History Literature / BookOfTheLongSun

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Over a hundred named. Interestingly, there's at least one character for each letter of the alphabet (Auk, Blood, Chenille ... Xiphias, Yapok, Zoril).

* Anvilicious: Mucor is a skeletally-thin fifteen year old girl who refuses to wear clothes or eat in part as a result of sexual violation, and half a dozen characters chew out her father for not helping her get better.

*** Note that these are only Viron's naming conventions: the [[AmazonBrigade Trivigaunti]] women aren't named after plants.

* [[spoiler:GenerationShip: The Whorl itself.]]
* [[spoiler:GodGuise: The "gods" of the Whorl are just the A.I.'s of regular people, the family members of the guy who created the Whorl.]]

* [[spoiler:ReligionOfEvil: The established church is basically this, since the gods being worshiped, with one or two exceptions, are deranged sociopaths whose idea of a commandment is "Overthrow your government and let me know when it's done; if you sacrifice enough children you'll probably get my attention."]]

In 1983, the final volume of Creator/GeneWolfe's magnum opus, ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun'' was released. Fans of this obscure masterwork immediately began clamoring for more. Four years later, a one-shot "coda" to ''New Sun'' was released, entitled ''The Urth of the New Sun''. Fans would have to wait six more years before Wolfe began penning another epic; ''The Book of the Long Sun''.

Like ''New Sun,'' ''Long Sun'' is a tetralogy following the story of a [[TheComicallySerious stoic]], [[MessianicArchetype messianic]] male lead; Patera Silk, who is the ranking augur of the Sun Street manteion of the Chapter of the Holy City of Viron, one of many cities in a world much like our own called The Whorl. While playing a ball game with the students of the adjacent palaestra, Silk has an out-of-body, not to mention of-of-time experience which he identifies as Enlightenment by an obscure, minor god by the name of The Outsider.

Like ''New Sun,'' ''Long Sun'' is also complex. Not only complex, but mysterious and labyrinthine, with much ongoing debate as to the motivations and indeed basic natures of numerous characters, events and concepts within the novels. To top that off, Wolfe employs his usual blink-and-you'll-miss-it, ViewersAreGeniuses style of prose, all of which is to say that ''Book of the Long Sun'' is a [[IncrediblyLamePun long]] and difficult read.

* DoAndroidsDream: The chems, especially Maytera Marble and Hammerstone

* FanService: Chenille and Hyacinth being prostitutes, we're treated to numerous descriptions of their assets.

* PropheticDreams: Silk. Another staple of Wolfe's.

* [[spoiler:GenerationShip: The Whorl itself.]]
* [[spoiler:GodGuise: The "gods" of the Whorl are just the A.I.'s of regular people, the family members of the guy who created the Whorl.]]
* [[spoiler:ReligionOfEvil: The established church is basically this, since the gods being worshiped, with one or two exceptions, are deranged sociopaths whose idea of a commandment is "Overthrow your government and let me know when it's done; if you sacrifice enough children you'll probably get my attention."]]
** [[spoiler:It should be noted that even though most of the gods are evil on the Whorl, the religion itself is usually depicted positively. Even Quetzal, an inhumu who preys on the people of Viron, contributes positively to the city by banning human sacrifices. And obviously, the Outsider (who is clearly the Judeo-Christian God) is a benevolent, albeit elusive, deity.]]

* TheWoobie: Mucor.

* FantasticDrug: Rust. It's like heroin and ecstacy mixed -- makes you twitchy, feverish and horny as hell.

* [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory Silk Is Jesus In Purgatory]]: Silk, of course. Listed on the main page due to WordOfGod.

* VerbalTic: Many characters have distinguishing verbal tics, which nicely allows dialogue after dialogue, with no "said X" inbetween, because you can tell who's speaking from the way they speak -- Patera Remora, ah, speaks quite carefully, eh? Patera ''Incus'' speaks with singsong ''elocution''. Xiphias shouts a lot and always calls Silk lad!

* [[spoiler:ReligionOfEvil: The established church is basically this, since the gods being worshipped, with one or two exceptions, are deranged sociopaths whose idea of a commandment is "Overthrow your government and let me know when it's done; if you sacrifice enough children you'll probably get my attention."]]

Like ''New Sun,'' ''Long Sun'' is a tetralogy following the story of a [[TheComicallySerious stoic]], [[MessianicArchtype messianic]] male lead; Patera Silk, who is the ranking augur of the Sun Street manteion of the Chapter of the Holy City of Viron, one of many cities in a world much like our own called The Whorl. While playing a ball game with the students of the adjacent palaestra, Silk has an out-of-body, not to mention of-of-time experience which he identifies as Enlightenment by an obscure, minor god by the name of The Outsider.

Like ''New Sun,'' ''Long Sun'' is a tetralogy following the story of a [[TheComicallySerious stoic]], [[MesianicArchtype messianic]] male lead; Patera Silk, who is the ranking augur of the Sun Street manteion of the Chapter of the Holy City of Viron, one of many cities in a world much like our own called The Whorl. While playing a ball game with the students of the adjacent palaestra, Silk has an out-of-body, not to mention of-of-time experience which he identifies as Enlightenment by an obscure, minor god by the name of The Outsider.

Like ''New Sun,'' ''Long Sun'' is a tetralogy following the story of a [[TheComicallySerious stoic]], [[TheMessiah messianic]] male lead; Patera Silk, who is the ranking augur of the Sun Street manteion of the Chapter of the Holy City of Viron, one of many cities in a world much like our own called The Whorl. While playing a ball game with the students of the adjacent palaestra, Silk has an out-of-body, not to mention of-of-time experience which he identifies as Enlightenment by an obscure, minor god by the name of The Outsider.

* TheMessiah: Silk himself, of course.

WaifProphet: Mucor

In 1983, the final volume of GeneWolfe's magnum opus, ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun'' was released. Fans of this obscure masterwork immediately began clamoring for more. Four years later, a one-shot "coda" to ''New Sun'' was released, entitled ''The Urth of the New Sun''. Fans would have to wait six more years before Wolfe began penning another epic; ''The Book of the Long Sun''.

Like ''New Sun,'' ''Long Sun'' is also complex. Not only complex, but mysterious and labyrinthine, with much ongoing debate as to the motivations and indeed basic natures of numerous characters, events and concepts within the novels. To top that off, Wolfe employs his usual blink-and-you'll-miss-it, ViewersAreGeniuses style of prose, all of which is to say that TheBookOfTheLongSun is a [[IncrediblyLamePun long]] and difficult read.

Prequel series to The BookOfTheShortSun.

In 1983, the final volume of GeneWolfe's magnum opus, ''Literature/TheBookOfTheNewSun'' was released. Fans of this obscure masterwork immediately began clamoring for more. Four years later, a one-shot "coda" to ''New Sun'' was released, entitled ''The Urth of the New Sun''. Fans would have to wait six more years before Wolfe began penning another epic; ''The Book of the Long Sun''.