“What are Gene Wolfe’s Best Books?” We looked at all of Wolfe’s authored bibliography and ranked them against one another to answer that very question!

We took all of the books written by Gene Wolfe and looked at their Goodreads, Amazon, and LibraryThing scores, ranking them against one another to see which books came out on top. The books are ranked in our list below based on which titles have the highest overall score between all 3 review sites in comparison with all of the other books by the same author. The process isn’t super scientific and in reality, most books aren’t “better” than other books as much as they are just different. That being said, we do enjoy seeing where our favorites landed, and if you aren’t familiar with the author at all, the rankings can help you see what books might be best to start with.

The full ranking chart is also included below the countdown on the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!

The Top Book’s Of Gene Wolfe

53 ) The Knight

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 52
• Amazon: 46
• LibraryThing: 51

53 ) In the Wake of Man

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 52
• Amazon: 46
• LibraryThing: 51

52 ) Operation Ares

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 51
• Amazon: 45
• LibraryThing: 48

51 ) The Shadow of the Torturer

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 52
• Amazon: 33
• LibraryThing: 50

50 ) An Evil Guest

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 50
• Amazon: 43
• LibraryThing: 40

49 ) Home Fires

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 49
• Amazon: 39
• LibraryThing: 43

48 ) Castleview

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 48
• Amazon: 39
• LibraryThing: 42

47 ) Young Wolfe

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 37
• Amazon: 46
• LibraryThing: 45

46 ) Free Live Free

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 45
• Amazon: 39
• LibraryThing: 39

45 ) The Devil in a Forest

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 42
• Amazon: 30
• LibraryThing: 40

43 ) Pandora by Holly Hollander

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 43
• Amazon: 33
• LibraryThing: 35

43 ) A Borrowed Man

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 47
• Amazon: 33
• LibraryThing: 31

42 ) There Are Doors

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 44
• Amazon: 30
• LibraryThing: 32

41 ) Bibliomen

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 15
• Amazon: 46
• LibraryThing: 44

40 ) Shadows of the New Sun

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 38
• Amazon: 15
• LibraryThing: 51

39 ) The Land Across

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 46
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 35

38 ) For Rosemary

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 3
• Amazon: 46
• LibraryThing: 49

37 ) Endangered Species

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 29
• Amazon: 32
• LibraryThing: 34

36 ) The Wizard

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 36
• Amazon: 33
• LibraryThing: 24

35 ) Letters Home

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 1
• Amazon: 46
• LibraryThing: 45

34 ) The Castle of the Otter

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 32
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 38

32 ) Pirate Freedom

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 40
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 25

32 ) The Sorcerer’s House

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 40
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 25

31 ) The Wizard Knight

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 16
• Amazon: 46
• LibraryThing: 17

30 ) Strange Travelers

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 20
• Amazon: 28
• LibraryThing: 30

29 ) Memorare

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 18
• Amazon: 46
• LibraryThing: 13

27 ) Calde of the Long Sun

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 20
• Amazon: 39
• LibraryThing: 15

27 ) A Walking Tour of the Shambles

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 3
• LibraryThing: 32

26 ) Starwater Strains

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 34
• Amazon: 11
• LibraryThing: 28

25 ) Gate of Horn, Book of Silk

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 31
• Amazon: 4
• LibraryThing: 35

24 ) The Soldier of the Mist

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 28
• Amazon: 18
• LibraryThing: 22

23 ) Gene Wolfe’s Book of Days

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 32
• Amazon: 5
• LibraryThing: 29

22 ) Innocents Aboard

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 35
• Amazon: 5
• LibraryThing: 25

21 ) Exodus from the Long Sun

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 18
• Amazon: 33
• LibraryThing: 13

20 ) The Urth of the New Sun

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 24
• Amazon: 18
• LibraryThing: 20

17 ) The Very Best of Gene Wolfe

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 7
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 51

17 ) The Claw of the Conciliator

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 26
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 12

17 ) Castle of Days

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 29
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 23

15 ) The Fifth Head of Cerberus

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 24
• Amazon: 15
• LibraryThing: 17

15 ) Storeys from the Old Hotel

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 26
• Amazon: 15
• LibraryThing: 15

13 ) Planet Engineering

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 6
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 47

13 ) Nightside the Long Sun

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 22
• Amazon: 11
• LibraryThing: 21

12 ) The Sword of the Lictor

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 4
• Amazon: 46
• LibraryThing: 2

11 ) Soldier of Sidon

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 23
• Amazon: 18
• LibraryThing: 9

10 ) The Best of Gene Wolfe

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 7
• Amazon: 33
• LibraryThing: 9

9 ) The Wolfe Archipelago

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 2
• Amazon: 44
• LibraryThing: 1

8 ) On Blue’s Waters

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 11
• Amazon: 28
• LibraryThing: 6

7 ) Peace

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 16
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 7

6 ) The Island of Doctor Death

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 13
• Amazon: 9
• LibraryThing: 19

5 ) The Citadel of the Autarch

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 10
• Amazon: 21
• LibraryThing: 5

3 ) Lake of the Long Sun

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 12
• Amazon: 11
• LibraryThing: 8

3 ) The Soldier of Arete

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 13
• Amazon: 7
• LibraryThing: 11

2 ) In Green’s Jungles

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 9
• Amazon: 11
• LibraryThing: 4

1 ) Return to the Whorl

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 5
• Amazon: 10
• LibraryThing: 3

Gene Wolfe’s Best Books

Gene Wolfe Review Website Bibliography Rankings