The Urth of the New Sun
- 372
- Pages
- about 7 h
- Reading time
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Our view
As a coda to “The Book of the New Sun”, Gene Wolfe’s “The Urth of the New Sun” sheds light on much that the earlier volumes left obscure. Its story moves further into science fiction, with travel across time and space at the end of a dying world. Not everyone welcomes the answers: some readers miss the open riddles of the earlier books and find the resolution too complete.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Urth of the New Sun is a 1987 science fiction novel by Gene Wolfe that serves as a coda to his four-volume Book of the New Sun series. Like Book of the New Sun, it is of the Dying Earth subgenre. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1988.
Reading order · The Book of the New Sun
Full order & progress →- The Shadow of the TorturerStart here
7.77.7 / 10 - The Claw of the Conciliator
8.18.1 / 10 - The Sword of the Lictor
8.18.1 / 10 - The Citadel of the Autarch
8.08.0 / 10 - The Urth of the New SunThis book
7.87.8 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.0 across 94 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 39% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.8 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.8 | 8 | 9% |
| Hardcover | 8.0 | 86 | 92% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Urth of the New Sun?
It has 372 pages — shorter than 66% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Science fiction — with scores between 7.8 and 7.9, closest to this book.
