Rating: 
Summary: Makes Lord of the Rings look like the teletubbies
Review: This series has some pretty incredable imagery, including the concept of the color fuligin, the color that is darker than black. The main character, Severin, is no refugee from a John Norman book. Torturers are raised from orphaned boys and are taught their skill as a doctor does medicine. At times the book is remenescent of the old Kung Fu series; the protaginist wanders the earth with mantled powers after being raised in isolation. Few reviewers will say this is a quick read. Some minor plot points in the first book will reappear in the second book, and so on. Some of the words are almagams of Latin: Zooanthropes are "animal people" and there is clever word play with some of the characters' names. There is a great payoff for those who stick to the series, and the secondary players have depth beyond what is normally found among protagonists in most books.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story, great writing
Review: All in all, it is definitly worth reading, if only to add the word fuligin to your vocabulary. Wolfe can flat out write.
Rating:
Summary: A true masterpiece of Science fantasy
Review: The Book of the New Sun is considered by many one of the greatest science-fiction/fantasy novels ever written. I have to agree. Severian is an enthralling character that is most appreciated by how human of a character he is. Written as an autobiography by the main character, you delve into the world of Urth as a part of the world as opposed to merely reading a book about it. Viewing the world as Severian sees it can be mystifying, horrible, beautiful, shameful and overwhelming. Part of the power of this book, mainly because of the amazing literary prowess of Wolfe, is that you read the book with a full understanding of Severian's motives, be they cowardice or heroic. You smell the iron air in the Matachin tower, you feel the awe that he does upon witnessing the many miracles that happen in the book. The one disclaimer is that it is not easy reading. Wolfe's use of nearly dead words can be confusing and when Severian is confused, you are too. As opposed to re-reading and trying to understand every little thing that happens, just continue reading, the book solves itself as you learn with Severian the intricasies of Urth.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant stuff. Don't be intimidated.
Review: Buy this book now. Yes, it can be difficult and yes, you need your dictionary handy, but this has got to be the most fascinating piece of work I've ever read. Horrific and dazzling (and how often do those two things go together, huh?) Beautifully articulate and ultimately devastating. I understand the people who gave up on it (the language can be daunting, it took me a couple tries to get through some of it) but after finishing the whole thing, you find your perspective has been irrevocably altered, and I, for one, have gotten more and more out of it ever since. It's hard to start something knowing that it may take hold of your life, but trust the reviews you've seen below, and realize that this series is worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: Storyline is not something you may drop for free
Review: After I finished reading the first volume (and immidiately cancelled the second from my order) my disappointment slowly turns into disgust. What do I care for someone dreamy imagination? The book must have a story to tell, not just being a pile of so-called "gems" of style. All the story I found is torturer in black cloak and mask staying between various decorations. Sometimes he loses his sword. Sometimes he uses it. That's all. Only thing I don't understand is why the book is rated so high.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated, sleep-inducing
Review: In searching for something deeper than the mishmash of the usual so-called epics that the major SF publishers throw out, I came upon this series. I was hoping for something with more plot and characterization than a bloated 700-page hackjob that passes for a best seller these days. Unfortunately this was much too far in the opposite direction. The story begins with some promise and then becomes a long, drawn out exercise in frustration. With the plot having derailed and meandering about, you're left with only the characterization and setting to keep you going. But neither are enough to sustain it. The characters are average, and the world-building is nothing remarkable. Added to this is the language. It's written in such a manner that you have to read doubly carefully to fully parse the sentences into something that makes sense. Be wide awake because you'll need all your cognitive functions to get through the thick language. But the book is a great sedative, because after a couple pages you'll be worn out from the exercise and ready to click off the light and go to bed. This book was even more disappointing because of all the lofty praise seen in some of the reviews on this page. Really, what book were they reading? And what other books do they like that I can avoid?
Rating:
Summary: A marvelously complex work--Gene Wolfe's magnum opus
Review: The Book of the New Sun is an amazing literary work. The language is poetic (and have your Oxford English Dictionary close at hand), the images are beautiful and strange, and the thoughts--almost essays--of the narrator lead the reader to look at the story, and life, in a whole new light. This is a book of revelations, a book of thoughts; each time one reads it, it is somehow a different story. Each time I think I grasp something, it shifts into "something rich and strange" (in the words of Shakespeare). The plot is relatively simple. Severian, an apprentice of the torturer's guild, is exiled for an act of mercy, and he must wander the distant future world of Urth. Urth is a world in which the sun is dying, and there is a prophecy that the New Sun will come to renew life to the world. Urth has generated a spacefaring empire, but in the millenia that empire has collapsed, and Urth is older even than that. In one of the volumes, we learn that excavations present us not with fossils of dinosaurs but with the fossils of previous civilizations. The sands of the seashore, it is rumored, are not sediment but rather ground bits of glass from generations of cities. Perhaps a million years have passed since our time--perhaps more. Wolfe is able to evoke this distant world--a human world that is at once both alien and familiar--by the use of archaic words and by his depiction of future artifacts and monuments whose meaning and purpose has been lost in the interval of time between us and Severian. Urth is a world of staggering technology, built on an epic scale, but it is also a world filled with philosophy and mysticism. Severian, who has lived his entire life in the Citadel, discovers this world even as the reader does. And the imagination that goes into constructing this distant world is astounding. As the reader finds new mysteries and new angles in Severian's narrative, the reader is compelled to ask: What is this story? On one level, The Book of the New Sun seeks to define just what a story IS. The reader thus sets out on a quest every bit as strange and multifaceted as Severian's quest. The book is as much a paradox as a tale, but it is also fine, enlightening entertainment that can be read on a number of levels. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Best sf series ever
Review: I've been reading speculative fiction since the early 50's, and lots of it. This series, The Book of the New Sun, ranks as my all time science fiction favorite. And yes, it looks a lot like fantasy but you'll realize it qualifies as sf once you keep in mind Arthur C. Clarke's famous dictum about advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic.
Rating:
Summary: INCREDIBLE
Review: I have read this series over and over and everytime I read it I rediscover something or uncover a gem I missed. This is a series that you can read over and over and enjoy it on a new level every time. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Story
Review: The Book Of the New Sun isabsolutely my favorite book/story/series. Wolfe involves the reader so deeply in the life of Severian, it is hard to imagine that the story is only fiction, and speculative fiction at that. The incredible world Wolfe creates is so well-conceived that it will transport you there, never to return. But don't believe me (even though I have a BA in literature from an Ivy League University). Check out some of the testimonials from the book's cover (which is one thing we miss when shopping online.) "A triumph of the imagination...one of the modern masterpieces of imaginitive literature" - The New York Times Book Review. "Arguably the finest piece of literature American science fiction has yet produced." - Chicago Sun-Times "The finest writer the science fiction world has yet produced." - The Washington Post.
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