Second part of Wolfe's latest trilogy, following On Blue's Waters (1999), which itself continues the story begun in the Book of the Long Sun tetralogy. Narrator Horn and his companion, Oreb, a sort of avian Fool, have traveled to planet Green in search of the fabled leader Patera Silk. Horn's identity, however, becomes uncertain, his memory encompassing events that he himself perhaps never experienced: apparently, he's several people at once, with appearances to match. Further complications include not one set of mysterious aliens, but two. Wolfe's narrative glows, rich and seductive as ever, but his list of “proper names in the text” serves only as a sly reminder that you need a brain the size of a small planet to fathom what it all means.
