Rating: Summary: INCOHERENT WORD JUMBLE Review: Luckily I have found very few bad books over the years. Unfortunately Mr. Wolfe's THE KNIGHT happens to be one of them. Not so much that the premise of the story is bad, in fact if it were well written it would probably be fairly enjoyable. But it isn't, well written that is. What we have here is a four hundred and thirty page mind-numbing word jumble. Characters flit in and out of the storyline with little or no rhyme or reason, the plot itself is not just difficult but torturous to read. Early on you start to wonder if there is a point to the book but by the end you are sure there isn't.No sense is dragging this out; this book is not worth the time or the effort. There are much better, well actually there are a great many better fantasy's, spend your time with them, this one is NOT RECOMMENDED.
Rating: Summary: Dreamy... Review: but annoying. I've read all of Wolfe's books, and this one is not his best. In fact, it is seriously flawed, as others have pointed out. This novel just doesn't hang together - some background is given short shrift, there are odd gaps, there are occasional jarring references to modern America, the hero is, and then is not, a super-hero, and a number of the characters have the same ponderous style of speech where they declare what they're going to say and then try to say it. An explanation may be that it's all a dream, but that's no comfort to the reader. That said, I'm giving it 3 stars, rather than 2 or 1, because, annoyed or not, I wanted to read to the end.
Rating: Summary: Wolfe's work continues to go downhill Review: Gene Wolfe has written some of the most brilliant works in the sci-fi/fantasy genres, but it seems like his glory days are behind him. In The Knight, Wolfe continues to indulge his passion for long and didactic dialogues, but since much of the time the dialogue doesn't advance the plot or give insight into character it just feels like a waste of time. The main character does not act in consistent or understandable ways, and when I did understand him, I found him unlikable. I was disappointed with Wolfe's Long Sun/Short Sun books because I felt they didn't live up to their potential. But they seem like masterpieces compared to this.
Rating: Summary: Character development is weak Review: I've read worse books, but this was pretty close to the bottom. There was a total lack of character development. I kept hoping the main character would take a arrow to the head and otherwise put a merciful end to this book, but no such luck. Imagine if the jock you knew in high school decided to write a fantasy book. That would be this book. The book is written in first-person, and from a historical point of view. So the author keeps eluding to things that haven't happened yet. The main character skips between 'worlds', and time moves differently in these worlds. The narrative is very confusing. He follows the character through a sequential set of events, but the character wanders rather aimlessly. Plus he has problems with his memory so he can't always remember who he is. Which is probably just as well for him. The main character is a knight. I didn't end up really caring about this guy. He is supposed to have a lot of honor, but in at least one place, he tortures these creatures until they say they will serve him. There is no real test of character or honor in this book. The main character is supposed to be a kid that is transformed into an adult. But the main character never acts or thinks much like a kid. Or an adult. He just is carried along like a piece of driftwood moving in and out of the tide. The supporting characters are even more shallow. This book is not for you if you like cohesive stories. Or if you like characters with more personality than a lamp.
Rating: Summary: Puts the Fantastic Back in Fantasy Review: Okay, it's titled simply 'The Knight', it's about a boy from modern America who finds himself transported to a magical fantasy-world, and it has a talking dog and cat in it. Now get rid of that cheezy, hackneyed mess you've just pictured. Let me assure you,'The Knight' is anything but. Somehow Wolfe makes it all work and it's always interesting. So what's so great about it? *start movie trailer* A sword which when drawn produces a host of knights-past who fight alongside the bearer; skimming over the ocean on the back of a griffin in pursuit of a dragon which bursts from beneath the waves; a hound of the Valfather who changes from an ordinary looking dog into a dark, clawed and fanged beast the size of a horse; a great tower which reaches so high it crosses into another realm; a pair of slender girls whose skin glows red in the night; a floating castle in the sky, with towers protruding from all sides, passes across the moon; a man walking in and out of shadow, when the sunlight touches him he becomes a dragon. *end movie trailer* It did take me about a hundred pages before I started to get into it, but once I did, I really enjoyed myself and I eagerly anticipate 'The Wizard'.
Rating: Summary: Brilliant Review: Another classic example of how Gene Wolfe can take a seemingly simple storyline and subtly build it up, layer by layer, so that by the end you're mystified and anxious for the next book to be published. If you're new to Gene Wolfe, the thing to remember is that everything he includes in the story is important in some way. It may seem irrelevant or extraneous at the time, but at some point (sometimes several books down the series), there will be a reference to it that will draw it together. He is a master of the craft of story-telling and puzzlework - if he ever decided to write a mystery novel, he'd probably bring the industry down in a shambles with his intertwined characters and plotlines!
Rating: Summary: Hail to the King. Review: I have learned a lot from Gene Wolfe. It is a little embarrassing to admit, but I have learned a lot about being a man from Mr. Wolfe. I don't mean that in a way insulting to anybody - it's just that most people don't learn anything about manhood from a book, unless it's the Bible, I suppose. In comparison of this book to his previous works, the lessons in the On Blue's Waters trilogy were more substantial. The Knight is aimed purely at fantasy, and young person's fantasy at that. I keep thinking the book would make an excellent movie or a comic book. You would have to get Peter Jackson or Gerhard and Dave Sim. (The only two really great comic book artists I know but I am sure there are more.) The Knight sometimes seems to fly too much in hallucination. Toward the end, however, the relationships begin to solidify. Right into the most fantastic part of the book. Where does that leave you? Yearning for part two. So prepare to be puzzled, occasionally bored (the book could have used a little editing; no offense, Mr. Wolfe), and ultimately overwhelmed. I can't resist saying - the hero's dog is - [no spoilers!]
Rating: Summary: Potential but too plodding Review: I found sections of this story riveting, but everytime I thought momentum was building it would return to a plodding pace. Great idea. Good characters and creatures. But way too many plodding sections for my tastes. Reminds me of the Soldier in the Mists/Arete books. If you enjoyed that style you will probably enjoy this one. For me, not as tightly written as the New Sun/Long Sun/Short Sun books. Those always had me on the edge of my seat.
Rating: Summary: The Knight Review: Gene Wolfe is the only author I read who can write subliminally. I enjoy reading his books a second and third time, I love that he doesn't tell you everything-that major events are sometimes heard about in retrospect. (In Castleview the whole climax is left out.) I have loaned his books to a few friends who just can't handle the confusion or the work. The Knight is a great book. The long wandering story is classic Wolfe. Yes, he has started with a familiar concept but all the usual trappings are left behind. Why does everything have to be compared to Tolkien? I understand that he has set the bar in fantasy and I'm a big fan, but it gets a little silly when 100 books a month are compared or contrasted with Tolkien. I do agree with an earlier review that The Knight is Wolfe's most accessible book in a while. I also love that the the main character is a real jerk sometimes; he's very unsure of himself and comes across as more human because of it. I wish everyone who is excited about Eragon would read this book instead.
Rating: Summary: I am intrigued Review: This is the third book by Gene Wolfe that I have read. The first two were Soldier of the Mists and Soldier of Arete. I am a fan of medieval literature so I picked up the Knight to abate my curiosity of whether Gene Wolfe would do for it what he did for Greek histories in the aforementioned books. If you are already a fan of Gene Wolfe, you do not need me to sing its praises. If on the other hand, you are new to him, then you are probably doing the same thing I do, skim through the reviews to see whether this book will be interesting to you. I did enjoy this book but I feel that a second reading will be beneficial. This is not a quick and easy read. The narrator of The Knight does not always write things in an easy to understand fashion. He skips around. He often neglects to mention key points until after they have occured. Characters appear and disappear without warning. For example, near the end of the book, we discover that Sir Able's servant, Pouk, is travelling with a woman. It is only much later that we discover that the woman is a girl mentioned in the first third of the book. Furthermore, Able mentions it casually in passing as if he has known it for some time but has simply neglected to tell us. Also, Able does not always behave heroically. Yes, he is honest and honorable, however, when he first is transformed into a man, I found it difficult to see him as more than a bully. Able's treatment of the young Touk is less than stellar. All of that being said though, I find myself wondering whether these were conscious choices on the part of Gene Wolfe. The world of Mythgarthr is fascinating and its roots in Norse Mythology are obvious despite the scattered accounts from Able. The journey to transform from boy to man is used throughout literature and yet rarely is it done in such a way that you can truly see the change in thought processes like you do in this book. I look forward to my second reading and I shall await the sequel with interest.
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