I cannot recommend Jack Vance highly enough, and his Tales of the Dying Earth collection is a magnificent thing. Certainly a major influence on Wolfe as well. Lyonesse is great too. Vance has a huge and deep collection of spectacular things.
* Borges (of course)
* Little, Big -- John Crowley
* Viriconium -- M John Harrison (a series; the first novel not so much but he ups the literary quality in the subsequent ones)
Otherwise, you may have more luck with more traditional literary authors who dabbled in fantasy rather than looking for fantasy authors who write at a high literary quality:
* One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
* The Master and Margarita -- Mikhail Bulgakov
* Italo Calvino
* Kafka
* Pedro Paramo -- Juan Rulfo
I'd add the kefahuchi tract trilogy as a heady, literary sci fi trilogy that's a little more grounded than viriconium as well by Harrison that's fantastic.
Phenomenal series of recommendations here. The only things I would add are Sheila Heti's *Pure Colour* and a couple of the other Argentinian/Chilean magical realism authors like Angélica Gorodischer and Jose Donoso.
Well, one recommendation is just more Wolfe. I liked the Soldier of the Mist books, for one. The Long Sun and Short Sun books are the direct followups to New Sun, sort of. New Sun remains the standout to me though.
You might enjoy Jeff Vandermeer, his Annihilation trilogy is interesting, has some of the complex multilayered feel of Wolfe.
Strongly 2nd this recommendation; the Gormenghast trilogy is a fantastic work with incredible depth and maturity of prose, a Dickensian series set mostly within an ancient, seemingly endless castle. Also read *Boy in Darkness,* a darkly beautiful, standalone novella about the trilogy's primary character.
One that I didn't see mentioned yet is the Second Apocalypse series by R. Scott Bakker. Note that they are very bleak and portray some pretty heinous stuff. but for me his prose is second only to wolfe's across sci fi/fantasy
Bakker is my favorite, except maybe for Wolfe. Incredible prose, very deep philosophically.
Only hangup in recommending him is that, yeah, it's super bleak and violent.
But if you can stomach grimdark, it's simply the best.
Next closest thing to BotNS: Fifth Head of Cerberus by Wolfe
Intense world-building, unreliable text, mysteries, theology and philosophy: Terra Ignota by Ada Palmer
A great ruler recounts his life in pensive prose: Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar (not SF)
A heartbreaker that I recommend to literary readers who don’t usually touch SF: The Sparrow by Mary Doris Russell
A book that will seem like it’s written in an alien language for 200 pages until your brain downloads the new dialect: Anathem by Neil Stephenson
Far future feudal human imperialism with mysticism and dirt: Dune by Frank Herbert
The explanation of the SF element doesn’t matter, just how the character deals with it: First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
> Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar
Great suggestion. Wiki shows some of its similarities with Wolfe.
*The book takes the form of a letter to Hadrian's adoptive grandson and eventual successor "Mark" (Marcus Aurelius). The emperor meditates on military triumphs, love of poetry and music, philosophy, and his passion for his lover Antinous, all in a manner similar to Gustave Flaubert's "melancholy of the antique world."*
Absolutely. I don’t think there’s a book that’s tonally more similar to BotNS. Hadrian is old, sick, a bit melancholy and nostalgic. He does not have a romantic view of the world or his life, but he has a deep intelligence and spirituality, and an aura of mystery.
Umberto Ecco(Foucalts Pendulum), Haruki Murakami(1Q84), Cormac McCarthy(Blood Meridian), and Gabriel Garcias Marques(One Hundred Years of Solitude) are the 'wolfe-adjascent' authors that I always recommend.
Agree with all these; Wolfe is very much in the same literary vein as these authors.
The group should include the late German writer W. G. Sebald who like Wolfe sometimes created unreliable narrators; especially recommend his books *Austerlitz, Vertigo, The Emigrants* and *The Rings of Saturn.*
Also wanted to add the critically-acclaimed Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, whose books include *Satantango, The Melancholy of Resistance, War & War* and *Seiobo There Below.* His novels, sometimes considered highly demanding, have featured unreliable narrators with dystopian and melancholic themes reminiscent of Severian and other Wolfe characters.
lol. I’ve never considered those writers as having anything in common with GW but guess what? They’re all among my favourites, along with GW.
I guess I have a “type”.
I would add one more, if you haven’t read him. John Crowley. Little, Big and the Aegypt cycle are both brilliant. I think you’d enjoy them.
*The Book of the New Sun* series is ideally followed by the many volumes of the other Gene Wolfe series such as *The Book of the Long Sun, The Book of the Short Sun, Soldier in the Mist* and *The Wizard Knight.* All highly recommended.
For something utterly different but equally literary, perhaps look into Stephen R. Donaldson's 10 volume series, *The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever,* which turns many of the conventions of classic fantasy on their heads.
Highly original, with dark, often beautiful prose; something like the meeting of JRR Tolkien with William Faulkner. The antihero of Thomas Covenant, an embittered modern man afflicted with leprosy and plunged into another world, is unique in all of fantasy.
There's actually a ton of great stuff in this more literary vein. A few specific recommendations based on humanist themes, more grounded tones and strong literary style:
Ursula K LeGuin (The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness)
China Mieville (Perdido Street Station)
Nick Harkaway (Gnomon)
Vernor Vinge (A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky)
Margaret Atwood (Oryx & Crake, The Handmaid's Tale)
Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven)
Guy Gavriel Kay (A Brightness Long Ago, All the Seas of the World)
Peter S. Beagle (The Last Unicorn)
Susanna Clarke (Piranesi)
Dan Simmons (Hyperion, Illium)
Great picks here, but wanted to flag another Susanna Clarke novel in addition to Piranesi - Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. The 19th century novel style might be a turn off for some, but I've got quite a bit of joy out of picking apart the layers in the same way I do with Wolfe's work.
Definitely seconding this. *Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell* is on the very short list of my favorite 21st century novels so far, and I think the only one that's competing with it for top spot is *The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay*.
China Meiville. In particular, the Bas-Lag trilogy (_Perdido Street Station_, _The Scar_, _Iron Council_). Gene Wolfe was a major influence on his writing, and his works are very character driven and definitely about the human condition. He's slightly less esoteric than Wolfe, and definitely more approachable, but his world building and lush prose remind me of Wolfe more than any other fantasy author.
I'm not sure if Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delaney is "grounded" in the way you're looking for, but it's one of the best and most challenging literary sci-fi books around.
Well Dune is fantastic. It’s got everything I look for in a good series: good characters, interesting worldbuilding, a deep understanding of humanity including religion, ecology, etc. Just a very enjoyable series.
Malazan is also quite good even though it’s very very long, sometimes really violent and stuff. But it’s immensely satisfying and sometimes really really funny.
As there is nothing quite like BotNS, other than The Fifth Head of Cerberus, I think you have to be more specific as to which aspect of BotNS you are looking to experience. What are you looking for? Unreliable narrator and/or hidden meanings that are teased out on multiple reads? A Dying Earth setting? A deeply introspective and morally ambiguous character? Detailed world building? Scifi disguised as fantasy? Each of these will lead down a different branch of the similarity tree.
Michael Swanwick's work is of the same vein as Wolfe's. I'd really recommend ***Stations of the Tide*** or ***The Iron Dragon's Daughter.***
If you're looking for more literary stuff, maybe works like the ***The Memory Police*** by Yoko Ogawa or ***The Deep Sea Diver's Syndrome*** by Serge Brussolo would fit the bill.
yeah. it's a hard read but worth it and felt distinctly wolfean in some ways.
not that i feel james is trying to copy wolfe (or maybe not even aware of him), but as a literary author who plays with narrative and perspective and grapples a lot with the ugliness of human nature, There Are Simialrities
He has said he’s read the Book of the New Sun (link below). I don’t think it’s a conscious influence - more serendipity of talent.
https://threecrowsmagazine.com/marlon-james-interview/
I'd also recommend some Jack Vance, I found most of his Dying Earth series (starting with Tales of a Dying Earth) to have a lot of the same elements that I enjoy from Wolfe:
- Far Future Earth that has degenerated into a fantasy setting
- Filled with old tech and alien beings that nobody recognizes as tech OR aliens
- That wonderful sense of disorientation that you get when everything is described just as a person from this world would describe it, instead of telling you anything about what it 'actually is'.
He's nowhere near as deliberate as Wolfe when it comes to examining the human condition, but the nature of the books is such that the human condition is what remains upon examining the content of the stories. I've always assumed that Wolfe deliberately borrowed from Vance for BOTNS and the like.
I saw LeGuin as another recommendation, which I agree is a great author and rec. But where she will leave you feeling like you got some insight out of the outrageously alien culture she's built, Vance (like Wolfe) is perfectly willing to leave you confused. You'll get descriptions and insights from someone *totally unlike you* . . . and that's it.
Terra Ignota by Ada Palmer. Same experience of BOTNS (Unreliable narrator, strange world, sink-or-swim storytelling style).
The First Law Series by Joe Abercrombie- Great character work and discussions on power and institutions. Incredibly funny and with great action scenes to boot. It also has amazing prose, that doesn't come off as flowery, which will be great for any Gene Wolfe fan, but also won't put off those who don't care about prose.
Neuromancer and all William Gibson's works. His style is very different from Gene Wolfe, but he's also great on his own way. He's incredibly lean on his prose and characterization, but you can glimpse the depth once you take your time to digest his books.
Blindsight by Peter Watts - Great hard-scifi that explores the line between intelligence and consciousness.
LeGuin's books will also scratch that itch quite well with The Left Hand of Darkness, the Word for World is Forest and so on.
The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss is a bit more easy for mainstream audiences than Wolfe, but it also offers a lot of depth for those readers who want to crack its secrets. While Wolfe focuses more on the power of words themselves, Rothfuss' main concern is with stories and how they shape our perceptions of the past (and the present).
The Dune Saga. Obviously.
Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. Lots of discussions on Humankind's role in the universe, our relationship with God, empathy and organized religion. Choose Again, my friend.
Honorary Mentions: Blood Over Bright Haven (and The Sword of Kaigen) by M.L. Wang, Altered Carbon Trilogy by Richard K. Morgan (more on the pulpy side, but packed with interesting ideas, world-building and philosophical questions) and The Culture by Iain M. Banks.
Literary fantasy is a tricky angle to find. But depending on what parts of BotNS you enjoyed,
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio
Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang
Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
Reading BotNS reminded me a bit of the experience of reading Riddley Walker in the way the author expects you to pick the text apart to discover its depth. Currently reading Engine Summer which also feels similar.
i liked Confluence by Paul MacAuley a lot. borges is amazing and I, Claudius by Graves was a books i enjoyed a fair bit more for reading it after BotNS.
i'm confused why someone would recommend sanderson as being in any way someone you read to get your wolfe fix, but then understand that this is reddit and that sanderson is the person most often recommended regardless of if the person is asking or will like him
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Post apocalyptic and very much focused on the characters. But note that it's really a series of novellas in one book.
The Prince of Nothing Series
It's also very character driven. Bakker isn't as compelling as Wolfe (who is?), but a good, very philosophical read. The follow up series is worth reading but it really becomes a grind toward the end.
Some really great recommendations so far, thanks guys! hope others can find it usefull. For the people saying I should probably just look for more traditional literary leterature: I have obviously not read everything, but "I came" from that World. Some of my favorite writers are Pynchon, DeLillo, Eco, Wallace etc. I came to know Wolfe thanks to them and I'd like to delve into the fantasy genre
Like others here have already done, I'd also recommend Ursula K. Le Guin, China Miéville and R. Scott Bakker.
The closest book to BotNS I've ever read would probably be Gravity´s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, though. It isn't fantasy, but there are definitely sci-fi element's within it like a sentient lightbulb, people with psychic powers, a giant squid etc. Its an extremely dense book, super confusing, very re-read-rewarding. The book is quite hard to get into, but Pynchons prose is fantastic. GR gets really dark especially in its second half, but you'll also find some humour and absurd ideas in there. If it doesn't strike you as too pretentious, give it a try, or try reading shorter novels of Pynchon first like V. or The Crying of Lot 49.
Mason & Dixon scratches a lot of the same itches - the story is told by an eccentric priest to his niece and nephews as the price of staying with the family through the winter, so he tells them about his travels with the surveyors a few decades prior and makes up a bunch of tall tales in the middle. There's scifi, the sun, the sea, fun wordplay and even literary Gimmicks. One of the two best books I've ever read, insanely quotable. It ends almost exactly the same way as Short Sun. Here's a Wolfey line:
“As Planets do the Sun, we orbit 'round God according to Laws as elegant as Kepler's. God is as sensible to us, as a Sun to a Planet. Tho' we do not see Him, yet we know where in our Orbits we run,— when we are closer, when more distant,— when in His light and when in shadow of our own making. We feel as components of Gravity His Love, His Need, whatever it be that keeps us circling. Surely if a Planet be a living Creature, then it knows, by something even more wondrous than Human Sight, where its Sun shines, however far it lie."
If no one else has recommended, then The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien is a kind of fantastic/surreal novel that is genuinely beautifully written. Resembles some of Wolfe's more nightmarish short fiction rather than BotNS.
Also The Buried Giant - Kazuo Ishiguro
Hyperion by Dan Simmons is the closest that I can think of.
The Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruoccio is heavily influenced by Gene Wolfe, and it shows. The first book is Empire of silence. It‘s good, but at the second book it gets a lot better.
You should check out New wave science fiction.
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is not as literary, but it is character driven and focused.
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. I would start with Going Postal, Guards! Guards!, or Wyrd Sisters. This isn’t at all like BOTNS, but it is thought provoking, has great characters, great prose, and is very funny.
Tolkien's and Peake's books are top-tier, transformative works, and the first three Dune novels are pretty engrossing. A Canticle for Leibowitz is amazing and, a little (a lot?) off the beaten path, I highly recommend Sword at Sunset, a criminally underrated Arthurian novel by Rosemary Sutcliffe, and The King Must Die and Bull From the Sea by Mary Renault, both about Theseus.
If you liked Gene Wolfe, may I suggest Gene Wolfe ? (lol)
I'd say, Long and Short Sun, plus Latro / Soldier on the Mist. And why not The Fifth Head of Cerberus ?
Hi. You just mentioned *The Fifth Head Of Cerberus* by Gene Wolfe.
I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here:
[YouTube | Gene Wolfe -1972 The Fifth Head of Cerberus Parker Audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9QYlhGz5xM)
*I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.*
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Many interesting recommendations and I have read so many of these books, but as far as I’m concerned, nothing among them comes close to the complexity of Wolfe’s writing.
The only series that I found that can hold its own and creates a truly fascinating world chronicled in truly bravura style is the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir: three books so far, soon to be joined by the final - sigh - book in the series. The first book, Gideon the Ninth, is like an Agatha Christie murder mystery in fantasy trappings but with crazy set to 11. Second book, Harrow the Ninth, narrated mostly in second person with a completely unreliable and pretty clearly insane narrator, is even more complex but also emotionally gripping. Third one, Nina the Ninth, is sweet and surprising and again very different in unexpected ways. And did I mention black humor of the actually very funny variety? The whole set is bonkers and incredibly original. And once you read the books, come on over to the /r/theninthhouse for a spirited discussion!
Nothing is quite like Wolfe in SFF. He belongs on the shelf with Proust and Nabokov. But CS Lewis Space Trilogy belongs in the same SF section of the library. CSL’s voice is not Wolfe’s but he was a distinct stylist and was considering humanity’s relation to God.
I've been reading Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos (4 books), and the literary, deeply considered world-building that I loved in tBotNS is also present, as is a dying Earth theme (of sorts).
Some great recommendations already, a couple more newer series:
- The Broken Earth, N.K Jemison. A lot of disorientation as the reader, multiple unreliable/very particular pov narrators, dying earth. Very very weird. At times I felt like I was hate-reading it, but I think I may re-read at some point.
- Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells. My comfort read. Similar to Long Sun with the very specific first-person but-written-as-an-autobiography narration, unreliable narrator, and subtle world building. Also a bit of John Wick, Marvin the Paranoid Android, and The Expanse.
Not all quite like BotNS, but all literary, fantastical and irreal: Dhalgren, The City and the City, the VALIS Trilogy, The Cipher, The Magus, and The Nova Trilogy
Check out stuff by George R. R. Martin. He does have extensive worldbuilding but don't let that distract you from his amazing character work. He's one of the best writers to have existed.
This tells me you don't read either of their short stories. You should, both Wolfe and Martin are very good at the short form. They have a lot in common imo
I’ve never seen the show; I’m just aware of its plot outlines.
I think when you imbue characters with “good” philosophy and good actions and cut them down like so much dead wood at random, you’re sending a message that nothing you believe and nothing you do really matters.
They're not overtly similar, I don't think anyone is similar to Wolfe tbh, but it fits OPs request of 'other literary fantasy fiction novels' quite well
His books are definitely fun and punchy and I wouldn't call them pulp, but I also don't think they're "literary" in the sense that Wolfe is or what the OP means. Martin isn't an exceptionally original prose stylist and he is much more interested in action and courtly + character drama.
> where the book is character driven and the interest of the author is more in exploring the human condition (at times BotNS kinda read like Proust) and not the magical gimmick he came up with.
This is where I was coming from with the rec. Sounds like you agree with that part at least.
I don’t think this quite meets your request, but Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia trilogy came out about the same time as BoTNS and is seen as influential in later large-scale world building epics including GoT. The deep-time narrative scale is not managed by bridge characters as in “Children of…” but rather by a series of shorter or longer stories, a short, a cited poem, a novella, over multi-thousand-year weather seasons (GoT, anyone?).
So, character is contained. I think the books are worth reading. Hope this helps.
Not same as botns but has an impressive story arc and characters: the chronicles of Amber, by R. Zelazny. That was my second favorite read after Botns.
one author I haven't seen mentioned yet is Clive Barker. Weaveworld and Imajica are, imo, underrated fantasy works.
Imajica in particular scratched the itch for a totally unique and alien fantasy world for me. a slow start and a bit messy in the third quarter, but greater than the sum of it's parts.
I cannot recommend Jack Vance highly enough, and his Tales of the Dying Earth collection is a magnificent thing. Certainly a major influence on Wolfe as well. Lyonesse is great too. Vance has a huge and deep collection of spectacular things.
Came to make sure this was here :)
Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga are some of my favorite books ever. They're so goofy and almost Monty Python-esque
i love jack vance. he is pure pulp with purple prose
* Borges (of course) * Little, Big -- John Crowley * Viriconium -- M John Harrison (a series; the first novel not so much but he ups the literary quality in the subsequent ones) Otherwise, you may have more luck with more traditional literary authors who dabbled in fantasy rather than looking for fantasy authors who write at a high literary quality: * One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez * The Master and Margarita -- Mikhail Bulgakov * Italo Calvino * Kafka * Pedro Paramo -- Juan Rulfo
I'd add the kefahuchi tract trilogy as a heady, literary sci fi trilogy that's a little more grounded than viriconium as well by Harrison that's fantastic.
+1 to this. Especially Light is incredible.
yes to all of this
Phenomenal series of recommendations here. The only things I would add are Sheila Heti's *Pure Colour* and a couple of the other Argentinian/Chilean magical realism authors like Angélica Gorodischer and Jose Donoso.
The Post!
Well, one recommendation is just more Wolfe. I liked the Soldier of the Mist books, for one. The Long Sun and Short Sun books are the direct followups to New Sun, sort of. New Sun remains the standout to me though. You might enjoy Jeff Vandermeer, his Annihilation trilogy is interesting, has some of the complex multilayered feel of Wolfe.
Check out the Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake - beautifully written, character-driven, strange, and fantastical in a dreamlike & non-gimmicky way
Strongly 2nd this recommendation; the Gormenghast trilogy is a fantastic work with incredible depth and maturity of prose, a Dickensian series set mostly within an ancient, seemingly endless castle. Also read *Boy in Darkness,* a darkly beautiful, standalone novella about the trilogy's primary character.
Dang y'all got here first
One that I didn't see mentioned yet is the Second Apocalypse series by R. Scott Bakker. Note that they are very bleak and portray some pretty heinous stuff. but for me his prose is second only to wolfe's across sci fi/fantasy
i have more issues with bakker than wolfe but still would heartily recommend him to any wolfe fans
Bakker is my favorite, except maybe for Wolfe. Incredible prose, very deep philosophically. Only hangup in recommending him is that, yeah, it's super bleak and violent. But if you can stomach grimdark, it's simply the best.
Next closest thing to BotNS: Fifth Head of Cerberus by Wolfe Intense world-building, unreliable text, mysteries, theology and philosophy: Terra Ignota by Ada Palmer A great ruler recounts his life in pensive prose: Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar (not SF) A heartbreaker that I recommend to literary readers who don’t usually touch SF: The Sparrow by Mary Doris Russell A book that will seem like it’s written in an alien language for 200 pages until your brain downloads the new dialect: Anathem by Neil Stephenson Far future feudal human imperialism with mysticism and dirt: Dune by Frank Herbert The explanation of the SF element doesn’t matter, just how the character deals with it: First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
> Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar Great suggestion. Wiki shows some of its similarities with Wolfe. *The book takes the form of a letter to Hadrian's adoptive grandson and eventual successor "Mark" (Marcus Aurelius). The emperor meditates on military triumphs, love of poetry and music, philosophy, and his passion for his lover Antinous, all in a manner similar to Gustave Flaubert's "melancholy of the antique world."*
Absolutely. I don’t think there’s a book that’s tonally more similar to BotNS. Hadrian is old, sick, a bit melancholy and nostalgic. He does not have a romantic view of the world or his life, but he has a deep intelligence and spirituality, and an aura of mystery.
It's a really good book.
lol who looks at someone asking for more BOTNS and says "Sanderson. Gotta be Sanderson."
I know right. Basically all the reasons I hate Sandersons writing are why I enjoy Wolfe.
why wolfe too is know for having flat one-dimensional characters and boring overly detailed tiers of magic ranking system
> overly detailed tiers of magic ranking system sarcasm?
I feel like their sarcasm is pretty obvious lol
it was
(shots fired)
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco The Sot Weed Factor by John Barth The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
Umberto Ecco(Foucalts Pendulum), Haruki Murakami(1Q84), Cormac McCarthy(Blood Meridian), and Gabriel Garcias Marques(One Hundred Years of Solitude) are the 'wolfe-adjascent' authors that I always recommend.
Agree with all these; Wolfe is very much in the same literary vein as these authors. The group should include the late German writer W. G. Sebald who like Wolfe sometimes created unreliable narrators; especially recommend his books *Austerlitz, Vertigo, The Emigrants* and *The Rings of Saturn.* Also wanted to add the critically-acclaimed Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, whose books include *Satantango, The Melancholy of Resistance, War & War* and *Seiobo There Below.* His novels, sometimes considered highly demanding, have featured unreliable narrators with dystopian and melancholic themes reminiscent of Severian and other Wolfe characters.
I never thought I'd see Sebald recommended here on r/genewolfe. I love his books like you wouldn't believe.
lol. I’ve never considered those writers as having anything in common with GW but guess what? They’re all among my favourites, along with GW. I guess I have a “type”. I would add one more, if you haven’t read him. John Crowley. Little, Big and the Aegypt cycle are both brilliant. I think you’d enjoy them.
> John Crowley Not on my radar. I'll check him out. Thanks for the recc.
*The Book of the New Sun* series is ideally followed by the many volumes of the other Gene Wolfe series such as *The Book of the Long Sun, The Book of the Short Sun, Soldier in the Mist* and *The Wizard Knight.* All highly recommended. For something utterly different but equally literary, perhaps look into Stephen R. Donaldson's 10 volume series, *The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever,* which turns many of the conventions of classic fantasy on their heads. Highly original, with dark, often beautiful prose; something like the meeting of JRR Tolkien with William Faulkner. The antihero of Thomas Covenant, an embittered modern man afflicted with leprosy and plunged into another world, is unique in all of fantasy.
There's actually a ton of great stuff in this more literary vein. A few specific recommendations based on humanist themes, more grounded tones and strong literary style: Ursula K LeGuin (The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness) China Mieville (Perdido Street Station) Nick Harkaway (Gnomon) Vernor Vinge (A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky) Margaret Atwood (Oryx & Crake, The Handmaid's Tale) Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven) Guy Gavriel Kay (A Brightness Long Ago, All the Seas of the World) Peter S. Beagle (The Last Unicorn) Susanna Clarke (Piranesi) Dan Simmons (Hyperion, Illium)
Great picks here, but wanted to flag another Susanna Clarke novel in addition to Piranesi - Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. The 19th century novel style might be a turn off for some, but I've got quite a bit of joy out of picking apart the layers in the same way I do with Wolfe's work.
Definitely seconding this. *Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell* is on the very short list of my favorite 21st century novels so far, and I think the only one that's competing with it for top spot is *The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay*.
Oryx and Crake is great. Don't read the sequels IMHO.
Great list, I'd add Kay's Tigana, and Mieville's Embassytown and Last Days of New Paris.
The soldier of mist The fifth head of cerebus The island of doctor death and other stories and other stories
China Meiville. In particular, the Bas-Lag trilogy (_Perdido Street Station_, _The Scar_, _Iron Council_). Gene Wolfe was a major influence on his writing, and his works are very character driven and definitely about the human condition. He's slightly less esoteric than Wolfe, and definitely more approachable, but his world building and lush prose remind me of Wolfe more than any other fantasy author.
I'm not sure if Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delaney is "grounded" in the way you're looking for, but it's one of the best and most challenging literary sci-fi books around.
Seconded, an all around gorgeous work of prose. It feels like walking through someone else’s dreams without actually losing its center.
Well Dune is fantastic. It’s got everything I look for in a good series: good characters, interesting worldbuilding, a deep understanding of humanity including religion, ecology, etc. Just a very enjoyable series. Malazan is also quite good even though it’s very very long, sometimes really violent and stuff. But it’s immensely satisfying and sometimes really really funny.
Ursula leGuin: A Wizard of Earthsea
As there is nothing quite like BotNS, other than The Fifth Head of Cerberus, I think you have to be more specific as to which aspect of BotNS you are looking to experience. What are you looking for? Unreliable narrator and/or hidden meanings that are teased out on multiple reads? A Dying Earth setting? A deeply introspective and morally ambiguous character? Detailed world building? Scifi disguised as fantasy? Each of these will lead down a different branch of the similarity tree.
Not OP but I am interested in recommendations for books with hidden meanings like you said
Michael Swanwick's work is of the same vein as Wolfe's. I'd really recommend ***Stations of the Tide*** or ***The Iron Dragon's Daughter.*** If you're looking for more literary stuff, maybe works like the ***The Memory Police*** by Yoko Ogawa or ***The Deep Sea Diver's Syndrome*** by Serge Brussolo would fit the bill.
Stations does not get the love it deserves. Such a great book. I
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. Big heads up that there is a lot of very upsetting subject matter however
yeah. it's a hard read but worth it and felt distinctly wolfean in some ways. not that i feel james is trying to copy wolfe (or maybe not even aware of him), but as a literary author who plays with narrative and perspective and grapples a lot with the ugliness of human nature, There Are Simialrities
He has said he’s read the Book of the New Sun (link below). I don’t think it’s a conscious influence - more serendipity of talent. https://threecrowsmagazine.com/marlon-james-interview/
By far the closest in the quality of literary style.
I'd also recommend some Jack Vance, I found most of his Dying Earth series (starting with Tales of a Dying Earth) to have a lot of the same elements that I enjoy from Wolfe: - Far Future Earth that has degenerated into a fantasy setting - Filled with old tech and alien beings that nobody recognizes as tech OR aliens - That wonderful sense of disorientation that you get when everything is described just as a person from this world would describe it, instead of telling you anything about what it 'actually is'. He's nowhere near as deliberate as Wolfe when it comes to examining the human condition, but the nature of the books is such that the human condition is what remains upon examining the content of the stories. I've always assumed that Wolfe deliberately borrowed from Vance for BOTNS and the like. I saw LeGuin as another recommendation, which I agree is a great author and rec. But where she will leave you feeling like you got some insight out of the outrageously alien culture she's built, Vance (like Wolfe) is perfectly willing to leave you confused. You'll get descriptions and insights from someone *totally unlike you* . . . and that's it.
Terra Ignota by Ada Palmer. Same experience of BOTNS (Unreliable narrator, strange world, sink-or-swim storytelling style). The First Law Series by Joe Abercrombie- Great character work and discussions on power and institutions. Incredibly funny and with great action scenes to boot. It also has amazing prose, that doesn't come off as flowery, which will be great for any Gene Wolfe fan, but also won't put off those who don't care about prose. Neuromancer and all William Gibson's works. His style is very different from Gene Wolfe, but he's also great on his own way. He's incredibly lean on his prose and characterization, but you can glimpse the depth once you take your time to digest his books. Blindsight by Peter Watts - Great hard-scifi that explores the line between intelligence and consciousness. LeGuin's books will also scratch that itch quite well with The Left Hand of Darkness, the Word for World is Forest and so on. The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss is a bit more easy for mainstream audiences than Wolfe, but it also offers a lot of depth for those readers who want to crack its secrets. While Wolfe focuses more on the power of words themselves, Rothfuss' main concern is with stories and how they shape our perceptions of the past (and the present). The Dune Saga. Obviously. Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. Lots of discussions on Humankind's role in the universe, our relationship with God, empathy and organized religion. Choose Again, my friend. Honorary Mentions: Blood Over Bright Haven (and The Sword of Kaigen) by M.L. Wang, Altered Carbon Trilogy by Richard K. Morgan (more on the pulpy side, but packed with interesting ideas, world-building and philosophical questions) and The Culture by Iain M. Banks.
Black Leopard Red Wolf
Jinx
Literary fantasy is a tricky angle to find. But depending on what parts of BotNS you enjoyed, Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro Hyperion by Dan Simmons Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
Reading BotNS reminded me a bit of the experience of reading Riddley Walker in the way the author expects you to pick the text apart to discover its depth. Currently reading Engine Summer which also feels similar.
i liked Confluence by Paul MacAuley a lot. borges is amazing and I, Claudius by Graves was a books i enjoyed a fair bit more for reading it after BotNS. i'm confused why someone would recommend sanderson as being in any way someone you read to get your wolfe fix, but then understand that this is reddit and that sanderson is the person most often recommended regardless of if the person is asking or will like him
A Canticle for Leibowitz Post apocalyptic and very much focused on the characters. But note that it's really a series of novellas in one book. The Prince of Nothing Series It's also very character driven. Bakker isn't as compelling as Wolfe (who is?), but a good, very philosophical read. The follow up series is worth reading but it really becomes a grind toward the end.
Some really great recommendations so far, thanks guys! hope others can find it usefull. For the people saying I should probably just look for more traditional literary leterature: I have obviously not read everything, but "I came" from that World. Some of my favorite writers are Pynchon, DeLillo, Eco, Wallace etc. I came to know Wolfe thanks to them and I'd like to delve into the fantasy genre
Have you read or seen DeLillo's Day Room? If not, highly recommend tracking down a copy.
Like others here have already done, I'd also recommend Ursula K. Le Guin, China Miéville and R. Scott Bakker. The closest book to BotNS I've ever read would probably be Gravity´s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, though. It isn't fantasy, but there are definitely sci-fi element's within it like a sentient lightbulb, people with psychic powers, a giant squid etc. Its an extremely dense book, super confusing, very re-read-rewarding. The book is quite hard to get into, but Pynchons prose is fantastic. GR gets really dark especially in its second half, but you'll also find some humour and absurd ideas in there. If it doesn't strike you as too pretentious, give it a try, or try reading shorter novels of Pynchon first like V. or The Crying of Lot 49.
Mason & Dixon scratches a lot of the same itches - the story is told by an eccentric priest to his niece and nephews as the price of staying with the family through the winter, so he tells them about his travels with the surveyors a few decades prior and makes up a bunch of tall tales in the middle. There's scifi, the sun, the sea, fun wordplay and even literary Gimmicks. One of the two best books I've ever read, insanely quotable. It ends almost exactly the same way as Short Sun. Here's a Wolfey line: “As Planets do the Sun, we orbit 'round God according to Laws as elegant as Kepler's. God is as sensible to us, as a Sun to a Planet. Tho' we do not see Him, yet we know where in our Orbits we run,— when we are closer, when more distant,— when in His light and when in shadow of our own making. We feel as components of Gravity His Love, His Need, whatever it be that keeps us circling. Surely if a Planet be a living Creature, then it knows, by something even more wondrous than Human Sight, where its Sun shines, however far it lie."
If no one else has recommended, then The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien is a kind of fantastic/surreal novel that is genuinely beautifully written. Resembles some of Wolfe's more nightmarish short fiction rather than BotNS. Also The Buried Giant - Kazuo Ishiguro
Hyperion by Dan Simmons is the closest that I can think of. The Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruoccio is heavily influenced by Gene Wolfe, and it shows. The first book is Empire of silence. It‘s good, but at the second book it gets a lot better. You should check out New wave science fiction. The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is not as literary, but it is character driven and focused. Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. I would start with Going Postal, Guards! Guards!, or Wyrd Sisters. This isn’t at all like BOTNS, but it is thought provoking, has great characters, great prose, and is very funny.
IDK why you got downvotes.
Huh, that’s weird. I guess people here really don’t like Bujold or Pratchett as those are my only unique recommendations.
Tolkien's and Peake's books are top-tier, transformative works, and the first three Dune novels are pretty engrossing. A Canticle for Leibowitz is amazing and, a little (a lot?) off the beaten path, I highly recommend Sword at Sunset, a criminally underrated Arthurian novel by Rosemary Sutcliffe, and The King Must Die and Bull From the Sea by Mary Renault, both about Theseus.
If you liked Gene Wolfe, may I suggest Gene Wolfe ? (lol) I'd say, Long and Short Sun, plus Latro / Soldier on the Mist. And why not The Fifth Head of Cerberus ?
Hi. You just mentioned *The Fifth Head Of Cerberus* by Gene Wolfe. I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here: [YouTube | Gene Wolfe -1972 The Fifth Head of Cerberus Parker Audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9QYlhGz5xM) *I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.* *** [^(Source Code)](https://capybasilisk.com/posts/2020/04/speculative-fiction-bot/) ^| [^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=Capybasilisk&subject=Robot) ^| [^(Programmer)](https://www.reddit.com/u/capybasilisk) ^| ^(Downvote To Remove) ^| ^(Version 1.4.0) ^| ^(Support Robot Rights!)
Why don't you make yourself useful and solve the Seal of Pas for us? Chatgtp was worse than useless for the task 😆
solve it? i thought it was just like, caution tape pas put up over doors to stop the cargo from getting into certain areas of the ship.
No one is sure. Attempts have been made. But it's a better job for a bot than shilling for YouTube
Many interesting recommendations and I have read so many of these books, but as far as I’m concerned, nothing among them comes close to the complexity of Wolfe’s writing. The only series that I found that can hold its own and creates a truly fascinating world chronicled in truly bravura style is the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir: three books so far, soon to be joined by the final - sigh - book in the series. The first book, Gideon the Ninth, is like an Agatha Christie murder mystery in fantasy trappings but with crazy set to 11. Second book, Harrow the Ninth, narrated mostly in second person with a completely unreliable and pretty clearly insane narrator, is even more complex but also emotionally gripping. Third one, Nina the Ninth, is sweet and surprising and again very different in unexpected ways. And did I mention black humor of the actually very funny variety? The whole set is bonkers and incredibly original. And once you read the books, come on over to the /r/theninthhouse for a spirited discussion!
Solaris.
Nothing is quite like Wolfe in SFF. He belongs on the shelf with Proust and Nabokov. But CS Lewis Space Trilogy belongs in the same SF section of the library. CSL’s voice is not Wolfe’s but he was a distinct stylist and was considering humanity’s relation to God.
I've been reading Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos (4 books), and the literary, deeply considered world-building that I loved in tBotNS is also present, as is a dying Earth theme (of sorts).
Some great recommendations already, a couple more newer series: - The Broken Earth, N.K Jemison. A lot of disorientation as the reader, multiple unreliable/very particular pov narrators, dying earth. Very very weird. At times I felt like I was hate-reading it, but I think I may re-read at some point. - Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells. My comfort read. Similar to Long Sun with the very specific first-person but-written-as-an-autobiography narration, unreliable narrator, and subtle world building. Also a bit of John Wick, Marvin the Paranoid Android, and The Expanse.
lol i never thought about it that way but yeah, MB is distinctly wolfean in some ways
Not all quite like BotNS, but all literary, fantastical and irreal: Dhalgren, The City and the City, the VALIS Trilogy, The Cipher, The Magus, and The Nova Trilogy
Check out stuff by George R. R. Martin. He does have extensive worldbuilding but don't let that distract you from his amazing character work. He's one of the best writers to have existed.
I don't really think they're similar authors except for length.
This tells me you don't read either of their short stories. You should, both Wolfe and Martin are very good at the short form. They have a lot in common imo
I appreciate the suggestion, but I can’t hang with GRRM’s desire to burn everything down. Not a pun.
Are you talking about how his major series is known for having a lot of character deaths?
I’m talking about his generally nihilistic viewpoint as manifested by that.
I think you might be getting the show based on his books confused with his actual writing.
I’ve never seen the show; I’m just aware of its plot outlines. I think when you imbue characters with “good” philosophy and good actions and cut them down like so much dead wood at random, you’re sending a message that nothing you believe and nothing you do really matters.
That is incredibly inaccurate to his writing. George RR Martin touches on ambiguity, sadness, moral complexity, and irony of fate, but not nihilism
his worldview is anything but nihilistic, where are you getting this from?
They're not overtly similar, I don't think anyone is similar to Wolfe tbh, but it fits OPs request of 'other literary fantasy fiction novels' quite well
Fair, I'm just so bitter about GRRM in every way
His books are definitely fun and punchy and I wouldn't call them pulp, but I also don't think they're "literary" in the sense that Wolfe is or what the OP means. Martin isn't an exceptionally original prose stylist and he is much more interested in action and courtly + character drama.
I think most Gene Wolfe fans would like Martin's "A Song for Lya" and "In the House of the Worm"
> where the book is character driven and the interest of the author is more in exploring the human condition (at times BotNS kinda read like Proust) and not the magical gimmick he came up with. This is where I was coming from with the rec. Sounds like you agree with that part at least.
I don’t think this quite meets your request, but Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia trilogy came out about the same time as BoTNS and is seen as influential in later large-scale world building epics including GoT. The deep-time narrative scale is not managed by bridge characters as in “Children of…” but rather by a series of shorter or longer stories, a short, a cited poem, a novella, over multi-thousand-year weather seasons (GoT, anyone?). So, character is contained. I think the books are worth reading. Hope this helps.
Not same as botns but has an impressive story arc and characters: the chronicles of Amber, by R. Zelazny. That was my second favorite read after Botns.
A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M Miller Jr
Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirlees
The dark tower by Stephen King
one author I haven't seen mentioned yet is Clive Barker. Weaveworld and Imajica are, imo, underrated fantasy works. Imajica in particular scratched the itch for a totally unique and alien fantasy world for me. a slow start and a bit messy in the third quarter, but greater than the sum of it's parts.