The Shadow of the Torturer
Gene Wolfe
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  • Title: The Shadow of the Torturer
  • Author: Gene Wolfe
  • ISBN: 9780099263203
  • Page: 411
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback

    • The first volume of a masterpiece Usula K Le GuinThe Earth is old and the sun is dying In the great Citadel of the City Imperishable, Severian, apprentice of the torturers guild, betrays his oath Exiled, Severian begins his phantasmagoric odyssey through the dark and perilous world of the deep, distant future.A spectacular achievement The TimesTotally original, newThe first volume of a masterpiece Usula K Le GuinThe Earth is old and the sun is dying In the great Citadel of the City Imperishable, Severian, apprentice of the torturers guild, betrays his oath Exiled, Severian begins his phantasmagoric odyssey through the dark and perilous world of the deep, distant future.A spectacular achievement The TimesTotally original, new, incomparable the beginning of something great Ursula K Le GuinCover illustration Bruce Pennington
    Gene Wolfe
    Gene Wolfe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying a Catholic He is a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the field.The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is given by SFWA for lifetime achievement in science fiction and or fantasy Wolfe joins the Grand Master ranks alongside such legends as Connie Willis, Michael Moorcock, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, Ursula K LeGuin, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Joe Haldeman The award will be presented at the 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in San Jose, CA, May 16 19, 2013.While attending Texas AM University Wolfe published his first speculative fiction in The Commentator, a student literary journal Wolfe dropped out during his junior year, and was drafted to fight in the Korean War After returning to the United States he earned a degree from the University of Houston and became an industrial engineer He edited the journal Plant Engineering for many years before retiring to write full time, but his most famous professional engineering achievement is a contribution to the machine used to make Pringles potato crisps He now lives in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.A frequent Hugo nominee without a win, Wolfe has nevertheless picked up several Nebula and Locus Awards, among others, including the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the 2012 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award He is also a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Famecmillan author genewolfe


    Commentaires:

    J.G. Keely
    Wolfe has an almost legendary status amongst fellow authors; Gaiman called him 'a ferocious intellect', Swanwick said he's "the greatest writer in the English language alive today", and Disch called this series "a tetralogy of couth, intelligence, and suavity".You can rarely trust the popular market to single out good authors, but you'd think it might be safe to listen to the opinions of other writers (especially an assemblage of Nebula and Hugo winners in their own right). I will give his fans [...]
    Kevin Kelsey
    First off, the setting is awesome. Secondly, there are sentences, paragraphs, and whole sections of this book that are gorgeously written. Exquisitely crafted prose.The first half of the book is entirely enjoyable, and builds up a world (Urth) that is entirely unique among any fiction I've come across. The second half spends some time meandering. There are enough mysteries here to keep me very interested in finishing the series, because I really need to know what's going on here. It's intriguing [...]
    aPriL does feral sometimes
    The title of this book really turned me away from reading this book for decades. However, it was selected as a club read so I decided to give it a try. There are a few torture scenes and the violence is graphic but minimal. Overall, it is a pseudo-myth story, so the tone is dreamlike, and primarily a meditation on the pain of living as a human being rather than an adventure or coming-of-age story. The language is beautiful, poetic; however it's also a touch self-conscious. Whatever. The author d [...]
    Markus
    I have no idea what to say about this book. I don't even know what I thought of it.I've heard that it's supposed to be difficult to read. I disagree.I've heard that the writing is outstandingly beautiful. I disagree.And so neither my positive nor my negative expectation was met. Moreover, the story was a mess, the main character was a mess and the setting was a mess. Somehow it was still good. The end.
    Lyn
    A dark jewel.Reminiscent of Ursula Le Guin, Robert Silverberg and Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe’s 1980 high fantasy begins a four book series about Severian, an apprentice in the Guild of Torturers who shows mercy and is exiled as an executioner.And like most fantasies, it’s about a lot more too. Wolfe explores themes of honor, guild loyalty and resurrection / rebirth. This can also be seen as a religious allegory, though his tone is somber and the redemption is subtle and hidden in his intricate w [...]
    Penny
    I struggled through this book and spent most of it waiting for the end to redeem it. But then it had no end! It just stopped. If you've read any of my other reviews you may know that books that don't have proper endings are a major pet peeve of mine. I was extra annoyed this time because I'd been told that the beauty of this series lies in the twists and turns brilliantly laid out by Wolfe. I was sorely disappointed.I found this book very difficult to read. I formed no attachment to the protagon [...]
    Bradley
    I was awash in strange expectations and assumptions before picking up this book, and after coming out the other side, I'm happy to say that this thoughtful novel pleased me.It didn't wow me, but it certainly pleased me. I was very worried it wouldn't because the period of the late seventies and early eighties was a time of Fantasy that I just never really liked. What? But this novel is SF! Yes it is, and I loved all the old incorporation of alien life, our dying sun, quantum physics extrapolatio [...]
    Chris
    I tried. Fuck it.That was my original review, but not much to go on. Then again, if I took up 200 pages with flowery words of why this booked suck, I'd be doing the same thing the author of this piece of shit did.The Torture of the Shadower:Flowery prose? Yes. Gene Wolfe has it. He's a talented writer that can make a pretty sentence. I was often impressed with his word usage and some of the sentences were really enjoyable to read.That said, you don't have to construct pretty sentences to impress [...]
    Stephen
    5.0 stars. Along with The Dying Earth by Jack Vance, the book that set the standard for the "science fantasy" epic. The Book of the New Sun Tetralogy is one of the great achievements in science fiction and is a MUST READ for fans of the genre. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!! Winner: World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (1981)Winner: Britsh Science Fiction Award for Best Novel (1982)Nominee: Nebula Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1981)Nominee: John W. Campbell Award for Best Science Fictio [...]
    Linda
    I had no idea what to expect from this book, but I wanted to read outside my normal comfort zone in order to broaden my horizons. (Thanks, John, for the suggestion!) Well, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. I immediately connected with both the style of writing and how the narrator presents the story as reflecting back upon his life and the choices he made or did not make. I also loved the ancient feeling of this world, although it slowly dawned on me that this actually takes place way [...]
    KatHooper
    ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.For those of you enjoy audiobooks, this is the perfect time to finally read (or to re-read) Gene Wolfe's The Shadow of the Torturer. Audible Frontiers recently put it on audio and the excellent Jonathan Davis is the reader.The Shadow of the Torturer introduces Severian, an orphan who grew up in the torturer's guild. Severian is now sitting on a throne, but in this first installment of The Book of the New Sun, he tells us of key events in his boyhood and yo [...]
    Vit Babenco
    The Shadow of the Torturer is like a Preraphaelite canvas – the ancient perishing world, painted in unbelievably vivid colours, is washed in the sanguine rays of a long fatal sundown.Only Gene Wolfe limns with words:“The necropolis has never seemed a city of death to me; I know its purple roses (which other people think so hideous) shelter hundreds of small animals and birds. The executions I have seen performed and have performed myself so often are no more than a trade, a butchery of human [...]
    Mike (the Paladin)
    Okaywhat do I say about this book?I read it first back in the '70s and found that I have very little memory of it. Possibly it was at a time when things were a bit stressfule '70s were like that. Anyway, I decided to reread it.The Shadow of the Torturer is a novel where we are dropped into the middle of a world and get to know it as we go, sort of like "on the job training". I won't give away details as"what would be the point of learning things as you go" if I spill the beans? What I will say i [...]
    Jean-marcel
    I'm really drawn to decadent, crumbling civilisations in literature, especially those of the far distant future. Those who know my tastes know how much I love Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" books, set in a world where the days of the starfaring and ambitious aims of humanity have long dwindled away and in fact the sun itself has ceased to be the warming, welcome beacon it once was but has grown feeble and weak over millions of years. Let's ignore the fact that human life would probably have long exp [...]
    Zach
    After suffering through the verbal flagellation of The Name of the Wind, I was really jonesing for some literary fantasy, if such a thing existed. A friend at work (where people ought to know about such things) tipped me off to Gene Wolf and told me to start here.Gene Wolfe is indeed a literary author: it's clear that significant thought was given to the characters, story arc, linguistic style, and thematic elements before he began writing this four-part story. It's a post-historic future-histor [...]
    Laura
    I don't even know whether I liked this one or not.The story is weird and the MC's a mess. The prose is not difficult to read but dense. The writing is beautiful at times but tedious at others. From a detailed desription of a building or a landscape the author takes you smack right into an equally exquisitely detailed description of say the technique of a proper "socking" (method of torture not article of clothing) or the correct way to suture a stump. Perhaps it is because of the author's partic [...]
    Robyn
    3.5 for personal enjoyment, 4.5 for depth of writing and research. While constantly impressed with the references and allusions littered through the story and the resonance of the world Wolfe builds, the book in the end failed to engage my emotions alongside my brain.
    Nick
    There are certain books that can be considered life-changing experiences. Gene Wolfe is an author who has written one of those for me. The Shadow of the Torturer may very well be my favorite fantasy book of all-time if you pinned me down and forced me to give you an answer. I first read it in my early twenties, and recently picked it up again because I wanted to visit the world of Urth again. In many ways, The Shadow of the Torturer has everything that I look for in a great read: awesome world-b [...]
    Olivia
    I stumbled over Gene Wolfe and the Book of the New Sun via Neil Gaiman, who was praising it highly. I can definitely see why. The prose is beautiful. Gene Wolfe has a wonderful way with words. It's almost like reading poetry. Not much happens in this first of four books, but it was an easy read, immersive and beautiful. I connected with the narrator almost immediately and can't wait to find out what happens to Severian the Torturer.
    Sarah Anne
    What fascinated me most about this was the overall tone of the narration. It was sorrowful and introspective and I loved that. I did feel that Sevarian was a bit too trusting of every single person he met! My only real complaint is that there are hints that he's writing this from someplace and for some reason but we're given no information on that. I'm sure we'll hear about it later but I would have appreciated a bit more info.
    Geoff Sebesta
    I think this was probably one of those books that was so revolutionary at the time that everybody spent thirty years ripping it off and now it seems less original than it really was.Nevertheless, it's a crackin' good book. Wolfe is a rare stylist with the English language, and he has an ability to communicate difficult concepts that approaches genius. There is one part, early in the book, where the main character is looking at a faded old picture in a museum. Somehow Wolfe manages to convey, in [...]
    Mark
    I have very strong memories of this book. I picked it more or less at random years and years ago when I used to have the time to wander aimlessly through a bookstore and explore new titles and authors. The chronicles of Severian (there are four books in this series, I think) were so unlike any kind of fantasy book I'd read that I was really haunted by them, especially the first book. There are images in it, scenes, that actually live up to that word that is so overused now: "surreal." The settin [...]
    Kaitlin
    Wow this book took me a VERY long time to plod my way slowly through and it was certainly not an easy read. This is regarded by many great writers and readers to be a fantastic SF book and the basis for a lot of modern interpretations and influences in the genre, for me, it was a bit of a messy and convoluted story regarding a torturer who wouldn't stop rambling.Whilst I can certainly appreciate aspects of this writing, for example Gene has a wonderfully lyrical prose which makes Death sound lov [...]
    Ryan Mishap
    Okay, like many an SF book, this plunges us into a nebulous world not wholly rendered--in a grave yard no less. Now that's a good start: the protagonist encounters rebels in the graveyard robbin' bones and then goes back to his guild. The Torturer's Guild, mind. From here, the book drags like a fucking stone weight around your brain as our would be torturer becomes obssessed with a captive and eventually leaves to find some other destiny. I got to the end after hundreds of pages and realized not [...]
    Jim
    I tried reading this in paperback a couple of times over the years & it always bored me early on. I thought I'd try it in audio & see if I can get through it since it is a group read. No go. I was alternately bored & horrified. Sick world, boring characters. I made it about 10 chapters, over an hour in. Definitely not for me.That's unfortunate since the alternate group read is Titus Groan which falls into the same category for me.
    Mladen
    Sjajno kreće, lepo se razvija, odlilčno osmišljeno i onda, kao što to ume da bude slučaj kod Vulfa, razvodnjava se polako.No, vredi - obećava.
    Nick Tramdack
    Check out these money quotes from the best fantasy novel of the 1980s. Severian, a torturer exiled for the crime of showing mercy, gets involved in a crypto-catholic quest to restart the dying sun."I know little of literary style; but I have learned as I have progressed, and find this art not so much different from my old one as might be thought." this begins an even better passage, maybe the best passage, where Severian compares the art of writing to his torturer skills."Dr. Talos leaned towar [...]
    Negativni
    Krenuo sam čitati ovaj razvikani klasik sa pogrešnom pretpostavkom da je ovo sf, ili znanstvena fantastika, ali ovo je čisti fantasy. Od ostalih fantasy romana se razlikuje jedino po tome što su ovdje, barem neki, likovi svjesni da njihov svijet ili planet nije jedini i da je samo dio većeg svemira. Uz to ima i par natuknica da je ono što likovi pojme kao magiju možda ustvari napredna tehnologija, jer kako je rekao legendarni A.C. Clark: "svaka dovoljno napredna tehnologija ne može se ra [...]
    Xara Niouraki
    I finally decided to drop this series. If I need to learn new, difficult words that I'll never use in a sentence, I'll buy a dictionary. It will be more interesting.
    Mark
    This is pretty much science fiction at its most literate. I had read the New Sun series before (about 20 years ago) and I had forgotten most of the details, and was not as mature or discerning as I am now. I decided to revisit the series, using a potential reviews as the excuse for my re-reading."The Shadow of the Torturer" is the first book in a four book series called "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe. The book is of a science fiction subgenre called "Dying Earth" after the novels/short [...]
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      Posted by:Gene Wolfe
      Published :2019-02-21T04:20:30+00:00