Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Gollancz (2007), Edition: paperback / softback, Paperback, 544 pages
Description
A novel in two volumes, The Wizard Knight is in the rare company of those works which move past the surface of fantasy and drink from the wellspring of myth. Magic swords, dragons, giants, quests, love, honor, nobility-all the familiar features of fantasy come to fresh life in this masterful work. The first half of the journey, The Knight -- which you are advised to read first, to let the whole story engulf you from the beginning -- took a teenage boy from America into Mythgarthr, the middle realm of seven fantastic worlds. Above are the gods of Skai; below are the capricious Aelf, and more dangerous things still. Journeying throughout Mythgarthr, Able gains a new brother, an Aelf queen lover, a supernatural hound, and the desire to prove his honor and become the noble knight he always knew he would be. Coming into Jotunland, home of the Frost Giants, Able -- now Sir Able of the High Heart --claims the great sword Eterne from the dragon who has it. In reward, he is ushered into the castle of the Valfather, king of all the Gods of Skai. Thus begins the second part of his quest. The Wizard begins with Able's return 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." If you've never sampled the works of the man Michael Swanwick described as "the greatest writer in the English language alive today," the two volumes of The Wizard Knight are the perfect place to start.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Daedalus
As of now I'm giving this book 4 1/2 stars. Upon further readings I may have to up it to 5. I cannot think of a better living author in the Fantasy genre than Gene Wolfe.
LibraryThing member lewispike
It's amazing, truly amazing.
Gene Wolfe takes what ought to be a simple story and makes it rock with twists, turns, betrayals, action, fun, love and more.
Neil Gaiman's review: read this or the cool people will laugh at you sums it up for me - and don't you want to be one of the people that Neil
Gene Wolfe takes what ought to be a simple story and makes it rock with twists, turns, betrayals, action, fun, love and more.
Neil Gaiman's review: read this or the cool people will laugh at you sums it up for me - and don't you want to be one of the people that Neil
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LibraryThing member saltmanz
This was a little bit of a letdown from The Knight. The first half dragged for me, but thankfully it picked up again in the second half. Definitely a must-read if you've read and enjoyed the first book, and overall a worthwhile series.
LibraryThing member BenjaminHahn
This being the second Gene Wolfe book I have read, I now understand what his fans mean when they describe his particular narrative style. It is something akin to dark and otherworldly dreaminess. Nothing important is intricately detailed when you expect it to be. This is a quality I found alluring
As the follow up to The Knight, the first half of the book was little tedious and I found myself needing to take a break for a week before I felt up to coming back to it. I'm glad I did, because the last half was very rewarding, but not necessarily revealing.
The substance of this story draws a lot from Scandinavian and Saxon myth. This is made all the more interesting however by the way it is delivered. These small details are mainly presented briefly as a fleeting sentence here or there. Given that, I would probably find these two books more rewarding if I read a few primers on Norse mythology.
The most intriguing element of the book is the young narrator and the story being told in the form of a letter. There are a multitude of very subtle connections between the grand mythical world the story is set in and the American life the narrator is from. I won't spoil anything, but the last paragraph of this book gave me cause to reflect at length on the entire two books and to ponder the point of storytelling.
In the end, I would recommend this book, and its predecessor The Knight, for readers who enjoy a curious story which requires the reader to speculate often. This story is by no means clearly laid out for quick consumption, and for this I found it quite entertaining.
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and refreshing compared to more forceful authors who find it necessary to cram the plot points down your throat.As the follow up to The Knight, the first half of the book was little tedious and I found myself needing to take a break for a week before I felt up to coming back to it. I'm glad I did, because the last half was very rewarding, but not necessarily revealing.
The substance of this story draws a lot from Scandinavian and Saxon myth. This is made all the more interesting however by the way it is delivered. These small details are mainly presented briefly as a fleeting sentence here or there. Given that, I would probably find these two books more rewarding if I read a few primers on Norse mythology.
The most intriguing element of the book is the young narrator and the story being told in the form of a letter. There are a multitude of very subtle connections between the grand mythical world the story is set in and the American life the narrator is from. I won't spoil anything, but the last paragraph of this book gave me cause to reflect at length on the entire two books and to ponder the point of storytelling.
In the end, I would recommend this book, and its predecessor The Knight, for readers who enjoy a curious story which requires the reader to speculate often. This story is by no means clearly laid out for quick consumption, and for this I found it quite entertaining.
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LibraryThing member iayork
Too much of the same: still impressive, but less novel and gripping: After ecstatically singing the praises of the preceding `The Knight', I'm inconsistently less enthusiastic about Part 2. Some of this is down to differing expectations: I had no/low hopes for the former but enjoyed it so much I
`The Wizard' is not so much a separate book as the second half of the same one - something Wolfe intended. However, given the sheer number of pages it seemed fair enough to split the read. Moreover I was delighted with the way that Wolfe had evoked a legendary romantic knight in Book 1, and had hoped for an equally surprising achievement in creating a fabulous mythical wizard in Book 2. Now don't get me wrong: Wolfe is, as ever, clever and original in presenting a different perspective on Sir Able as a wizard - doubtless with his familiar interaction with various gods, Aelf and higher and lower worlds he would be perceived as such. The notion of a wizard actually being a minor deity (cf. Gandalf) is interesting, as are the strong Christlike parallels of limitations on power and miraculous healing. But Able as Wizard was nothing on Able as Knight.
There were still some impressive passages, but I was feeling a bit of hero fatigue, particularly in the first third to half of `The Wizard'. I get that Wolfe was showing how Able had inspired others to become like him: part of his nobility is that he is not jealous of other knights, and consciously leaves them to some battles he could fight better himself to give them a chance to prove themselves and gain greater glory. Again the Christian echoes along the lines of, "You shall do these and greater things." This is particularly powerful in the reformation of his former squire Svon`s nature, and demonstrates a far greater spiritual victory than a mere martial one. Wolfe has admirably run with the Crusade ideal of an almost priestly order of fighters, with Able's high moral code integral to his identity rather than a mere religious façade. But as a reader too many of the knights became almost indistinguishable in their motivations, words and deeds. Toug becomes `Young Able' - deliberately, sure, but less enjoyably.
In one sense it's odd to complain about getting more of the same of a book I relished. But I suppose much of what I loved about `The Knight' was the novelty of Wolfe's creation. He realises his ideas capably in `The Wizard', but they're at best developments and more often continuations of ideas we're now familiar with. It's a terrible thing to become bored with giants - something that didn't happen in Book 1.
Some different ideas develop later in the book, particularly around Arnthor, with Able facing the dilemma of serving an unjust king. And this is Wolfe, and there are a dozen other potent and enigmatic themes running around (such as Able's helmet letting him discern the essence of anyone he looks at yet, for example, he continues to revere Disiri). Maybe I should have left the break longer, I don't know, but the second book just didn't engage me nearly as much as the first. Book 1 had some confusing passages, sure, but I was arrested by more of the episodes.
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had very high hopes for the latter. `The Wizard' is not so much a separate book as the second half of the same one - something Wolfe intended. However, given the sheer number of pages it seemed fair enough to split the read. Moreover I was delighted with the way that Wolfe had evoked a legendary romantic knight in Book 1, and had hoped for an equally surprising achievement in creating a fabulous mythical wizard in Book 2. Now don't get me wrong: Wolfe is, as ever, clever and original in presenting a different perspective on Sir Able as a wizard - doubtless with his familiar interaction with various gods, Aelf and higher and lower worlds he would be perceived as such. The notion of a wizard actually being a minor deity (cf. Gandalf) is interesting, as are the strong Christlike parallels of limitations on power and miraculous healing. But Able as Wizard was nothing on Able as Knight.
There were still some impressive passages, but I was feeling a bit of hero fatigue, particularly in the first third to half of `The Wizard'. I get that Wolfe was showing how Able had inspired others to become like him: part of his nobility is that he is not jealous of other knights, and consciously leaves them to some battles he could fight better himself to give them a chance to prove themselves and gain greater glory. Again the Christian echoes along the lines of, "You shall do these and greater things." This is particularly powerful in the reformation of his former squire Svon`s nature, and demonstrates a far greater spiritual victory than a mere martial one. Wolfe has admirably run with the Crusade ideal of an almost priestly order of fighters, with Able's high moral code integral to his identity rather than a mere religious façade. But as a reader too many of the knights became almost indistinguishable in their motivations, words and deeds. Toug becomes `Young Able' - deliberately, sure, but less enjoyably.
In one sense it's odd to complain about getting more of the same of a book I relished. But I suppose much of what I loved about `The Knight' was the novelty of Wolfe's creation. He realises his ideas capably in `The Wizard', but they're at best developments and more often continuations of ideas we're now familiar with. It's a terrible thing to become bored with giants - something that didn't happen in Book 1.
Some different ideas develop later in the book, particularly around Arnthor, with Able facing the dilemma of serving an unjust king. And this is Wolfe, and there are a dozen other potent and enigmatic themes running around (such as Able's helmet letting him discern the essence of anyone he looks at yet, for example, he continues to revere Disiri). Maybe I should have left the break longer, I don't know, but the second book just didn't engage me nearly as much as the first. Book 1 had some confusing passages, sure, but I was arrested by more of the episodes.
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LibraryThing member galacticus
I thought the book bogged down at times. Many of the characters and situations are extremely enjoyable, at times the writing is captivating, but the book is disjointed. I did not get the ending and the immense battle. It's like the bad guy came out of nowhere.
LibraryThing member Threlicus
A very tricky, but rewarding read. Like all of Wolfe, it is filled with major events that happen in a single sentence or even none at all, where the reader is expected to have understood what happens because of something foreshadowed chapters ago. This can be both frustrating, if you miss it, or
I don't think I fully understand the ending, or how the story, which all takes place in Wolfe's 7-fold world around Mythgarthr, interacts with the life of the American boy who is the narrator and his brother (who is also a character in the book). This would probably profit from a reread, but I expect I will be going back to the Book of the New Sun as a reread first.
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rewarding when you get it. Not a book to be read when tired, for sure.I don't think I fully understand the ending, or how the story, which all takes place in Wolfe's 7-fold world around Mythgarthr, interacts with the life of the American boy who is the narrator and his brother (who is also a character in the book). This would probably profit from a reread, but I expect I will be going back to the Book of the New Sun as a reread first.
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LibraryThing member Drakhir
Okay, I have only looked at the first, and read a few pages. I thought I'd see what was going on with this one first...
The answer is, incomprehensible nonsense, that grows tired by about the third paragraph. There are a few books that work with a vernacular style of writing. Pilgerman, A Clockwork
But when it is the main protagonists in the first two chapters, it is seriously annoying. When I find myself reading 2 chapters of a book that fails to entertain, says nothing, and speaks in a difficult to follow lingo, I throw it away. Gene Wolfe has been good in the past. He has also been stultifyingly dull. This is one of the latter. Some reviews suggest these books are somehow original in the fantasy market. Rubbish. There is nothing new here, and the literary trick of having a boy in a man's body has little mileage any more... since Tom Hanks in Big, actually, and that was due to the skill of the actor.
Avoid.
The answer is, incomprehensible nonsense, that grows tired by about the third paragraph. There are a few books that work with a vernacular style of writing. Pilgerman, A Clockwork
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Orange and Feersun Endgin come to mind. But characters portrayed only by their wonky way of talking are usually tiresome. Pratchett makes good use of it in the odd character.But when it is the main protagonists in the first two chapters, it is seriously annoying. When I find myself reading 2 chapters of a book that fails to entertain, says nothing, and speaks in a difficult to follow lingo, I throw it away. Gene Wolfe has been good in the past. He has also been stultifyingly dull. This is one of the latter. Some reviews suggest these books are somehow original in the fantasy market. Rubbish. There is nothing new here, and the literary trick of having a boy in a man's body has little mileage any more... since Tom Hanks in Big, actually, and that was due to the skill of the actor.
Avoid.
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LibraryThing member briandarvell
The second part of Wolfe's Wizard Knight series. I was excited to see what happens to Sir Able of the High Heart. This novel has a different style from the first in that there's less roaming about and the main characters are already established. There's still so much clever fantasy, interesting
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occurrences and surprises that you don't really know what's going to happen. It continues with many intertwined sub-stories and mythical references and I'm sure a re-reading of it would be very beneficial. I'm happy to have read the series and will likely try it again in a few years. Show Less
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
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
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
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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.
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Awards
Mythopoeic Awards (Finalist — Adult Literature — 2005)
SF Site Reader's Choice (2004)
SF Site Editor's Choice (2004)
Locus Recommended Reading (2004)
Language
Original publication date
2004-10-21
Physical description
544 p.; 7.72 inches
ISBN
0575080256 / 9780575080256