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The Sorcerer's House is, without qualification, a masterpiece. It is Gene Wolfe at his best, and there is no one who does fantasy better. As he has done in previous works, Wolfe adopts some of the oldest and most worked over tropes of the genre, which in this case includes a magical house larger on the inside than outside, werewolves, and pairs of twins one of whom is evil and the other good, and revitalizes them until they seem brand new. This is combined with complex and incredibly real characters, and a subtly unreliable narrator, to create a fascinating novel that repays close reading with a tale of delightful subtlety, wit, and true insight.

From back of book: A man inherits a huge, magical house in Gene Wolfe's new contemporary fantasy novel. In this new Gene Wolfe fantasy novel, the story is told entirely in a series of letters.

In a contemporary town in the American midwest where he has no connections, an educated man recently released from prison is staying in a motel. He writes letters to his brother and to others, including a friend still in jail. When he meets a real estate agent who tells him he is the heir to a huge old house, long empty, he moves in, though he is too broke even to buy furniture. He is immediately confronted by supernatural and fantastic creatures and events.

His life is utterly transformed. We read on, because we must know more and we revise our opinions of him, and of others, with each letter. We learn things about magic, and another world, and about the sorcerer Mr. Black who originally inhabited the house. And then, perhaps, we read it again.

(Source: Tor Books)