Latro in the Mist

May 13, 2009 16:52

So I've been trying to read Soldier of Sidon to see exactly what was so exciting about that it beat out my friend Cat's book for the World Fantasy Award, and as part of that I read the first two books in the series, in a compilation called "Latro in the Mist." These were a couple of very good books, but then I got to the end, and it was really opaque and confusing in what I perceived to be an unnecessary way. So, I looked on the internet for an interpretation of the ending, and found this:
What is almost unforgivable in this book is that there is no adequate explanation of what happens at the end of it. We have come all this way, only to find that Wolfe puts the scroll in the possession of a virtual stranger, the poet Pindar, who seems to understand even less of what is going on than we do.

Thus Pindar's concluding chapter offers almost no clarification, and indeed, his callousness in disposing of characters like Io, about whom we care very much, is painful. It's been a long time since I have been so frustrated -- and, yes, angry -- at the end of a book I had been enjoying so very much. So be warned: Soldier of Arete is a brilliant, original work of fiction -- but at the end of it you'll have no choice but to guess at what actually happened during the climax, with damned few clues to help you.

Or perhaps I'm just too dull-witted to read Wolfe anymore. No doubt Wolfe has many readers brighter than I am; yet he certainly has none more passionately involved in the reading, none more eager to be moved. I wish that in the future he would pander just a bit to lackwits like me, and actually tell us plainly what in hell happened in the tale. Many great writers have deigned to do so, and their literary achievements are not wholly despised because of it.

So, I have a vague idea of what happened, but if actually understanding the ending clearly is a task that defeats lackwits like the above-quoted reviewer (Orson Scott Card, who I certainly believe qualifies as such when it comes to politics but not science fiction and fantasy (at least, in the 90s when this was written)), then I'm comfortable with the fact that it did the same to me.
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