The Fifth Head of Cerberus

This was my first Gene Wolfe. My impression is that he is a skilled and talented writer. The Fifth Head of Cereberus is three stories that take place on the twin planets of Sainte Croix and Sainte Anne. The first story is almost Victorian, elegant prose but not at all stilted. It has almost a flavor, just the slightest taste, of steampunk.

The recurring character plays only a minor role in the first story. He doesn't appear in the second story at all, rather, he is its author. It is a dreamtime fable, a story of the primtitive people of Sainte Anne, now generally thought to be extinct.

The third is readings from the notes and transcripts of this character, an anthropologist, as he sets out on a expedition on Sainte Anne to find the Annese, the native aborigines. And transcripts of his interrogations after his imprisonment upon returning to Sainte Croix. These are read by an officer in haphazard bits and pieces, and though it seems that the story should be fragmented and jumbled, we have no dificulty in following it and learning the fate of Dr. Marsch.

This has been on my to-read list for way too long. I'm glad I finally got to it.