I had not heard of Gene Wolfe before his passing last year, it made serious news, so with it coinciding with my mini quest to explore fantasy in greater depth I selected this work.
I did not get into it. There are some good aspects, it is eerily atmospheric, and very well written, a grown up fantasy work for sure.
The story is punctuated with interesting moral and philosophical points, a notable passage on crowds acting like a species sticks in the mind. There are some cool biotech weapons (literally), but in general the book is slow on world building, to the extent I still know little of the world by the end.
The intriguing setting, of a world that has had but somehow lost the power to travel to the stars before regressing (?) to a medieval like state feels underexplored. You remain very time bound despite the occasional dangle of further knowledge. Hampered by the single point of view format.
The structure too didn't sit right with me personally. A teasing dramatic opening (left pretty much untouched by the end), a fairly standard apprenticeship story leading to the the kernel of a quest, then some weird and confusing love based dramas.
We don't get very far on that journey. I know this is book one of four, but as the closing lines read "if you wish to walk no further then I don't blame you, it's no easy road" well, yeah I agree, and I don't think I will.