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The Shadow of the Torturer
The Shadow of the Torturer: Urth: Book of the New Sun | Gene Wolfe
Severian is a torturer, born to the guild and with an exceptionally promising career ahead of him . . . until he falls in love with one of his victims, a beautiful young noblewoman. Her excruciations are delayed for some months and, out of love, Severian helps her commit suicide and escape her fate. For a torturer, there is no more unforgivable act. In punishment he is exiled from the guild and his home city to the distant metropolis of Thrax with little more than Terminus Est, a fabled sword, to his name. Along the way he has to learn to survive in a wider world without the guild - a world in which he has already made both allies and enemies. And a strange gem is about to fall into his possession, which will only make his enemies pursue him with ever-more determination . . . Winner of the World Fantasy Award for best novel, 1981 Winner of the BSFA Award for best novel, 1982
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review
xicanti
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Mehso-so

I have complicated feelings about this book.

First: it‘s weird. I like weird things, especially when they invite the reader to actively piece the weirdness together. Wolfe nails that.

Second: Wolfe‘s prose is THICK. It took me ages to wade through his odd phrasings, obscure terms, and world-specific (ie, made up) words. Sometimes I find that sort of thing fun. This time, it raised a barrier between me and the story. ⬇️

xicanti I eventually hit a point where I didn‘t enjoy Severian‘s weird adventures enough to feel like they were worth the work.

Third: I initially loved this and was excited I had an awesome new series to dig into. By the end, I was sick of reading it. I‘ll try the next one, but no promises I‘ll finish.
(edited) 4y
JLaurenceCohen Alzabo Soup is a great podcast that goes through the whole thing chapter by chapter 4y
xicanti @JLaurenceCohen I‘ll keep it in mind. 4y
33 likes3 comments
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xicanti
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Supper was instant kimchi noodle soup because I wasn‘t up to cooking so much as a soft-boiled egg to go in it. Sigh.

And y‘all, I dunno how I feel about THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER. It feels like it could be one of THE books, but it‘s the slowest thing I‘ve read in years. Assuming LibraryThing‘s got the right page count for the omnibus edition, it took me FOUR FRICKIN HOURS to read 100 pages. Argh. I feel like I‘m stagnating here.

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xicanti
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Pain day reading selections. I do love THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER as of 40%, but it‘s definitely some dense reading. I feel like it takes me about seven years to finish each relatively short chapter. We‘ll see if that eventually destroys my love or if I can fight through it.

JLaurenceCohen I just finished listening to the Book of the New Sun audio book with my wife 4y
xicanti @JLaurenceCohen what did you think of it? 4y
JLaurenceCohen It's one of my favs. I had read it twice before. 4y
28 likes3 comments
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xicanti
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Lunch with my first Gene Wolfe novel. It‘s too early to say whether I‘ll love THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER or find it so dense I can‘t engage, but I sure hope it‘s the former. I‘m pretty sure I can see its influence on a bunch of later books I love, which is always a plus.

review
Stegofreak
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Pickpick

A ponderous tale that seems to both have a lot goong on, and so little happening. It's very clear that this is the first part of a longer story, with everything happening before the city is left behind.

The book has plenty of interesting characters, though they inhabit a cruel and dark world. I'm very interested in continuing thw tale.

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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
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My two favorite swords in fiction:

Apprentice torturer Severian‘s blade, Terminus Est, from the Book of the New Sun. It‘s tip is square because it is exclusively used for beheadings.

And the Possible Sword from China Miéville‘s The Scar. When Uther Doul wields it, the blade transcends reality and wherever it could possibly cut, it does.

#Sword #CoolBooks

Katerina Hmmm... Favourite swords. I never gave that a thought. I have favourite spaceships, though 😁 I need to think about swords more. 7y
RJHowe Great choices...personally I always loved Stormbringer and Mournblade 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk @Katerina I don‘t know if I could come up with many more, but these 2 certainly had a lot of character. 7y
See All 7 Comments
Katerina @TobeyTheScavengerMonk They do sound interesting. I've put both books on my tbr list. 7y
Linsy I haven‘t read either of these, but they sound great! My favorite sword is probably from Warbreaker. It has the best personality! (edited) 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk @Linsy About to start Elantris and planning on getting to Warbreaker later this year! 7y
61 likes1 stack add7 comments
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
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I tend to play the long game when collecting a series, so it was a big deal when some #bookmail showed up yesterday with Return to the Whorl.

Now I own Gene Wolfe‘s The Book of the New Sun, The Urth Of The New Sun, The Book of the Long Sun, and The Book of the Short Sun in hardcover.

I‘ve read the first 5 and together they form a work of science fantasy that I would easily put in the company of LOTR in terms of scope and quality.

HannaPolkadots Such high praise makes me interested in checking them out!😀 just one stupid question first: are all 12 in one series? And if so, is the series finished or are there more books to come? 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk Great question @HannaPolkadots It is really kind of 3 series that take place in the same reality separated by huge gulfs of time. The Book of the New Sun (the first 4) and The Urth of the New Sun follow a character named Severian on an aging Earth with a dying Sun. 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk @HannaPolkadots The next 4 books (The Book of the Long Sun) find humanity searching for a new home planet inside of a massive starship. The last 3 (The Book of the Short Sun) take place on humanity‘s new home worlds, Blue and Green. (edited) 7y
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HannaPolkadots Thanks! I will check out the first one and take it from there 😉 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk I just completed collecting the whole Solar Cycle in hardcover @Jaberwocky 7y
Jabberwocky @TobeyTheScavengerMonk okay so what is the name of the first series? 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk @Jaberwocky The first 4 are collectively known as The Book of the New Sun. I had to do some digging to find them individually. I think now the first two books are usually collected together as 7y
Jabberwocky @TobeyTheScavengerMonk I do like collected versions... hmmmm 7y
63 likes8 comments
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
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@AndreaReads tagged me for #TopFiveFaves and I'm happy to oblige:

1. I've been in a Book of the New Sun mood recently so we'll go with that. When the mood passes it's back to Lord of the Rings.
2. The Princess Bride
3. Purple
4. Ice cream with as much non-ice cream stuff in it as possible.
5. Irises

I tag @Seshat and @xicanti

Moray_Reads We have exactly opposite ice cream taste 😂 7y
saresmoore As you wish! 7y
Karkar The princess bride ❤️❤️ 7y
Eyelit Twinsies on 2, 3, 5! 😃 7y
46 likes4 comments
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
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Severian is an apprentice in the Torturer's Guild until he is expelled for showing mercy to a "client". This starts his five book odyssey in which he becomes a traveling executioner, an actor, a messianic figure, the ruler of all civilization, and finally a god. #DontStopBelievin

With Terminus Est, his massive sword designed for efficient beheadings, and his fuligin cloak that is darker than black, he's a pretty #DangerousType

#RockinMay

Cinfhen Like what you did there! Two for one 💕💕 8y
JazzFeathers He sounds like the quintessential 1980s fantasy hero 😉 8y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk @Jaberwocky It all starts here! 7y
Jabberwocky @TobeyTheScavengerMonk Oh man I think I may have gotten myself into more than I bargained for! They sound so good though! 7y
51 likes4 stack adds4 comments
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KnjiskiZmaj
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Pickpick

As I said, this is my fantasy year. And just recently I came across Gene Wolfe and his first book from the Solar Cycle.
I had to leave the impression to settle down for this one. This book was everything but ordinary. At times a bit boring, I must say. But all the twists, characters, bizzare situations, the world created. I feel there's an amazing fantasy cycle waiting for me. Mr. Wolfe, you're really pulling me into your world, congrats!
3.8/5*

12 likes1 stack add
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Minervasbutler
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Pickpick

Hmm. I'm giving this one a cautious thumbs up though in truth I'm not yet completely won over. This is only the first of four parts so I think I'll press on and see if it gets better.

Vinjii I've just read the first part as well and liked it. Have the other 3 ready to go. 8y
63 likes1 comment
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Minervasbutler
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Opinion here and on Goodreads seems VERY divided over this one. Only one way to find out!

ReadingEnvy If you get sucked in you will need to read it twice!! 8y
Minervasbutler @ReadingEnvy Yes I heard it's a tricksy little tale! So far ( page 58) I'm really enjoying it 8y
63 likes2 comments
review
Vinjii
Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Gene Wolfe writes gorgeous fantasy that I discovered thanks to Neil Gaiman. Can't wait to read the rest of The Book of the New Sun! 😍

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Chonut
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Pickpick

Insane dreamy Barthesian dying Earth sci-fantasy. The moon is green and the sun is dying, people who did not leave Earth live in a guild-based society controlled by an autarch. Bechdel travesty but inspiring/enjoyable for its nuanced perspective, linguistic play, revolutionary soul.

Chonut I read this a few years ago and am now listening as an audio book so no photo. It'd be cool if instead of a photo you could use a clip of the audio! 8y
Chonut Also important: first of four in a 'series' that is really just one long ass book called the Book of the New Sun 8y
Rinna Sounds so cool!!! 8y
AiBBot Love the review. I read this years ago. I do not think I made it through the entire series. I shall have to pick it up again. Exhaustingly brilliant. 8y
4 likes1 stack add4 comments
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MoniqueChristine
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Just in! Got my copy of Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer finally! Wish it wasn't out of print. Also, I LOVE this cover! Beautiful!