Castleview - Gene Wolfe *****
By Brian Clegg
Having recently covered Adam Roberts’ Fantasy: a short history, I became aware I’d never reviewed some of my favourite fantasy books. I’m starting with one of Gene Wolfe’s masterpieces, Castleview, first published in 1990. This is a booked that is steeped in a particular small town America with a strong mid-twentieth century atmosphere – I can’t think of another fantasy novel that does this so well apart from Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes.
We are plunged straight into this when a new family is viewing a house for sale in the town of Castleview. From the very beginning, the cosy, folksy setting clashes with events – a death, the mysterious viewing of what may or not be a ghost castle, a dark horseman nearly causing a car crash – Wolfe piles on the mysterious events while maintaining a small-town-USA vibe. It is masterfully done. Practically every chapter ends with a notching up of the mystery level and tension.
It’s a thankfully short book (I really can’t be doing with brick-style fantasies, with the inevitable exception of Lord of the Rings): despite having read it at least four times before, I had to keep going to the end as soon as I could. The otherworldly intrusion is a magnificent hotchpotch of English and Irish folklore, including Arthurian legend, where Wolfe has clearly enjoyed piling in everything he can possibly think of.
Only two small moans. There are a couple of foreign accents that these days might be thought a little lacking in political correctness, and Wolfe often has endings that don’t entirely satisfy, as he tends not to tidy everything up, though this one does have a fairly clear ending. But neither of these gets in the way of the book’s appeal.
You can buy Castleview (used on paper but still on Kindle) from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com - it’s appalling this isn’t still in print.
Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here
Now Appearing is the blog of science writer Brian Clegg (www.brianclegg.net), author of Inflight Science, Before the Big Bang and The God Effect.
Source: http://brianclegg.blogspot.com/2025/06/castleview-gene-wolfe.html
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