The Knight by Gene Wolfe
01/06/2005 . Source: Paul Hanley 
pub: TOR. 430 page hardback. Price: $25.95 (US), $34.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30989-0. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.tor.com
I have to confess I started to read this book months ago, become bored, put it down and have only just gone back to it recently. On my second attempt it appears a more enjoyable and readable book than on my first attempt and I have now finished it.
Gene Wolfe has the reputation of being the iconic American fantasy writer and also of being a difficult writer in the sense that his books require both a great deal of concentration, as well as time, to appreciate. Perhaps this is the case with this book, 'The Knight' which is apparently the first book of a pair called 'The Wizard Knight'. Perhaps it is just me as my first love is Science Fiction rather than fantasy.
Essentially a youngster from our world finds himself in another. Wolfe offers his readers no explanation as to how this might have occurred. As soon as he arrives, he begins to lose his memories of our world or they become mingled with memories of a life in the new world that he suspects he never lived. As he is the narrator, we readers are as uncertain about events as he is.
In this new world, he acquires the name Able. He first comes to in a ruined castle and shortly afterwards becomes involved briefly with a knight which sets him on a quest to become a knight himself and this is essentially the story.
He perambulates through a world of seven levels having adventures in various of them including under the sea and in the author's version of Fairyland, here called Aelfrice, as well as in what passes for this place's mortal world.
Unlike most fantasy stories, especially those that are based on a quest, 'The Knight' is one where I could not predict after a chapter or two where the story would end.
Gene Wolfe has succeeded in breathing new life into what has perhaps become a tired genre notwithstanding that he employs many of the archetypes of high fantasy. He has certainly managed to produce a lively storyline and has created a distinctive voice for his first-person narrator which is that of a boy in a man's body. I did not especially like this character whom I found rather too righteous but it was well done and perhaps my dislike is more to do with the old hippy in me. Able stands very firmly for what he believes is right against what he thinks is not. In other words, he practices what we might regard as idealised knightly virtues.
It is a well written book and Gene Wolfe has the skills to bring his scenes vividly to life. The ending is left open and it is difficult to predict where the sequel will take us. I had my difficulties with the book but if you like fantasy you will enjoy this book.
Paul Hanley |
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