I’ve spent the first five weeks of 2026 engrossed in Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the Long Sun Quartet. The saga of the Long Sun began with Nightside the Long Sun, progressed through The Lake of the Long Sun and Calde of the Long Sun, and reached its culmination in Exodus from the Long Sun. The last volume of the quartet concludes the story of Patera Silk, a priest guided by a god named Outsider to save his church. His path on this journey led him to become a politician and a rallying symbol for the human resistance fighting the alien race aiming to seize control of the Whorl, a colossal spaceship housing multiple cities.

In his book blurb for “Exodus of the Long Sun,” celebrated science-fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson declared Wolfe to be the master of the slingshot ending and astonishing scale shifts within an epic science fantasy story. I have a few Gene Wolfe books under my reading belt and somewhat agree with Robinson’s proclamation of Wolfe being a master of the slingshot ending. That was the case in Exodus from the Long Sun. To add, the ending was unsettling because I had expected Patera Silk’s path to resolve with him either saving the city of Viron or sacrificing himself as a martyr. I was presented with neither of these possibilities in the concluding volume, and the ending appeared to come out of nowhere.

Wolfe has earned my trust as a reader, and the buildup of a religious figure in a secular setting on a large spaceship was intriguing and thought-provoking on multiple levels, despite having to slog through the last volume of the series. I had imagined Wolfe, through his main character, demonstrating how faith can positively affect a secular society, leading to genuine societal improvement. He didn’t quite accomplish that, and it felt like Wolfe let his protagonist off the hook.

However, I will write that the Book of the Long Sun quartet was the best thing I have read by Gene Wolfe (I have not read The Book of the New Sun, his magnum opus) and deserves a rereading to get a full grasp of his intricate storytelling. A hallmark trait of a Wolfe book.

Wolfe’s greatest strength as a writer was on display in the Book of the Long Sun quartet. The ability to create an atmosphere through exposition and dialogue is the best I’ve read in the science fiction and fantasy genre. Wolfe pulled me into this world of the Whorl and kept me there all four books despite the weaknesses in his secondary characters (especially his female ones) and pacing. Atmosphere is not just worldbuilding (a hallmark trait for imaginative fiction), but a vibe comes through each paragraph of the story. He is a master of atmosphere and something I can learn from in my own writings.

In conclusion, I highly recommend reading Exodus of the Long Sun and the complete Long Sun quartet as one unified story. It is definitely a four-part epic science fantasy novel and not individual books within a series. However, I will add that this is not the place for newcomers to Wolfe. If you have read The Book of the New Sun, then read The Book of the Long Sun next. If not, then start with Wolfe’s standalone works like Peace, The Sorcerer’s House, or Pirate Freedom as an entry point. Also, his short story collection, The Best of Gene Wolfe, is another entry point too. The Book of the Long Sun has been in my reading orbit for three decades since it was published in the mid-1990s. I’m happy to begin my reading journey for 2026 with these four books, and I’ll say, as I have before, that Gene Wolfe is among the greatest American authors of the post-World War II era, deserving of recognition on par with Ursula Le Guin, Cormac McCarthy, and Toni Morrison.