Agreed on the entire Solar Cycle. IMO the interplay between the Long Sun series and Short Sun series is its own kind of magnificence. Like many Wolfe readers, I came into Long Sun looking for "more" New Sun, and it took me quite a while (probably 2 books in) to dispense with that expectation and start appreciating Long Sun on its own merit. By the end of Long Sun I was enjoying it very much, but it wasn't until I started reading Short Sun that I began to see the brilliance of what the author was trying to accomplish between the two stories.