My take on Urth is that though the ambiguity is part of what makes the previous 4 so amazing, I do think Urth is necessary to get what was intended out of Severians character. There's some really powerful stuff in Urth, Enhances the other books, IMO!
yeah, it's half and half. The first part is also probably the best dungeon crawl put to paper, but largely it missed where it ended so strongly (for me) where I prefered the sort of ecstatic ambiguity of the ending of the 4th book
Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruins of Ymr (John Crowley, 2017)
Cities of the Weft (Alex Pheby, 2020-25)
Dark Star trilogy (Marlon James, 2019-)
The Physiognomy (Jeffrey Ford, 1997)
Last Call (Tim Powers, 1992)
Love your list! Michael Shea is such a criminally forgotten author, guy was fabulous! Nifft has so many creative moments. Love Harrison, Peake, Wolfe. I have some Tim Powers on my to-read (will do next)! Maybe worth a look: Throne of Bones. Has some weird? funny? gross? ghoul sex stuff, though
the author also has another saga called Time Of Dragons, it was gonna be a tetralogy with the final book being a kind of prequel but she died before finishing the last book and her children had to piece togheter a final book. i am currently reading the first one
I just purchased Ghormenghast and I'm hoping to like it as much as I like Wolfe. I'd also be interested in a sci-fi list if you have recommendations there too
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Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruins of Ymr (John Crowley, 2017)
Cities of the Weft (Alex Pheby, 2020-25)
Dark Star trilogy (Marlon James, 2019-)
The Physiognomy (Jeffrey Ford, 1997)
Last Call (Tim Powers, 1992)
it takes a lot of inspiration from native american cultures and the colonization of america and Ursula K. LeGuin praised it.