The Shadow of the Torturer

Hardcover, 303 Seiten

Sprache: English

Am Mai 1980 von Simon and Schuster veröffentlicht.

ISBN:: 978-0-671-25325-7
OCLC-Nummer:: 5563965
ASIN:: 0671253255
Goodreads:: 463365

(1 Rezension)

In a stunning blend of the lyric extravagance of fantasy and the keen edge of science fiction, meeting in a future so distant that it seems like the ancient past, Gene Wolfe begins his chronicle of Severian the Torturer in this first volume of The Book of the New Sun.

One is not born into the torturer's guild, one is adopted there from the children of its victims. In the great Citadel built of unsmeltable gray metal, young Severian and his fellow apprentices study to achieve the rank of Master Torturer, learning the ancient mysteries of the guild, sworn to torture whom the Autarch says to torture, and to kill whom he says to kill.

But with the coming of Thecla, a beautiful and intelligent woman whose indiscretions have lost her her place in the inner circle of concubines of the House Absolute, life changes for Severian, as he …

In a stunning blend of the lyric extravagance of fantasy and the keen edge of science fiction, meeting in a future so distant that it seems like the ancient past, Gene Wolfe begins his chronicle of Severian the Torturer in this first volume of The Book of the New Sun.

One is not born into the torturer's guild, one is adopted there from the children of its victims. In the great Citadel built of unsmeltable gray metal, young Severian and his fellow apprentices study to achieve the rank of Master Torturer, learning the ancient mysteries of the guild, sworn to torture whom the Autarch says to torture, and to kill whom he says to kill.

But with the coming of Thecla, a beautiful and intelligent woman whose indiscretions have lost her her place in the inner circle of concubines of the House Absolute, life changes for Severian, as he disobeys the rules he has been raised to follow. The young torturer expects to be killed for his crime; instead he is exiled from the city to serve as a simple executioner in distant Thrax, the City of Windowless Rooms. As he leaves, his master gifts him with the ancient executioner's sword, Terminus Est, the Line of Division.

So armed, he sets forth into the vast City, heading for the distant gate. On his way he encounters the twins Agia and Agilus, who drive him to an arcane duel on the Sanguinary Field; the acting troupe of Dr. Talos, a charlatan, Baldanders, a monstrous giant, and the lovely Jolenta; and Dorcas, a mysterious girl who appears on the shore of the Lake of Birds, where the dead lie.

Into Severian's hands falls also the miraculous gem, the Claw of the Conciliator, whose powers promise to lead him to the very throne of the House Absolute. But first he must journey north, to the land of the mountains, and it is at the great gate of the City Imperishable, the largest in the world, that the first volume of The Book of the New Sun closes, with Severian standing at the portal of his destiny.

19 Auflagen

zeerooth@ramblingreaders.org hat The Shadow of the Torturer von Gene Wolfe besprochen (The Book of the New Sun, #1)

The Shadow of the Far-Future Science Fantasy

4 Sterne

One of the things that I absolutely adore about "The Shadow of the Torturer" is definitely the setting. The story takes place in the far future, after humans built enormous cities, walls, citadels and most importantly spaceships that could reach other stars. It's mostly a mystery of what happened since then, but during the timeline of the book we're left with a planet that's full of marvelous technologies, bordering on magic and a class of nobility that can still somehow utilize it. Yet, the vast majority of the population are simple folk, cast back to an equivalent of the middle ages, who don't understand the world around them at all and to them, technology is more akin to myth and legend.

The story itself follows Severian - an apprentice in the guild of torturers, who due to some certain events leaves his home to perform his work somewhere else (I'm …

One of the things that I absolutely adore about "The Shadow of the Torturer" is definitely the setting. The story takes place in the far future, after humans built enormous cities, walls, citadels and most importantly spaceships that could reach other stars. It's mostly a mystery of what happened since then, but during the timeline of the book we're left with a planet that's full of marvelous technologies, bordering on magic and a class of nobility that can still somehow utilize it. Yet, the vast majority of the population are simple folk, cast back to an equivalent of the middle ages, who don't understand the world around them at all and to them, technology is more akin to myth and legend.

The story itself follows Severian - an apprentice in the guild of torturers, who due to some certain events leaves his home to perform his work somewhere else (I'm trying to spoil too much alright?). He sees many wonders along his path of life and he's trying to understand the world around him, but in the end he experiences first hand how cruel life can be.

Now, I think the prologue itself is quite amazing, but after that the book lost a lot of its charm in my eyes. The characters Severian meets since then are rather flat and just leave (or die) after fulfilling their purpose. Somehow Severian ends up with multiple lovers and he's a guy who just can't look at a woman and not desire them, which I guess can be natural, but I can't help but cringe on such descriptions in most books. It made my remember why I disliked the Witcher. Another issue is that the language in the book is stylized as ancient. It means there are a ton of Latin and archaic words, plus a lot more made-up ones. I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing, it enhances the atmosphere, but it did make the book hard to follow.

Overall I quite liked "The Shadow of the Torturer", all things considered, but I'm still not sure if I'm going to come back to the series.

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World Fantasy Award Best Novel