win an argument for this point, and I actually think I could raise some pretty good points to defeat myself, but intuitively the main character comes across as intended to be a vessel for the reader in Wolfe's world. Now this may sound similar to almost any other fantasy novel, but it is not exactly what I mean. He is not the eyes of the reader, who is being introduced into the fantasy world. He is the reader. This of course sounds like I should then associate quite well with him. But in the end it acted quite differently. And I will unfortunately fail at trying to properly explain that.
And if this covers my review in a negative pallor it is not meant to be. I am unfortunately stressing the faults. Let me say some excessive general praise which I will then qualify into nothingness: This is the best contemporary fantasy I have read, post-Tolkien (I wouldn't call Tolkien contemporary, but I just want to be clear). I will say The Book of the Dun Cow/The Book of Sorrows are not contemporary fantasy, because I think it doesn't fit in the contemporary fantasy mold and most importantly because I don't want to pitch that battle. That's why I hate "best" style comments... Hyperbole somehow broke in me.
Basically if you never thought you would find a challenging read in the fantasy section, and want one, read this. And it is not only challenging, it is entirely worthwhile.
A side-note: A passing knowledge of Norse mythology/cosmology could help. He has a number of allusions, plenty I imagine I didn't pick up. But the Norse myths are a bit more foundational than the rest. It is not essential, but I think it would help you get your legs under you.
I could keep creating blurbs and tangents on this book... I think it will just cloud things up more... I think I am going to stop.
August 26, 2014
The second book in this duology was not quite as gripping as the first. The world building is still magnificent, and Able gets to see the rest of the levels above and below, which would have been a wasted opportunity to explore if he hadn’t. His trip to see the Most Low God still gives me chills. But the story drags in the middle, and despite the magnificent ending, this novel can’t quite reach the heights of the first.
The plot stalls in certain locations and we spend too many chapters where very little happens. Able waits and guards the pass for a long time, and then we spend a good chunk of the story in the giants’ land where not much happens. Even with the murder and the mystery surrounding who committed the crime I felt these chapters could have been condensed. The rest of the book from that point on is on par or even better than The Knight, but not enough to make me forget how much time was spent in the north.
Worst of all, for a book called The Wizard, Able isn’t much of a wizard. He does end up using the magic he learned with the Valfather by the very very end, but naming a whole book after it is misleading. And while the point of Able’s growth in this book is that he’s not “supposed” to use his magic, and eventually learns that there are higher powers than even the Valfather, I wish he had done more wizard-like things. The first novel spent so long teaching Able that a knight is someone who acts like a knight acts, not their title and lineage, that I had expected something similar to the wizarding part of it.
Thankfully we have Mani. While all the characters are enjoyable and well rounded, Mani the cat is easily my favorite. He provides the wit and insight that many of the other characters lack. Perhaps because I’m too influenced by modern irony and sarcasm, but Mani often said things I wished someone would say. While the book’s beginning isn’t quite on par with the excellence The Knight set up, the writing and atmosphere is consistently stellar in this volume as well.
Best of all is the ending. Most books have a great premise and a good start or middle, but flounder when it comes to wrapping up the story and its ending. Here that is not the case at all. The ending was beautiful and touching, very fitting for a boy who has grown into what a true knight should be. Emotionally satisfying and also fist-pumpingly awesome, the ending is a perfect capstone to this wonderful fantasy series.
The plot stalls in certain locations and we spend too many chapters where very little happens. Able waits and guards the pass for a long time, and then we spend a good chunk of the story in the giants’ land where not much happens. Even with the murder and the mystery surrounding who committed the crime I felt these chapters could have been condensed. The rest of the book from that point on is on par or even better than The Knight, but not enough to make me forget how much time was spent in the north.
Worst of all, for a book called The Wizard, Able isn’t much of a wizard. He does end up using the magic he learned with the Valfather by the very very end, but naming a whole book after it is misleading. And while the point of Able’s growth in this book is that he’s not “supposed” to use his magic, and eventually learns that there are higher powers than even the Valfather, I wish he had done more wizard-like things. The first novel spent so long teaching Able that a knight is someone who acts like a knight acts, not their title and lineage, that I had expected something similar to the wizarding part of it.
Thankfully we have Mani. While all the characters are enjoyable and well rounded, Mani the cat is easily my favorite. He provides the wit and insight that many of the other characters lack. Perhaps because I’m too influenced by modern irony and sarcasm, but Mani often said things I wished someone would say. While the book’s beginning isn’t quite on par with the excellence The Knight set up, the writing and atmosphere is consistently stellar in this volume as well.
Best of all is the ending. Most books have a great premise and a good start or middle, but flounder when it comes to wrapping up the story and its ending. Here that is not the case at all. The ending was beautiful and touching, very fitting for a boy who has grown into what a true knight should be. Emotionally satisfying and also fist-pumpingly awesome, the ending is a perfect capstone to this wonderful fantasy series.
July 5, 2018
Having slew the dragon GrenGarm at the end of The Knight and being welcomed into Skai by the Valfather, Sir Able of the High Heart returns to Mythgarthr a wizard, brought back by his love for Disiri the Aelf Queen, keen to serve King Arnthor against the encroachments of the Frost Giants in the north and against the marauding, cannibalistic Osterlings in the east.
Assisted by the same band of friends as before and further aided by a new one, Cloud, a magical grey mare from Odin's own stable, Sir Able has become the perfect knight, though at the same time still only an American boy stuck inside the body of a hero from another realm, writing home of his experiences to his brother, Ben.
The Wizard is a wise and wonderful, though flawed conclusion to the series. The first half of the book, spent almost entirely in Jotunland, the imposing domain of the giants, has a tendency to drag, with the ratio of action to conversation far too loaded in favor of the latter, a common fault in Wolfe, particularly frustrating in a story loaded with battles and adventure.
The conversations ramble, while the battles are too frequently dismissed in a couple of paragraphs, or overlooked altogether, replaced with more conversations which merely discuss the action.
In addition, the formalities of courtly speech and politenesses which Wolfe adopts can become a little wearying at times. (Stop asking if you 'may' ask a question or not before asking it, just ask the bloody question!)
However, all this is forgiven in a simply mesmerizing second half.
Despite working with an enormous cast, Wolfe manages to develop all of them, wrap things up in the most pleasing fashion, and still leave some minor mysteries to ponder over. By the end, rarely can a single story have brought so many characters through individual journeys of change and growth.
The real surprise for me, though, was the character of the King Arthur surrogate, Arnthor. Wolfe had obviously researched the legend well (as he had the Norse myths), but while most writers present Arthur as a symbol of the ideal king, Wolfe presents him as a neglectful ruler consumed with jealousy, and quite literally less than human. That's brave!
As with The Knight, and as indeed with all the books of Gene Wolfe, I understood and enjoyed The Wizard more the second time around.
If you like The Lord of the Rings, give this series a try.
Assisted by the same band of friends as before and further aided by a new one, Cloud, a magical grey mare from Odin's own stable, Sir Able has become the perfect knight, though at the same time still only an American boy stuck inside the body of a hero from another realm, writing home of his experiences to his brother, Ben.
The Wizard is a wise and wonderful, though flawed conclusion to the series. The first half of the book, spent almost entirely in Jotunland, the imposing domain of the giants, has a tendency to drag, with the ratio of action to conversation far too loaded in favor of the latter, a common fault in Wolfe, particularly frustrating in a story loaded with battles and adventure.
The conversations ramble, while the battles are too frequently dismissed in a couple of paragraphs, or overlooked altogether, replaced with more conversations which merely discuss the action.
In addition, the formalities of courtly speech and politenesses which Wolfe adopts can become a little wearying at times. (Stop asking if you 'may' ask a question or not before asking it, just ask the bloody question!)
However, all this is forgiven in a simply mesmerizing second half.
Despite working with an enormous cast, Wolfe manages to develop all of them, wrap things up in the most pleasing fashion, and still leave some minor mysteries to ponder over. By the end, rarely can a single story have brought so many characters through individual journeys of change and growth.
The real surprise for me, though, was the character of the King Arthur surrogate, Arnthor. Wolfe had obviously researched the legend well (as he had the Norse myths), but while most writers present Arthur as a symbol of the ideal king, Wolfe presents him as a neglectful ruler consumed with jealousy, and quite literally less than human. That's brave!
As with The Knight, and as indeed with all the books of Gene Wolfe, I understood and enjoyed The Wizard more the second time around.
If you like The Lord of the Rings, give this series a try.
September 20, 2013
(Contains spoilers) A wonderful meld of Norse and Arthurian mythology that I enjoyed very much, the sequel to The Knight, in which a now matured and experienced Sir Able returns from Skai to resume his quest for Queen Disiri. Battles with Frost giants, dragons, invading Eastern hordes, and drauger (living dead) amid political intrigues and inner journeys, all tied together with a varying degrees of existentialism. Having read the reviews of others, I think Wolfe's often laconic, understated prose and lack of histrionics leaves some people feeling disappointed. Granted, it's not dripping with teen angst or bad grammar so I wouldn't recommend it to those who enjoyed the Twilight series, but I think a reasonably well read individual who can base their opinions on direct experience with life will understand what Wolfe has to offer, and he offers quite a lot.
August 26, 2009
So last night at midnight I had 57 pages left in this book, but I had to get up in the morning at 6:30. So what did I do? Wolfe didn't leave me much choice as I was sucked into the story and ended up finishing it last night around 1:15am.
Wolfe is such a compelling storyteller and this book was wonderful. A great fantasy book that feels fresh and new while incorporating that which makes fantasy fantasy. Not only is it fantasy, but he talks a lot about honor and what it really means to be a knight. Here is an excerpt that I liked from the story:
-"What a man knows hardly matters. It is what he does" (p. 387)
Wolfe is such a compelling storyteller and this book was wonderful. A great fantasy book that feels fresh and new while incorporating that which makes fantasy fantasy. Not only is it fantasy, but he talks a lot about honor and what it really means to be a knight. Here is an excerpt that I liked from the story:
-"What a man knows hardly matters. It is what he does" (p. 387)
May 14, 2023
“I’m an oath-breaker, since I broke that one when the Osterlings were besieging Redhall. Some of you were there, and will not forget the storm I raised. Tonight I’m going to break it again, openly and for as long as I can.”
Very solid book and having Wolfe’s take on a more traditional fantasy approach was really cool. I did like The Knight a bit more than this and felt like I wasn’t really as invested at certain points following Toug and Svon. All in all the ending, especially the last chapter, really solidified this book for me as a solid read.
Very solid book and having Wolfe’s take on a more traditional fantasy approach was really cool. I did like The Knight a bit more than this and felt like I wasn’t really as invested at certain points following Toug and Svon. All in all the ending, especially the last chapter, really solidified this book for me as a solid read.
July 20, 2018
This book, as its narrator's name suggests, rewards the Able reader. Wolfe pulls in other texts here subtly, and having read things like Gawain and the Green Knight, I was really tickled by the references, and only wish I knew more of the source material Wolfe pulled from to create this masterful piece of fantasy. As with almost every Wolfe-work, I will be sure to reread The Wizard Knight in the future.
April 7, 2021
3.5...It’s hard to rate this one because the beginning and end were very good. This one wasn’t as plot heavy as the previous book and his prose aren’t good enough to warrant so much down time. This book did not need to approach 600 pages. One issue I have is that he expects you to just pick up on things while glossing over huge moments like battles or big impact character moments; this can be ok but he isn’t good at it. For example he will say something like “my blade continued to flash before my enemy”, then completely change scenes to when he’s just chilling with his squire-new paragraph and everything. It made it a jarring and annoying experience because it happened often. The biggest issue I have with this is that he even does this with huge moments. [SPOILER] For example when he meets with Kulilli for the second time (this godly being who created an entire people in one of the lower dimensions) like wtf he never revisits that and tells you what happens.He literally just says “I met with her and we made a deal”; what’s even worse is that he was supposed to kill her and Wolfe set that up in book 1.
I get that he’s supposed to be this multi layered genius with tons of symbology packed in but he has glaring issues that really diminished the experience. Over all I would say that he has beautiful conceptual ability but lacks consistency in his execution. I have heard that he likes puzzle style stories so I guess all of this was deliberate and I’m sure it would open up a lot on a second read.
Now that that’s all off my chest I do want to say that I loved the good parts and it was because there were so many that I was motivated to keep going. This is a very unique and beautiful world. I loved the Christian symbology mixed with the Norse and Arthurian symbology as it made for a very beautiful tale.
Also the more analysis I read about these books the more I appreciate it. I just wish Wolfe was able to convey all the latent beauty in the reading experience itself.
I get that he’s supposed to be this multi layered genius with tons of symbology packed in but he has glaring issues that really diminished the experience. Over all I would say that he has beautiful conceptual ability but lacks consistency in his execution. I have heard that he likes puzzle style stories so I guess all of this was deliberate and I’m sure it would open up a lot on a second read.
Now that that’s all off my chest I do want to say that I loved the good parts and it was because there were so many that I was motivated to keep going. This is a very unique and beautiful world. I loved the Christian symbology mixed with the Norse and Arthurian symbology as it made for a very beautiful tale.
Also the more analysis I read about these books the more I appreciate it. I just wish Wolfe was able to convey all the latent beauty in the reading experience itself.
December 4, 2017
Children playing at adult games.
The continued story of American boy magically turned into heroic knight (and in this second volume, wizard) Sir Able of the High Heart continues across the 7 realms (with much borrowed from Norse mythology--think Odin, Thor, Loki, et al). Wolfe described this book as "Chivalry without Christianity" and that is accurate.
What struck me however, was that this was a book of children playing at roles they think they needed to emulate. From Sir Able on down, nearly every character tries to emulate what they think a higher station requires of them. Sir Able is a boy pretending to be a knight but attempts to act nobly. Squires attempt to act as knights. Scullion maids attempt to act as shieldmaidens. At every turn, it's a farce and a mummer's show (in the best way). It's characters not knowing what their role requires but doing their best with their own limited knowledge to mimic and mirror those roles.
Most novels finish their main plot about 85-90% through with the remainder being epilogue. Wolfe doesn't do that. His novels frequently end with no more than 2-4 PAGES left so there's an ever-increasing tension (terror?) as to what will happen to the main character/narrative as you get closer and closer to the end. The second volume of the Wizard Knight is no different.
The story of Sir Able of the High Heart is fundamentally one of immaturity. It's of a young boy thrust into a seemingly adult world and aping the conventions that he thinks are appropriate. While he does an admirable job (helped by the fact he looks the part), the novel's conclusion makes clear that at bottom, "We all dream of being a child again." (line stolen from "The Wild Bunch")
The continued story of American boy magically turned into heroic knight (and in this second volume, wizard) Sir Able of the High Heart continues across the 7 realms (with much borrowed from Norse mythology--think Odin, Thor, Loki, et al). Wolfe described this book as "Chivalry without Christianity" and that is accurate.
What struck me however, was that this was a book of children playing at roles they think they needed to emulate. From Sir Able on down, nearly every character tries to emulate what they think a higher station requires of them. Sir Able is a boy pretending to be a knight but attempts to act nobly. Squires attempt to act as knights. Scullion maids attempt to act as shieldmaidens. At every turn, it's a farce and a mummer's show (in the best way). It's characters not knowing what their role requires but doing their best with their own limited knowledge to mimic and mirror those roles.
Most novels finish their main plot about 85-90% through with the remainder being epilogue. Wolfe doesn't do that. His novels frequently end with no more than 2-4 PAGES left so there's an ever-increasing tension (terror?) as to what will happen to the main character/narrative as you get closer and closer to the end. The second volume of the Wizard Knight is no different.
The story of Sir Able of the High Heart is fundamentally one of immaturity. It's of a young boy thrust into a seemingly adult world and aping the conventions that he thinks are appropriate. While he does an admirable job (helped by the fact he looks the part), the novel's conclusion makes clear that at bottom, "We all dream of being a child again." (line stolen from "The Wild Bunch")
August 17, 2013
I should preface this review by saying that I read this book about a month after The Knight. I hadn't realized that the second novel was a continuation of the first novel rather than a sequel, and although I tried to get The Wizard right away, circumstances conspired to prevent it. In the interim, I had read about 10 other novels, so the story of the first book wasn't fresh in my mind when I started the second.
All this to say that I was a little confused when I began this novel. I didn't know why Abel was presumed dead or why we were suddenly following a secondary character. Even when I figured out what had happened, I still thought it strange that we were all of a sudden following the thoughts and experiences of Toug rather than Abel. Although the story was still interesting, it did make Abel's character less compelling when he did finally appear. And then Toug is later unceremoniously dropped.
Overall, I found The Wizard less compelling than The Knight. After Abel finally leaves Jotunland, I started to get a little impatient. Too much unsatisfying dialogue between characters, too many events that seemed like page-fillers. After a few battles and wars, a tournament of arms seems very anti-climatic. And knowing that the character ascended to another world and lived there for 20 years makes the whole "I'm still just a boy" thing ring a little false.
All in all, I'd heartily recommend the first book, and be prepared to skim a lot of the second. I didn't, but I was sorely tempted to. That said, there are still a lot of enjoyable parts that hearken back to the great story that the first book was.
All this to say that I was a little confused when I began this novel. I didn't know why Abel was presumed dead or why we were suddenly following a secondary character. Even when I figured out what had happened, I still thought it strange that we were all of a sudden following the thoughts and experiences of Toug rather than Abel. Although the story was still interesting, it did make Abel's character less compelling when he did finally appear. And then Toug is later unceremoniously dropped.
Overall, I found The Wizard less compelling than The Knight. After Abel finally leaves Jotunland, I started to get a little impatient. Too much unsatisfying dialogue between characters, too many events that seemed like page-fillers. After a few battles and wars, a tournament of arms seems very anti-climatic. And knowing that the character ascended to another world and lived there for 20 years makes the whole "I'm still just a boy" thing ring a little false.
All in all, I'd heartily recommend the first book, and be prepared to skim a lot of the second. I didn't, but I was sorely tempted to. That said, there are still a lot of enjoyable parts that hearken back to the great story that the first book was.
January 19, 2024
The first book I've read in ages, you could say years. I didn't understand anything since I started it and when I finished it I found out that it is actually the second book and not the first. It was strangely interesting even though I knew nothing about world building. It was enjoyable though.
April 13, 2024
"How far to Aelfrice?" No one asks. For all who know Aelfrice, even by repute, know that no man has found the league that will measure the way. "How far to Summer, sir? How many steps? How far to the dream my mother had?"
What a man knows hardly matters. It is what he does.
A chronicle of chivalry and honor, the testing of those virtues, and their being called forth in others.
Toug surpasses Polos (by the slimmest of margins) as my favorite Wolfe character. So much heart 😌
My favorite Wolfe ending thus far, too. The last few chapters have this wild, rushing, mythic pace about them. It accelerates into an ecstatic blur (which had me in tears at one point) and then hangs a hard left to perfectly stick a landing that I never would have seen coming. Very satisfying.
I'm doubling down on this duology being the most normie-friendly place to start with Wolfe. His trappings are here, unmistakably, but they're not quite as tortuous as in his other work.
June 4, 2010
THE WIZARD is the second half of "The Wizard Knight", Gene Wolfe's fantasy novel in two volumes. I read THE KNIGHT when it came out and was deeply disappointed by it, enough so that I stopped following Wolfe's work. But as I recently came across a copy of the work's completion, I decided to press on nevertheless.
As THE WIZARD opens, Sir Able returns to Mythgarthr from Skai. 20 years have passed for him in that higher sphere, but only a couple of days for the embassy to the Giants. Most of the novel is dedicated to the adventures of Able, Lord Beel, Idnn and company in Jotunland, and this proved to drag horribly. If you're a Wolfe fan and you thought the tunnels scene in "The Book of the Long Sun" or the whole of SOLDIER OF ARETE went on far longer than necessary, then you'll have the same feeling of wading through a literary mire here. My biggest complaint about THE KNIGHT was that Wolfe's love of the unreliable narrator seemed increasingly a limitation. In this second half of the story, Able's narration is rather more solid, but the pacing is horrible.
That said, THE WIZARD does pick up in its last 200 pages, most of the mysteries raised during the novel are given solutions, and the ending is pretty touching. However, as a whole "The Wizard Knight" is certainly third-rate Wolfe, and though I continue to cherish classic works like "The Book of the New Sun" (much of "The Wizard Knight" retreads) and THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS, I detect the start of a precipitous decline in Wolfe's powers here.
As THE WIZARD opens, Sir Able returns to Mythgarthr from Skai. 20 years have passed for him in that higher sphere, but only a couple of days for the embassy to the Giants. Most of the novel is dedicated to the adventures of Able, Lord Beel, Idnn and company in Jotunland, and this proved to drag horribly. If you're a Wolfe fan and you thought the tunnels scene in "The Book of the Long Sun" or the whole of SOLDIER OF ARETE went on far longer than necessary, then you'll have the same feeling of wading through a literary mire here. My biggest complaint about THE KNIGHT was that Wolfe's love of the unreliable narrator seemed increasingly a limitation. In this second half of the story, Able's narration is rather more solid, but the pacing is horrible.
That said, THE WIZARD does pick up in its last 200 pages, most of the mysteries raised during the novel are given solutions, and the ending is pretty touching. However, as a whole "The Wizard Knight" is certainly third-rate Wolfe, and though I continue to cherish classic works like "The Book of the New Sun" (much of "The Wizard Knight" retreads) and THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS, I detect the start of a precipitous decline in Wolfe's powers here.
September 7, 2018
What a misery. I really thought when I was reading The Knight that all the various plot threads raised there would be resolved in the second book of the series, The Wizard. What I got instead was a terrible mish-mosh of utter crap. Yes there are a few redeeming moments but a novel is not really just a collection of those moments. I am sorry I ever started this series and am utterly delighted to be finished with it.
January 16, 2018
I would have to read each series by Gene Wolfe twenty times to squeeze all the juice from the fruit. So layered and subtle and beautiful and true. Love this writer's work, and grateful for having stumbled on it.
August 8, 2013
Great ending. I still don't know what to make of everything, but then that's normal with Gene Wolfe. I'm glad I read it.
October 9, 2016
Stirring, challenging, fantastic, unnerving: classic Wolfe.
September 9, 2023
As with the previous book, I am impressed by Wolfe's creation of an original world (or, more accurately, system of worlds) inspired by a combination of Norse mythology, medieval chivalry, traditional fae, and Arthurian legends. He manages to include many of the social and personal forces from these - oaths, prophecy, precedence, loyalty - and shows how navigating them can prove tricky for even the best intentioned character. On the other hand, while there is still a good bit of action, at least half the book is dialogue, with characters explaining things, verbally fencing, or describing events that happened elsewhere. This often slows stuff down, especially a the beginning of the novel (slow enough that I probably would have given up and tossed the book away in frustration if I hadn't enjoyed KNIGHT so well). It doesn't help that a not inconsiderable part of the conversations are in phonetically spelled peasant dialect (or a knight speaking through a recently broken nose). I'll give this one three stars - the extremely slow start made this a less enjoyable read than its predecessor.
Read
December 1, 2020A spell and song to dizzy the mind and blow wind over the waters of the unconscious.
I can't talk about this book yet; I have to read it and The Knight again. Directly after I read Man and His Symbols, I will.
I can't talk about this book yet; I have to read it and The Knight again. Directly after I read Man and His Symbols, I will.
December 30, 2020
There is so much to this work that I cannot begin to understand it fully, yet the last hundred pages were some of the best fiction I have read with the last chapter turning me into a blubbering fool. Gene Wolfe has proven himself once again an unsurpassable mountain of intellect and talent, engineering something truly special. The narrative voice mimics Sir Able’s adolescence (frustratingly at times), which made the Bildungsroman character of The Knight less than perfect in my enjoyment, despite the foreshadow and profundity, yet the latter half in The Wizard is truly superb. It is a showcase for everything great about Wolfe’s writing and his skill with allegory and narrative layers.
Read
October 10, 2019I think I have to read the whole duology again to understand how I feel about this.
October 16, 2021
I loved it, buy really don't know how to think through the experience.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 177 reviews