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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1360 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 12, 2026

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So, what are you reading?

I'm still attempting Taylor's A Secular Age without much progress. Have been reading a lot of Theodore Dalrymple essays.

Claw of the Conciliator. Really impressive in a way I find hard to explain.

  • It’s very easy to inhabit Severian’s head right up until he does something unhinged. “Oh, right. Raised by the torturer’s guild. Has never had a normal conversation with a woman in his life.”
  • Worldbuilding by implication. Characters assume familiarity with their world. Vocabulary is archaic or exotic, but consistently so: the author isn’t reaching for his thesaurus, that’s just what people call it.
  • Excellent portrayal of the surreal.

It’s like…I’ve been reading Brando-Sando-styled mechanistic fantasy for long enough that it’s a surprise when characters are out of their depth with regards to the fantastical elements. When Dalinar sees a god you know he’ll try and negotiate, or at least to hit it with a sword. Okay, it’s not fair to pin this on munchkin fantasy; go back to Tolkien and characters only acknowledge the sublime in order to compare it to the mundane. Hospitality like no other. A face more beautiful than any in Middle-Earth. Extraordinary versions of normal things.

Wolfe’s Urth is studded with total out-of-context experiences. Characters see things and have no idea how to fit them into their paradigm. Or worse, they know exactly how they fit in, and it’s not flattering. So the reader will get a confused, alarmed description and remain unsure if this is business as usual or something downright eldritch. Usually it’s the latter.

Makes for a damn good reading experience.

The Book of the New Sun is legitimately a masterpiece that probably deserves a volume of similar size for exegesis of all the layers involved.

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