The Book of the Short Sun is a trilogy by Gene Wolfe, comprising On Blue's Waters (1999), In Green's Jungles (2000), and Return to the Whorl (2001). It is the sequel to Wolfe's tetralogy The Book of the Long Sun, and has connections to The Book of the New Sun. Collectively, these books are sometimes called Wolfe's "Solar Cycle." Books two and three were nominated for Locus Awards in 2001[1] and 2002.[2]
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The story, which is told by a narrator who identifies himself as Horn (the ostensible author of The Book of the Long Sun), is an account of a search "on three worlds" for Silk, the hero of the Long Sun cycle. However, the narrator's adventures continue as he writes, so that the manuscript is both a memoir of his past and a journal of his present. As the story progresses, the narrator's identity becomes increasingly complex and elusive. The writing style changes with each book, and the story is highly nonlinear, with narrative threads from different times told in parallel and story events related out of order as the narrator remembers or confronts them. As with many of Wolfe's novels, the narrator and the circumstances under which the book is being written are essential to understanding the story.
Most of the story takes place in a star system with two habitable planets, Blue and Green (named for their appearance as seen from space). The human inhabitants arrived in the system after several centuries on an O'Neill-style generation starship called the Whorl, which is still in orbit, where some of the events take place. The "Short Sun" of the title is an ordinary star, and is named thus in contrast with the "Long Sun" the narrator grew up with, running along the axis of the Whorl.
The inhumi are blamed throughout the novels for the collapse of the Neighbors' civilization. This is assumed most of the time to be by predation and conquest. In Green's Jungles it is revealed that the structures left by their civilization on Green are much more intact than those on Blue, though the Neighbors originated on Blue. This is explained later in that the Neighbors' civilization collapsed first on Blue, then on Green, even though Green is the source of the inhumi. That mystery is then explained in that the Neighbors on Green eventually came to control the inhumi and used them to war with the Neighbors on Blue, and this was the means of destruction of their civilization. The Rajan sets his inhumi free and cites this as the reason, that if he were to follow this example of using the inhumi as weapons on an ongoing basis to attack and destroy other human cities or dominate them, that this would fundamentally alter and destroy the human's society as it did to the Neighbors. In Return to the Whorl, the Rajan further states that the Neighbors' civilization was not able to withstand the shock that exposure to the inhumi brought them (pp 236), and that though many fled Blue and Green, they brought inhumi with them.
Some of the characters also visit the "Red Sun Whorl" of The Book of the New Sun. The events of that series, it is made clear, commence just as the events of this one are ending.
The inhumi are found on the Whorl before major colonization takes place of Blue and Green, one major character, Patera Quezal, being a member of this race. At the end of The Book of the Long Sun, it is clear that they are present on Blue in small numbers and on Green in large numbers.
On Blue's Waters states that during the time of conjunction (once every six years) of Blue and Green that inhumi presence is much greater than at any other time.
Their ability to travel to these places is first illustrated by descriptions of beliefs, and then theories, then through actions related in the story, and finally an explanation is given in the third novel of the series.
The Rajan states a theory (pp. 180–181) that Patera Quezal may not have been the only inhumi on the Whorl, but one of many possibly, and indicates three theories that would explain the ability of inhumi to travel between the two planets and the Whorl. He also makes his difficulties with the three theories known, that he does not necessarily support them and that they do not explain everything.
The Rajan then states that this did not explain the presence of inhumu on the Whorl, and concludes that "Even then, I realized that other explanations were possible and might be correct."
For the most part, humans believed the first theory, and the inhuma Jahlee in Return to the Whorl made statements in support of this, claiming to have trained at higher and higher elevations for her leap between the planets, however never in the stories are inhumi actually shown to travel by this means.
The argument against this theory being true lies throughout the books:
At the end of On Blue's Waters, inhumi are shown to control a lander through cooperation with humans, and use it to travel between Green and Blue during the time of conjunction. They use this lander and with the humans in Pajarocu to kidnap other humans and bring them back to Green, using a return to the Whorl as a cover story to lure humans to Pajarocu for the trip. The inhumu Krait seeks to find Pajarocu for voyage on this lander, with the cover story of wanting to hunt in the Whorl, with knowledge that it was controlled by inhumi and bound for Green. Thus at least one lander is in use to ferry inhumi between Blue and Green, as well as bring captive humans, but does not substantiate their presence on the Whorl pre-colonization (68 years before the events of the novels). The lander-transit theory is then demonstrated to be true, though the Rajan was theorizing in regards to travel to the Whorl, this lander is used to travel between Blue and Green during conjunction and is the only means of transit shown taken by inhumi in the novels.
Inhumi throughout The Book of the Short Sun are stated to be unable to use tools, and lack the nervous system development to coordinate fine motor skills. Krait states he is unable to fire Horn's slug gun, though he has bartered for it, he calls it useless to him. Fava has been able to learn to write, but writes in a childish scrawl which is surprising to the Rajan in that it represented a high degree of fine motor control for an inhuma to even perform this task. The lack of manual dexterity makes it difficult for inhumi to have any sort of technology based society of their own. The Rajan immediately states the argument against the third theory: "[...] we knew frighteningly little about them. They did not appear to make weapons for themselves, or to build houses or boats, or any such thing—but appearances may be deceiving."
Return to the Whorl finally advances an explanation for the interplanetary travel of the inhumi is given which is mostly exclusive of the theories advanced in On Blue's Waters. First (pp. 232) the Neighbor Windcloud states that he had visited the Whorl, "I was one of those who boarded your whorl when it neared our sun".
The Neighbors exhibit an ability to live in a different phase to the humans and inhumi in the novels, they can be seen by looking through the Rajan's ring, or when they wish to be seen on Blue or Green, and are able to send Horn's spirit through the void to join with Silk in Silk's body and take up residence there. They travel at will between these phases and demonstrate these powers without any explanation given in the books.
Page 235 and 236 finally offer the reader a full explanation. Vadsig comments on wanting to go to the Whorl to see where her people came from, and states, "There the Vanished People went? [...] To greet us it was?" The Rajan (who advanced the previous three theories) now gives an explanation: "You might put it so, but they were sensible enough to find out a good deal about us -- and infect us with inhumi --". This answers the question of how inhumi got to the Whorl, which was by being brought by the Neighbors deliberately to infect humanity. The Neighbors, once infected with inhumi were unable to separate them from their own society, implying this is a permanent condition: "Many had left these whorls already, fleeing the inhumi, but taking the inhumi with them."
The rationale for the Neighbors' actions is provided next:
"It was a small price to pay for two whorls, and it enabled the Neighbors to gauge much more accurately the differences between our race and their own."
The Rajan first explains to Vadsig that she can never see herself, she can only see her own reflection in a mirror. Thus if she were to compare her beauty to another woman's, she should not look at that woman, but at that woman's reflection in a mirror, and that images were distorted, making this a fair comparison. The Rajan then says: "That is what the Neighbors did. Knowing what their own inhumi were like, they gave us ours so they might compare the two. I wish I know what they concluded, though I know what they did." They gave the worlds of Green and Blue to humanity approximately 68 years after exposing them to the inhumi.
As the book opens, the narrator, apparently Horn, is the Rajan of Gaon on Blue, acting as a sort of judge and mayor. He is attempting to set down how his adventure began: he was approached by the leaders of New Viron, who had received a letter from the "Men of PAJAROCU", a distant city, stating that they had a working lander and would be returning to the Whorl. Horn was asked to find them and go with them, in search of Caldé Silk, who (it was hoped) would bring order to the lawlessness and chaos of New Viron. In pursuit of this quest, he set off in a small boat toward the western continent he called Shadelow, joined, eventually, by Seawrack, Babbie, Sinew, and Krait. That narrative thread ends when he has reached Pajarocu and boarded the lander.
In alternating chapters, more or less, the Rajan of Gaon describes his current situation: the war his city is fighting against Han, a nearby city, his de facto imprisonment in Gaon, and his extensive dealings with inhumi and a critical secret he learned about them. He eventually escapes from Gaon with the help of one of his concubines, Evensong, and ends the first book in the wilderness.
The book opens as the narrator is approaching the city of Blanko, where he is taken in by Inclito and his family. Small mysteries are related and solved in stories shared by the members of the household, and the narrator (now called Incanto, to conceal his identity) elliptically relates his tragic adventures on Green after the Pajarocu lander was diverted there. It is during these stories that he first discovers a strange thing: the inhumi, when he is near, can send spirits to distant places in (near) physical form, just as the Vanished People apparently can. In this way, Incanto and his companions explore Green and the original Red Sun Whorl.
Blanko, too, is swept up in war, and Incanto again aids them in their fight, discovering that his son Hide, who does not recognize him, is fighting alongside them while searching the world for his missing father. When the book ends, he, Hide, and his new "daughter" Jahlee (an inhuma) have left Blanko, and are on the road back to New Viron; the ending of the parallel story on Green is left uncertain.
Return to the Whorl alternates between the narrator's first-person adventures on his way home and a third-person account of his travels on the Whorl, which he visited after Green. This third-person story is ostensibly penned by Hide, Hoof, Daisy, and Vadsig. Near the end, there is a section written by Hoof alone, and the very last pages are written by Daisy.
On the Whorl, the Long Sun has been blown out temporarily, and the world is in near-total darkness. The narrator encounters Pig and Hound, and with them travels to the ruins of Blood's mansion (where Mucor appears to them), and then to Old Viron. In the Caldé's Palace, he finds Maytera Marble's half-finished daughter Olivine, who donates one of her eyes for her mother; the narrator will eventually echo this gift by donating one of his own to Pig at the West Pole. The leadership of Old Viron, threatened by his reappearance, arranges with Hari Mau of Gaon to have him returned to Blue — at which point the narrative connects with the opening of On Blue's Waters.
For much of the first-person account, the narrator is imprisoned on Blue in a town called Dorp on trumped-up charges, and must use his various powers to foment a revolution against the unjust judges who rule the town. In the course of this effort, he again visits the Red Sun Whorl, where he meets a young Severian and inspires him to write a book. Once free, he returns to Lizard and New Viron, where the final riddle of his identity is solved, and helps defend against a massive attack of inhumi during Hide's wedding. When the book ends, he and his companions (Nettle, Seawrack, Oreb, and Marble) have apparently returned finally to the Whorl, which then departs for the stars.
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