Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!genrad!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxi!mhuxa!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!tim From: tim@unc.UUCP Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: Re:The shadow of the Torturer Message-ID: <5315@unc.UUCP> Date: Sun, 5-Jun-83 02:02:12 EDT Article-I.D.: unc.5315 Posted: Sun Jun 5 02:02:12 1983 Date-Received: Wed, 8-Jun-83 02:23:11 EDT Lines: 29 Gene Wolfe is one of the brightest new talents in speculative fiction. His best work is the four-volume "Book of the New Sun", consisting of The Shadow of the Torturer, The Claw of the Conciliator, The Sword of the Lictor, and The Citadel of the Autarch. The second volume won the Nebula Award, and the third and fourth are likely candidates for the same award. The protagonist of the series is Severian, a young and quietly insane journeyman of the despised Torturer's Guild (the Guild of Seekers of Truth and Penitence). The setting is a time so far in the future that today is less than a memory, with even our legends forgotten. Mankind has flourished and fallen over the millions of years. The setting is surrealistic medieval. The influence of Vance's excellent The Dying Earth is clear, but it would be a mistake to label Wolfe as in any way derivative. This is probably not a work for people who only read science fiction or fantasy. The literary and mythological allusions are thick, though never really annoyingly so, and the style is far from the usual matter-of-fact description of sf, full of ambiguity and unusual metaphor. If the books seem to drag, you're probably not paying enough attention -- there is more on many pages than in entire chapters of most fantasies. I can't see how to give a useful plot synopsis without spoiling it for you, so I can only recommend it highly. Tim Maroney