First Impressions of The Knight by Gene Wolfe

I don’t often understand Gene Wolfe’s books, but I’m always captivated by his characters. Wolfe is one of those authors whose books leave me feeling a bit like an alien abductee who’s been returned to his home: I know something important just happened, I just don’t quite know what it was.

Fortunately, The Knight seems more accessible to me than other Wolfe novels I’ve read (which, admittedly, haven’t been many). And Wolfe still has the power to create compelling, likeable characters. Like Severian in The Book of the New Sun, I liked Able of the High Heart from the opening paragraph, and I enjoy spending my time reading about him.

The story itself begins like many other fantasy stories: someone from our world somehow finds himself in a fantasy world or fairy land. Most of the time this device doesn’t work, but occasionally an author can pull it off brilliantly (Kay’s The Fionavar Tapestry, Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions, for instance). I have every confidence that Wolfe will be able to make it work in his novel. He’s already got Kay and Anderson beat for the best transition from this world to the fantasy world.

I look forward to reading the rest of the The Knight, and I’ll post more about the book as I work my way through it.