The Shadow of the Torturer

Upon opening the front cover, you are thrust into the world Wolfe has created. Every nuance and detail is in its place. A timeless classic for sci-fi and fantasy lovers.

“The Shadow of the Torturer,” book 1 of the Nebula- and World Fantasy Award-winning tetralogy by Gene Wolfe, is breathtaking in its beauty and scope. (That being said, I would definitely recommend buying “Shadow and Claw,” which includes “The Shadow of the Torturer” and “Claw of the Conciliator,” the first half of the 4 book series.) This book has everything you could want in a sci-fi/fantasy mash-up: mystery, epic power struggles, love, betrayal, a hero’s journey, and a plot that will keep you guessing till the end. It’s been compared to the works of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in its wildly imaginative world building and scope, and while I personally think that that comparison is hyperbolic (although not as much of a stretch as one might think), for Wolfe’s series to even be mentioned in the same breath as those two titans of literature speaks volumes about just how brilliant this series is, and how fresh and resonant it continues to be almost 40 years on. Set so far in the future that the sun is dying and the moon is green from being made fertile eons previous, the society it presents is nonetheless backwards, medeival and deeply feudal (presumably because of some massive catastrophe). On this “Urth” of the far future, people live in the ruins of ancient spacecraft, the realm is ruled by an iron-fisted Autarch, and alien visits are not an uncommon occurrence. The world of “The Shadow of the Torturer” is an incredible feat of imagination, as well as a work of true literary beauty. A must-read not only for fans of science fiction and fantasy but for fans of literature in general.

On another forum I visit someone posted the New York Times list of the best American fiction of the last 25 years. Not surprisingly, none of it was F & SF. So far as that goes, none of the books listed were anything I'd ever be likely to read. But as I reviewed the books that would make my best of the best list, the top choice is obvious. Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, of which The Shadow of the Torturer is the first volume. For anyone who enjoys craftsmenship, language, poetry, nuance, and irony, this is a book for you. I'm astounded at the reviewers who have criticized the books for the very thing I love most about them: the use or archaic, rare, and invented words. Others complain about Wolfe's richness of detail, bemoaning the fact that it leads nowhere. I disagree. Everything ties together - it just requires some patience on the part of the reader to discover that. This is not just some space opera romance that you can read while soaking in bath salts. This is literature that demands some sophistication from the reader. The New Sun quartet ranks with Dickens, Peake, Dostoevsky, and Hesse. It's not for everyone, but those who appreciate substance over butter popcorn will enjoy it. My runners-up for best fiction of the last 25 years would probably be Connie Willis' The Doomsday Book and Tim Powers' The Annubis Gate.

What an amazing saga of Earth ("Urth") perhaps millions of years into the future - the sun is weakening, there has been a major glaciation, but somewhere in the southern hemisphere exists a complex civilization, rich in hierarchy and tradition, and still using some of the ancient artefacts whose power source is almost inexhaustible. (In the top of the Matachin Tower - which we realize is actually a spaceship that has not moved for millenia - voices occasionally speak out, in forgotten tongues, to whomever is present, or to the other "towers". . .) But the residues of technology are secondary in interest to the wanderings of Severian, initially an apprentice in the order of Seekers After Truth and Penitence, commonly known as the Guild of the Torturers... Inside the back cover of my copy, at one of my readings, I listed the dozens of words that Wolfe invents or modifies to suit his needs. . .many based on Latin or Greek, all with a phenomenal rightness to what they identify or - often - suggest. Badelaire, lansquenet, amchasphand, chrisos, orichalk, pinakothek, salpinx, ephor.. . . .And the tricky thing is that every now and then one of them is a real word . . did you recognise lansquenet and salpinx? Wonderful wordcraft. Do read the four books of the series in order (this is the first). Otherwise you will certainly be confused, especially after Severian's encounter with the alzabo (the hideous animal that feeds on corpses and for a while thereafter posesses some of the dead person's ability and can mimic his/her speech: not a good voice to hear at your door in the middle of the night).

Seriously: This is one of the great overlooked Fantasy/Sci-fi adventures of all time. And to be honest, I hate even putting it into a genre category; it's just a damn good read. After having read tons of sci-fi/fanasy in my youth, I had reached a point where I was embarrassed to read any more of the stuff; almost all of it was trite, Tolkien- or Arthur C. Clarke-derivative, and, frankly, just plain juvenile. It was as if being a Fantasy writer meant that your standard of writing quality didn't have to be as high as that of straight fiction, as long as your characters included a busty warrior girl and a talking dragon. Then I picked up Shadow of the Torturer... With The New Sun series, Gene Wolfe did to Fantasy what William Gibson, Bruce Sterling and Neal Stephenson did to Sci-fi; raised the bar for the genre and told a story that adults could read without feeling embarrassed. This is an epic up there with Lord of the Rings and Dune. It's that good. Be aware that the negative reviews here (and most of the luke-warm ones as well), miss the point entirely. The "made-up words" and "anachronisms" they mention, for example, make complete sense if you actually pay attention, and the people who call Gene Wolfe's writing "rambling and incoherent" simply aren't doing that; he's one of the smartest fiction writers alive today, just don't expect to be spoon-fed everything. In short: This is actually literature (big word, I know...), not just another spin on the same recycled themes. My only question is: why haven't more people read this?! (Not to compare the two, but it's criminal that a predictable teen sci-fi book like Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game has over 2000 reviews and this one has only 13)

The Book of the New Sun, starting with the Shadow of the Torturer (its first volume), is the most sophisticated work in the Science Fiction stable, and one of the most beautifully written of all modern novels - set in a far, far future, where technology has evolved and degenerated to become almost Baroque ornamentation, it seems to describe a feudal or Medieval world. However, one of the many pleasures in this book is the way that our assumptions are taken and re-combined, giving the whole thing much of the intruige and fascination of the most intricate detective story. The characters are vivid, immediate and haunting - their problems believably distant but painfuly immediate - and the written style of the novel is always seductive and a pleaure. Everybody, everywhere, should read this - if only as one of the best example of "post-modern" fiction of all time.

For those of you who want a brief review: This is the story of a boy in a future that has gone beyond man's peak, and now civilization regresses. The main character Severian is in the reviled Guild of Torturers. A promising future in this guild awaits him, until he commits a crime against the guild, and is cast out. His journey into manhood comprises one of the most convoluted, in-depth, and compelling fantasy fiction ever told. If you haven't read this, find it, steal it, buy it, borrow it, but most importantly READ IT! WARNING! This is NOT lite reading, this is a story that must be concentrated on to truly enjoy, else you will become lost in the prose by chapter 3.