RETURN TO THE WHORL

This, the third and final part of Wolfe’s Short Sun trilogy (In Green’s Jungles, p. 842), itself a sequel to a tetralogy, the Book of the Long Sun, concludes the saga of Patera Silk, the one-time ruler of an immense starship, the Whorl, the story’s narrator, Horn, various other characters—some of whom may have become a composite—and the planets that Whorl’s colonists have populated. So much is clear. For the remainder, Wolfe includes his usual teasing list of “proper names in the text,” which helps less than not at all. Also, this time, Wolfe provides a typically elusive recap and update guaranteed to disconcert readers not already perplexed—Wolfe’s demands upon his readers grow more onerous with every volume. If by this point you have even a tenuous idea of what the series is all about, you’ll certainly enjoy the finale. For the rest of us mere mortals, Wolfe’s grace and power evoke gleams of admiration even as we float away on a tide of indifference.