Rating: 
Summary: one of the best books i've read
Review: amazing deep, well written, philosophical work. one of the most influential and meaningful books i've read. three stories that tie together to form one novel. the overall meaning is practically encrypted within the work, but there is much to gain here on many different levels of thought. one of the five books i would consider a "must read" for anyone interested in literary science fiction and fantasy.
Rating:
Summary: Challenging and Provocative
Review: As one expects from Wolfe, this is a first-class, three-part sci-fi novel that merits rereading. By turns poetic, psychologically and socially insightful, and always provocative, Fifth Head is rightfully considered a masterpiece of the genre.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Certainly a classic of Science-Fiction, probably of fiction as a whole. I don't understand why Amazon doesn't have a copy in print, though. I walked down to my local Borders (with it's meek 170,00 titles) and found an Orb(imprint of Tor) edition right away. It was the only copy, but they've replaced it several times since. It is not hard to find, and it's certainly not out of print. Anyway, find a copy of it and read it as soon as possible. As usual, Wolfe astounds me.
Rating:
Summary: Telling a story that isn't there
Review: Fifth Head of Cerberus is one of the finest examples of misdirection in literature. Three novellas with only loose connections combine to tell a story that is never explicitly present in the book. When you are done, you understand a story that was never there on the page. The art and subtlety of the story telling is both profound and overwhelming. One of the few books that compares is Samuel Delaney's The Einstein Intersection, although there is also some commonality with Durrell's Alexandria Quartet. Fifth Head is possibly the finest writers' book around.
Rating:
Summary: Enigmatic and Compelling
Review: Gene Wolfe seldom tackles genuinely "new" science-fictional ground. Clones, shapeshifters, colonized planets, genocide, "uploaded" intelligences, and the other SF tropes of this masterfully interwoven set of three novellas are often-visited ground. But only Wolfe brings the intensity of vision and nuanced, complex, evocative, winding prose of Proust, the nightmarish flagellation of the soul of Kafka, the moral clarity and sympathy of, well, Gene Wolfe to bear--not so much "talking about" these ideas as using these ideas to go deeper and to examine the nature of identity, self, guilt and knowledge. Wolfe is not guilty, however, of the sin of using his created worlds merely as metaphors for our current conditions; rather, Wolfe grounds his insights, which are universal, in the concrete conditions of a fictional reality, as only the best writers manage--to neither be idealistic nor materialist, but rather, Incarnational.
Rating:
Summary: Enigmatic and Compelling
Review: Gene Wolfe seldom tackles genuinely "new" science-fictional ground. Clones, shapeshifters, colonized planets, genocide, "uploaded" intelligences, and the other SF tropes of this masterfully interwoven set of three novellas are often-visited ground. But only Wolfe brings the intensity of vision and nuanced, complex, evocative, winding prose of Proust, the nightmarish flagellation of the soul of Kafka, the moral clarity and sympathy of, well, Gene Wolfe to bear--not so much "talking about" these ideas as using these ideas to go deeper and to examine the nature of identity, self, guilt and knowledge. Wolfe is not guilty, however, of the sin of using his created worlds merely as metaphors for our current conditions; rather, Wolfe grounds his insights, which are universal, in the concrete conditions of a fictional reality, as only the best writers manage--to neither be idealistic nor materialist, but rather, Incarnational.
Rating:
Summary: Cave Canum
Review: Gene Wolfe's _5th Head of Cerberus_ was originally published in 1972. The Orb Books / Tom Doherty Associates re-issue is paperbound on acid-free paper. The first of the three novellas originally appeared in Damon Knight's 1972 _Orbit_ anthology; Wolfe dedicated the book to Knight. Wolfe manipulates the reader's point of view in a three headed story that examines the themes of Personal Identity and Self-Knowledge. Wolfe is particularly adept at looking outward from within the minds of his characters, and the structure of the intertwined novellas is calculated to capitalize on this strength. The protagonist in the first novella resonates with the same qualities of dispassionate narrative that Severian uses to relate his story in the more richly-developed world of the _Shadow of the Torturer_. The second novella is a story within a story that follows the form of Wolfe's early other-worlds narratives. The third novella reminds us a bit of the fragmented introspection typical of _The Doctor of Death Island_. The behaviorial sciences -- anthropology, sociology, and psychology -- form the template of the book's ideas, but Wolfe weaves many dark threads into his tapestry: a revered house of prostitution, five generations of self-cloning, a close approximation of a replicated personality, slavery, murder, cannibalism, infant kidnapping, tribal warfare, racial genocide, colonial conquest, and an imputed identity theft. Wolfe's fine writing style is a consistent delight for the thinking reader, filled with multiple layered symbols, metaphors, and wit.
Rating:
Summary: Cave Canum
Review: Gene Wolfe's _5th Head of Cerberus_ was originally published in 1972. The Orb Books / Tom Doherty Associates re-issue is paperbound on acid-free paper. The first of the three novellas originally appeared in Damon Knight's 1972 _Orbit_ anthology; Wolfe dedicated the book to Knight. Wolfe manipulates the reader's point of view in a three headed story that examines the themes of Personal Identity and Self-Knowledge. Wolfe is particularly adept at looking outward from within the minds of his characters, and the structure of the intertwined novellas is calculated to capitalize on this strength. The protagonist in the first novella resonates with the same qualities of dispassionate narrative that Severian uses to relate his story in the more richly-developed world of the _Shadow of the Torturer_. The second novella is a story within a story that follows the form of Wolfe's early other-worlds narratives. The third novella reminds us a bit of the fragmented introspection typical of _The Doctor of Death Island_. The behaviorial sciences -- anthropology, sociology, and psychology -- form the template of the book's ideas, but Wolfe weaves many dark threads into his tapestry: a revered house of prostitution, five generations of self-cloning, a close approximation of a replicated personality, slavery, murder, cannibalism, infant kidnapping, tribal warfare, racial genocide, colonial conquest, and an imputed identity theft. Wolfe's fine writing style is a consistent delight for the thinking reader, filled with multiple layered symbols, metaphors, and wit.
Rating:
Summary: Gene Wolfe's First Masterpiece
Review: How does one even begin to describe The Fifth Head of Cerebrus. Needless to say, very few authors have ever had a first novel that good. In fact, very few authors have ever written any novel that good. A lot of people found the book strange and complicated...well so did I, and that's the whole allure of this book. Mr. Wolfe has an amazing imagination, as you will immediately see upon reading any of his novels. Fifth Head is filled with haunting visions of a distant colony in the far future; technology is advanced in some areas but antiquated in many others. The society and culture are masterfully rendered. The second novella is about a young man finding his twin; the viewpoint of these people is so strange and alien that I should have quickly become confused or bored. And yet I didn't; such was Wolfe's mastery of the writing style. No matter how strange things got, you read right along as if you had no other option. The third novella consists of a military captain reading a prisoner's diary, returning to the society of the first novella. Again, the pure imagination is astounding. The characters seem like real, tangible people, not prefabricated creations placed down for our amusement. They are real people coping with impossibly strange situations. If you're looking for a good book to read, then read The Fifth Head of Cerebrus. No, it's not light reading, but it's worth every minute. After reading this book, I immediately became a Wolfe fan. Great, amazing stuff. Oh, and if you liked this book, I recommend Frank Herbert's "Dune" and Dan Simmons' "Hyperion." These books also have outlandish and amazing scenes, worlds, people, technology, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: ?
Review: I decided to read these book because of the positive reviews I had read on Amazon.Sincerely,I couldn't understand the book's meaning at all. I didn't rate 1 only because of Wolfe's good way of writing.
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