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Terry

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Terry is Currently Reading

Terry is currently reading

The Wizard Knight: Comprising The Knight and The Wizard

by Gene Wolfe

bookshelves: fantasy, that-northern-thing, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in October 2021

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Terry said: " I was somewhat dubious coming to this, my third reading of Wolfe’s fantasy story of chivalry and devotion. I had previously rated it five stars and declared it my favourite of Wolfe’s books, but subsequently when I attempted re-reading it, I found my I was somewhat dubious coming to this, my third reading of Wolfe’s fantasy story of chivalry and devotion. I had previously rated it five stars and declared it my favourite of Wolfe’s books, but subsequently when I attempted re-reading it, I found myself put off and wasn’t sure that it would hold up. I finally took the plunge and I’m glad I did. I’m not sure if it’s Wolfe’s best, and it’s certainly not his trickiest (though it has a few persistent mysteries), but I have to say, once again, that I think maybe it still is my favourite of his works.

Previously published in two volumes, I read the new omnibus version produced by Tor this time and I think I prefer it in one volume even though the story demarcation of the two-volume set makes sense both thematically and from a page count perspective. Book one, The Knight, covers the main character, Able (a boy from our world thrust into a fantasy world of knights, monsters, and gods) finding his feet in a world not his own with the single goal of becoming a knight against all odds. He is a stranger in a strange land who acts mostly by instinct, but luckily for him his instincts appear to be the surest path towards his goal.

Book two, the Wizard, covers Able returning to the land of Mythgarthr having achieved the crown of glory, yet with work left undone in this lower world. In the former he is constrained by his ignorance and the doubts of others, in the latter by his oath to not use his powers when he must instead let others come into their own power. He can lead by example, but he can’t solve their problems for them. Even though still ostensibly told by Able, many of the events of the second book centre on the actions of other characters and his ostensible role as at least a partial ‘watcher’ of events distances us somewhat from Able. I would have initially thought this an advantage, but now I’m not so sure. This is primarily due to my recollection that Able seemed like much more of a bully to me on my initial readings. This time Able seemed to be a much less reprehensible character than I remembered. Perhaps I am more inclined to allow that he is trapped in a world where all appearances point to the fact that ‘might makes right’ and he makes the best of it that he can while still trying to hold to some level of morality.

I don’t really have much to add substantially to my original review, but I will note that the theme of ‘proper worship’ came through loud and clear. This isn’t particularly surprising given Wolfe’s reputation as a ‘Catholic writer’ until one notes the fairly pagan flavour of the worship in the seven worlds. There is indeed a “Most High God” in the highest heaven of Elysion in Wolfe’s cosmology that one could imagine is analogous to the Christian God, but the lower worlds are explicitly meant to worship the beings in the world next up from theirs in a manner that comes across as distinctly pagan. Of course, this ties in nicely with the themes of chivalry and feudal obligation that are also central to the text and perhaps it is Wolfe’s attempt to show what kind of world(s) would have the chivalric code as the foundations of not only the political, but the moral and spiritual spheres as well.

I’ve never felt Wolfe to be a particularly poetic writer (with a few exceptions here and there) despite his penchant for arcane words, but I have to admit that there are definitely times in the Wizard Knight where his prose has that poetic ring of Elfland that LeGuin so admired in true fantasy. I think a book, perhaps especially a fantasy book, can be said to have succeeded in its task when it leaves you with impressions that can be re-awakened unawares in later circumstances in everyday life. There are still times when I look at a mountain of clouds tinted orange and pink by the setting sun and I think of Able mounting the steep airy pathways to Skai, or perhaps riding down them on some errand of the Lady’s. It’s not the kind of rumination I’d expected to result from the reading of a book by Wolfe, but there it is. Perhaps he’s not just a puzzle-maker after all. ...more "

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(page 282 of 912)
— Apr 20, 2024 06:47PM

Oct 19, 2021 12:57PM · see review

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Up Jim River (Spiral Arm, #2)

by Michael Flynn

bookshelves: sci-fi, space-opera, currently-reading

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(page 168 of 336)
— Apr 13, 2024 02:25PM

Apr 06, 2024 06:54AM

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A History of the Crusades, Vol. 2, The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East

by Steven Runciman

bookshelves: currently-reading, non-fiction

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(page 143 of 523)
— Jan 25, 2024 06:28PM

Jan 09, 2024 06:00PM

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Terry ’s Quotes

“And he at once determined on going to find Gilbert, who was residing at Versailles, but who, without having revisited the queen after the journey of the king to Paris, had become the right hand of Necker, who had been reappointed minister, and was endeavoring to organize prosperity by generalizing poverty.”
― Alexandre Dumas, Ange Pitou

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“A real politician, and these were real politicians, never betrays his country to an outsider. He betrays it to himself. He is the enemy within.”
― Guy Endore, The Werewolf of Paris

5 likes

“Memories haunted the Ghostwood, brittle as the twigs that splintered like tiny bones under Mark's boots. Sifting through drooping cedar boughs, the old wind muttered of things that waited in darkness without hope. To every question the Ghostwood had but one answer, made from sorrow, and loneliness, and time.”
― Sean Stewart, Nobody's Son

3 likes

“Ready to cry ready to dy ready for any thing is how I come to it now. In fear and tremmering only not running a way. In emtyness and ready to be fult. Not to lern no body nothing I cant even lern my oan self all I can do is try not to get in front of whats coming. Jus try to keap out of the way of it.”
― Russell Hoban, Riddley Walker

11 likes

“The house stank; a stench all its own pervaded every corner. It was a threnody in the key of Cat minor, with a ground-bass of Old Dog, and modulations of old people, waning lives, and relinquished hopes.”
― Robertson Davies, The Rebel Angels

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