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A comment on Ends of the Urth. Parent comment

Re:Ends of the Urth by Mediterraneo10 on Saturday June 22, 2019 @07:10AM (#20249017)
Wolfe's treatment of women is controversial. However, Severian is about 18 years old, and he grew up in a male-only community, so his perennial interest in women and shagging them is not unbelievable in this protagonist.

As for "events of no consequence", there are no such things in the book. Everything is somehow tied together, which is a large part of the book's appeal.

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Re:Ends of the Urth by dmitriid on Sunday June 23, 2019 @03:30AM (#20253768)
> As for "events of no consequence", there are no such things in the book. Everything is somehow tied together

By consequence I mean change and growth in characters. You can throw away every single story, detour, and encounter and nothing will change in the characters’ journey.

Is there a difference between Jonas and the namless boy dead in the mountains? Dorcas and Balanders? Vodalus and witches in the forgotten ruins? None. They come and go with no impact.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the way the books end and continue. Entire parts of the protagonist’s journey are just skipped from one book to the next. Does it have any effect? None.

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