I recently reread Book of the New Sun for the first time in more than twenty years, and yeah, it makes a different impression at 54 than it did at 17, not least because it was familiar now and new then. The characters, especially Severian, quite often act in ways that are not admirable, and I can be pretty sure that Gene intended that we see some of the not admirable traits as actual flaws. He is not, for instance, suggesting that sleeping with your grandmother is a good idea. He wasn't going to make it that easy for us.

But Peace and Fifth Head of Ceberus, and much of his short fiction remain classic.