The Wizard

[T77]

I just finished The Wizard. I really enjoyed The Knight, but I was very disappointed with The Wizard. I had to force myself to finish it. It was one boring conversation after the other.

It seems that it was not edited too well. I think it should have been shorter and the plot should have been cleaned up a bit. Not to mention I found numerous spelling and grammatical errors.

It wasn't a total bust, it had its moments, but in the end it was the first Wolfe novel that did not do it for me.

On the plus side, I am reading The Soldier of Arete, and it is brilliant so far. So, The Wizard seems more the exception than the rule.

 

[Simple Simon]

Not good news for me. I read the Knight about a year ago and have been meaning to pick up a copy of the Wizard for ages but I keep putting it off. Is it worth reading? I'm not exactly too pushed to find out the rest of the story but expected to enjoy the Wizard as much as the Knight.

 

[T77]

Not good news for me. I read the Knight about a year ago and have been meaning to pick up a copy of the Wizard for ages but I keep putting it off. Is it worth reading? I'm not exactly too pushed to find out the rest of the story but expected to enjoy the Wizard as much as the Knight.

Well, it's possible that you will have a totally different opinion of the book than I did. Amazon readers rate it 3.5/5, I would give it 2.5/5, and I loved The Knight. Maybe check it out of the library.

 

[GOLLUM]

Well as someone who has Wolfe's entire collection of works (excluding one or two short story collections) I found Wizard to be good but you're right in saying it's not one of his better books; something of an unusal stanment seeing that almost anything Wolfe writes about tends to verge on the brilliant, dare I say genius?

UM....Soldier Of Artete you realise T77 is part of what may be loosely referred to now as the Soldier trilogy and the latest addition to this series. The first 2 books are commonly available as a duology and this is one of Gene's greatest, some would argue besides New Sun and Fifth Head Of Cerberus his greatest series/work to date.

In case you're interested, Solider Of Arete won last year's World Fantasy Award, and well deserved it was too.

BTW I picked up Gene's first ever retrospecitve the other day, a superb collection from a master of his craft.

Cheers.....

 

[T77]

Yes, Gollum, I own Soldier in the Mist, which has Latro in the Mist and Soldier of Arete. I read and loved Latro in the Mist and am now working my way through Soldier of Arete. I can see why some call these Wolfe's best works, they are very, very good.

I also have Soldier of Sidon on my TBR pile. And please correct me is I am mistaken, but I believe that Soldier of Sidon won the World Fantasy Award last year. If it's on the same level as the first 2 books, I look forward to reading it.

 

[GOLLUM]

Yes, Gollum, I own Soldier in the Mist, which has Latro in the Mist and Soldier of Arete. I read and loved Latro in the Mist and am now working my way through Soldier of Arete. I can see why some call these Wolfe's best works, they are very, very good.

I also have Soldier of Sidon on my TBR pile. And please correct me is I am mistaken, but I believe that Soldier of Sidon won the World Fantasy Award last year. If it's on the same level as the first 2 books, I look forward to reading it.

OOPS.......my bad. It was Soldier Of Sildon and not Soldier Of Arete that won the World Fanatsy Award and it's just as good.

Cheers....

 

[Simple Simon]

Oh well I better make sure I get a hold of it soon enough before the knight starts leaking out of my head. This thread also reminds me I must continue on with Soldier of Arete & Soldier of Slidon as I read Latro in the Mist which was a good read.

 

[GOLLUM]

One of his best I would say Simple Simon along with Fifth Head Of Cerberus, Peace and Book Of The New Sun.

Cheers....

 

[Simple Simon]

Well I finally got around to reading The Wizard but it had been a little too long since I read The Knight that it took me most of the book to get back into the story and remember who everyone was. Though the book did keep me engrossed the whole way through which is something Wolfe's books don't generally do for me. Also the switching between character views (Able and Toug) was a nice change as there is only so much of Sir Able of the High Heart I can stomach in a sitting.
A good book all in all but not the type of book I'd want to jump back into at least for another few years.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Alas, I'm not going to delve into The Wizard.

I really must get a copy of Soldier Of Sidon though, as the first two in that series were great.