Rating: 
Summary: An incredible novel
Review: Incredible story. Incredible depth for a science fiction novel. I rarely read a book more than once, but I'm certain I'd enjoy reading this one again. Dense and challenging. Beautifully written.
Rating:
Summary: New suns, new lights
Review: I'll just have to start by saying that this is probably one of the best books ever written, no more no less! Mr. Wolfe beguins here his work as a demiurg, creating a universe in the whole implication of the world (but then again, maybe the right word would be multiverse).This is a book that is like those tacky postcards with a picture that changes acordind to the angle that you look upon it. So when you start reading this book prepare yourself to the literary ride of your lifetime. The book of the new Sun consists of four books + one. Then came The book of the Long Sun wich comprises again four books + one (the last one is comming out soon) and Mr. Wolfe is now beguining the new sequel cycle called The book of the Short Sun and I can only guess that the pattern will be the same of having 4+1 since only the first volume has been released yet. So, breath in, take courage, and just dive in. Its a lot to read, but then again, maybe you will never need any other books :-)... With The book of the New Sun Mr. Wolf has achieved what most authors don't even try to dream about. He has written a story that bends and gets shaped by the reader. Really! This is a book that maybe can only be compared to the bible and sacred writtings since it can be interpreted in so many diferent ways :-D So far, I have read this book (the 5 whole volumes) 3 times and I know that i am not finished with it and that it still has a lot to offer. When I got to the end of the 5th volume I went straight back to the first and I read a new layer of the story. And when I finished The book of the Long Sun I went back to New Sun and there it was a new layer! Now I'm looking forward to the Short Sun because I know that it will cast a new light on both the New Sun and the Long Sun series. What else can I say about it? That Mr. Wolfe is a delight to read. That these stories sink in your sould like old dreams from your childhood and haunt you with their peculiar strange beauty.That this is definetly the best book(s) that I ever read and that this is not doubtly a peak in the literary art creations of mankind (and I've read a lot in my life, believe me). Now, just one question for you: why are you reading this stupid review? Just go ahead and buy the book! Mr. Wolfe writes much much better than me. I am just one of the many readers wich are considering building him a magnificent mausoleum ;-D
Rating:
Summary: This is as good as it gets
Review: I'm a bit disappointed with the few negative reviews the last readers posted. This is magic stuff, as good as it gets. I've re-read the series 4 times, and it is like great music--you will return to it over and over again, and each time you will learn to appreciate it even more. The series changed the way I look at literature, and set for me an unreachable standard that no author yet has matched, including Wolfe himself. I read a lot, but I have never experienced anything even close to what Severian presented to me, almost 10 years ago, again.
Rating:
Summary: It Doesn't Get Much Better Than This
Review: It can be seen from the varied responses here that this book is not for everyone. Fantasy has become a mass-market genre, but if your taste inclines to the typical fare of elves and orcs and wizards, you will find little to like here. Mr. Wolfe does not write "formula fiction." His literary style is unique and challenging, his characters complex and morally ambiguous, and the story itself is dense and subtle and full of unexpected turns. One of the measures of good fantasy, to me, is the capacity for "suspension of disbelief," and the Book Of The New Sun totally works for me that way. Wolfe's gorgeous prose weaves such a spell that, as others here have noted, you want to savor every page, not wanting the chapter to end, and being yet unable to stop yourself from reading. I have a read a great deal of fantasy and science fiction over the last thirty years, and I can count on one hand the books that are in this league. If you like your fantasy with a good measure of philosophical depth, you must give Severian's strange tale a try.
Rating:
Summary: The Book of the New Sun is the most fascinating book ever
Review: I am a little disappointed by all the low reviews of this wonderful series that the last few reader comments have set forth. I have read thousands of books in my life, and I know what real literature is. This is the most intricately structured work that anyone has ever written, so subtle and beautiful that the full import of what the author is saying is almost lost until the second time you read the work as a whole. It is essential that one at least finish all of the books in the series, and then even a precursory glance over the beginning will reveal so much more. The first time I read this book I did not appreciate it, especially the strange "Claw of the Conciliator", but on a second reading it became for me a truly powerful and fulfilling experience. The story of Severian the savior, filled with all its allusion to myth and modern faith, is the most touching and wondrous prose novel ever written. The mysteries of who Severian's family is, how he actually is the new sun, and the human nature of a torturer are so cunningly presented that it is easy to miss all the small details that make this the greatest story ever. Another reason I think that Gene Wolfe is not appreciated is that he actually respects the intelligence of his reader, having faith that with as little as one sentence for a clue a reader can determine what he is trying to say. He is one of the few modern authors who does not insult the reader with oversimplification and blatantly excessive explanation. I encourage this book and "The Urth of the New Sun" wholeheartedly, and I think that one cannot truly appreciate the story until at least looking at the complete work several times.
Rating: 
Summary: 4 Stars for the 1st book; 2 Stars for the 2nd Book
Review: This book is an omnibus edition of The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator. The setting is in the far distant future of Earth, perhaps several million years from now, and the world of the main character is built over the ruins of many past ages. Severian is an apprentice torturer in a titanic and decaying capital city of a nation ruled by an Autarch. If one does not look too closely, the mood/atmosphere of the first book is lush, well described, and full of really cool looking and sounding settings, descriptions, and events. The city itself is almost more interesting than Severian. However, the author has chosen a slew of words added to English from ancient Greek to slap into the ongoing descriptions and dialogue. This is clearly a mood generator, and I had to sit next to an unabridged dictionary to look up these words, which I can't imagine were ever in widespread use (I think they exist in English the same way a lot of unused Latin words do). The use of these non sequitur words threw me right out of the story every time. Overall, I rate The Shadow of the Torturer as an excellent novel, just because of how cool the city is and all the interesting things that happen in it. However, the first book ends somewhat on a cliffhanger. The second book DOES NOT PICK UP after the cliffhanger (yes, I shouted that). The whole beginning of the second book has the main character off somewhere substantially after the cliffhanger of the first book, the roster of characters on center stage changes completely, and no satisfactory explanation is given. The mood of the second book changes 100%. Instead of the main character proceeding in a clear and vital direction, the whole second book seems to wander aimlessly, the purpose given to Severian in the first book is paid only scant attention as he goes through a series of highly contrived "story-necessary" encounters mixed up with some totally random encounters thrown in for the sole purpose of distracting the reader from what is (or should I say, what isn't) going on. Let me explain more fully. Severian is in trouble in the first book, and he is ordered to travel to a city in the far north to avoid a scandal. Quite a bit of the first book is him getting out of the capital city (it's a big city). All through this book, there is the clear understanding that Severian is leaving in order to go to the city in the north. However, the moment he is outside the capital city, the reader begins to discover many curious facts. First, the clarity of purpose ever present in the first book is tossed out the window. Second, although the Autarchy is currently at war with a nameless opponent in the north (the city Severian is going to is close to the front), and a fully military campaign is underway, there don't seem to be any roads. In fact, almost the whole journey through the second book is conducted through raw wilderness he traverses with only great difficulty. There is almost no civilization AT ALL between the capital city and the city in the north. It's pretty clear that air travel is not a normal mode of transport, and is not used to travel to the northern city. This type of blatantly ridiculous world building error goes on and on. The author thinks: Hmm, I need a city in the south and a city in the north and I need a big wilderness in-between so the characters can have this big difficult journey. Hmm. Right. Whatever. I liked the Shadow of the Torturer enough that I didn't mind having bought the whole book, but I'll tell you that it took me no less than 3 years to plow through Claw of the Conciliator in stages (I kept putting the book down, and there was very little reason to pick it back up again). It was that incredibly unbelievable, frustrating, and just plain boring.
Rating: 
Summary: A Little less then okay
Review: This book was crafted well, and beuatifly written, but focased so much on detail it lost the overall meaning. The intresting parts of the plot are done quikly and the "inbetweens" are long and boring. If you like every day life, this is the book for you
Rating:
Summary: Well-crafted but ultimately unsatisfying
Review: I finished the first four books and though I appreciated the fullness of the universe that Gene Wolfe created, I found these books to be unsatisfying. I think the problem is that there is very little action and the story only comes together in the fourth book - The Urth of the New Sun- 800 pages later! Also, I never identified with the character of Severian who is emotionally empty. I never saw any special characteristics in him that would elevate him above the common man to a position like the Autarch or the Savior of the universe. He's no Paul Atreides! But the book does have a very richly developed world and I was fascinated with Wolfe's portrayl of an Earth far into the future where magic and science are regarded as the same thing. And the hierodules and the green man were really interesting characters. Overall, this book is one to get from the library, not to buy; the lack of a strong main character and forward plot movement severely cripples it.
Rating: 
Summary: lame
Review: Lame. lame. lame. What in the world were the rest ot these people reading??? I gave up after 300 pages and asked for my money back.
Rating:
Summary: A work of art. Hands down the best sci-fi ever written.
Review: Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, taken as a whole, if without question the best sci-fi-fantasy story ever put to paper. It makes Tolkien's work seem like a childish fairytale. Indeed it shouldn't even be pigeonholed as "science fiction." Wolfe's epic is one of he great achievements of American literature.
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