by Gene Wolfe
The classic story of a young man journey from the only home he’s known and finding himself interacting with the strange wider world. Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe is the omnibus collection of the first two volumes of The Book of the New Sun tetralogy, The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Co...
See my review of the individual books in this volume.
I've been reading bits and pieces of this book for month and it was only in the last couple of days that I gathered the energy to finish it all. Let me state the positives of this book succinctly: it starts off excellently, the language is just hard enough but not too hard and the worldbuilding is f...
It has been suggested that The Book Of The New Sun series is too complex a work to evaluate on one reading. First of all, I don't necessarily believe that and secondly, I have a two kids, a full-time job and a band, and I'm also not the quickest reader. As it seems that I'll probably never get to ...
“If we could have our way, no man would have to go roving or draw blood. But women did not make the world. All of you are torturers, one way or another.”This book could be the first successful fantasy scifi novel I have come across. The tale centers around a young journeyman torturer, Severian, who ...
The summer I turned 16, I flew from NW Montana (actually, Spokane, WA cos that's where the nearest airport was) to San Luis Obispo, CA to spend a few weeks with my then best friend.My plane was delayed and I had no way to let her know because this was before kids my age had cell phones (y'know, exce...
The world built in this first half of the story is fantastic. The 1st person narrative written as a memoir is compelling and well implemented. The main character is quite sexist, but having been raised in an all-male society of torturers, this is not surprising, and anything else would feel forced....
Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun is one of the most revered severed series of all time. Neil Gaiman, Ursula Le Guin, GRRM and goodness knows what other celebs swear by them, not to mention armies of fans among sf readers everywhere. With this kind of adulation writing a review for the books is a...
The Shadow of the Torturer: Apprentice torturer Severian shows mercy for an imprisoned woman and helps her commit suicide rather than endure weeks of torture. For his crimes, Severian is sentenced to travel too the village of Thrax and take up the post of carnifex. Will Severian make it to Thrax ...
This is a difficult book to review, partly due to the fact that the story is far from concluded at the end of this volume, but mainly because this is one of the most unusual fantasy books I have ever read.This volume contains the first two parts of a quartet. At the end of each part, the author paus...
Log in with Facebook 
