SFF

The Land Across

by Gene Wolfe
Tor. Nov. 2013. 288p. ISBN 9780765335951. $25.99; ebk. ISBN 9781466826359. FANTASY
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When Grafton, an American travel writer, decides to write about an obscure European country about which little is known, he enters a world of strange customs and constant danger, both real and implied. Crossing the border is difficult. Guards take his passport, then arrest him for not having one. Remanded into the custody of a couple who will be punished if he escapes, Grafton agrees to investigate an abandoned house for the couple, who believe a treasure is hidden inside. He then is kidnapped and enlisted to work with the secret police.
VERDICT Mirroring the absurdist novels of Franz Kafka and the surreal stories of Stanislaw Lem and Jorge Luis Borges, Wolfe's latest novel begins quietly and grows stranger and more whimsical by the page. In the end, the author's creative genius brings everything together with twists and turns that are both surprising and immensely satisfying. Each new book by the 2013 Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master is an adventure in creativity and a window on perhaps the genre's most brilliant mind.
Reviewed by Jackie Cassada , Sep 15, 2013
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