Gene Wolfe was an amazing literary talent. I will never forget the Book of the New Sun. But I think these later works began to get lost, and Interlibrary Loan is definitely incomplete. We revisit the smaller but rougher "A Borrowed Man" world where authors are cloned as library resources and are not treated as human. One mildly refreshing thing about this work is that it is one where the library is not painted in gushing terms. It starts out as a somewhat meandering mystery, mostly there to showcase Ern A. Smithe's thoughts on his life and not-really-human status. Then it takes a turn for the weird as alternate universes kind of sneak into the story. Then the book ends.
I think it was worth publishing, but not really worth consideration for awards. But I will miss Gene Wolfe for sure.
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