Agia says they must depart because the descending sun will soon strike the City Wall, which is the signal for the guards to close the gates to the City and for the dueling to commence. If a duellist is not on the fields by the time the sun is fully below the City Wall, he is assumed to have refused satisfaction and can be freely assaulted anywhere by the armiger or hired assassins. Severian sees hundreds of people heading to the Sanguinary Fields, most of whom are merely onlookers. He then sees Agia and Dorcas descending from the inn and his desire for Agia is rekindled despite his disdain mere moments before. Both Agia and Dorcas can see this in his face, but Agia withholds herself from him because she is still angry with Severian. He reflects on the difference in women: “I think it is in this that we find the real difference between those women to whohe bm if we are to remain men we must offer our lives, and those who (again – if we are to remain men) we must overpower and outwit if we can, and use as we never would a beast: that the second will never permit us to give them what we give the first. Agia enjoyed my admiration and would have been moved to ecstasy by my caresses; but even if I were to pour myself into her a hundred times, we would part strangers.” And yet Severian still found himself desiring her. Fresh as a flower, Madame. Hardly a breath of stink on her, and nothing to worry about." More agilely than I would have thought possible, he sprang out. "Now give me one end and you take the other, Liege, and we'll have her out like a carrot."

The words were no sooner out of his mouth than I heard someone shout. Three of the volunteers were coming down the path over the rim of the dale. "Hold them off, Liege," the heavy man growled, shouldering the corpse. "I'll take care of this, and get Madame to safety." The narrator Severian recalls that when he was younger, he only desired “high things” like justice and for the Torturers guild to regain the high regard it once had. He then writes, “I am wise now, if not much older, and I know it is better to have all things, high and low, than to have the high only.” If you need constant action, hope, a quest, a hero with a purpose, and so on, this is not the book for you. There isn't even the hope of redemption for the protagonist and he really could use it. The story really is something quite dark and often times aimless. This book is the first part in a five part series, and only the first four books are available on Audible. I would say that this series is the story of the torturer's apprentice Severian, and his journey from lowest and most despised member of society to the throne, set in a far future Earth in which civilization and society are on a slow decline. I would say that, except that this is less a story and more a multi-dimensional mental jigsaw puzzle. The series requires that you, the listener, pay a great deal of attention to the plot, characters and vocabulary, and then listen to the whole thing all over again, possibly a few times, to get the richness, complexity and beauty of Gene Wolfe's vision. If you are prepared to make that kind of commitment, this is a great bargain as it will repay you in many hours of listening pleasure, getting better each time you listen again. Severian and Dorcas return to their travels and encounter Dr. Talos and Baldanders, who are almost ready to perform the play they had invited Severian to that morning. Severian assists in the play, and the next day the group sets out toward The Piteous Gate leading out through the great wall of Nessus. When they are in the gate, there is suddenly a commotion and the volume abruptly ends.

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Another aspect of the book that makes it so important is its richly detailed world-building. Wolfe creates a fully realized, believable universe that is both strange and familiar. He populates it with a wide variety of cultures, religions, and technologies, each of which is unique and detailed. This gives the book a sense of depth and realism that is rare in the genre. In conclusion, “The Shadow of the Torturer” is a masterful work of science fiction that explores important themes and offers a richly detailed world that is sure to captivate readers. It is a must-read for fans of the genre and those interested in exploring the nature of power and the human condition. While attending Texas A&M Unive Gene Wolfe was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was 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 was a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the field. When finally Thecla is put to torture, Severian takes pity on her and helps her commit suicide, by smuggling a knife into her cell, thus breaking an oath to his guild.

Father Inire gives Domnina instruction in some basics of physics – (1) that if something moves very, very fast, it grows heavy and is attracted to Urth or other worlds, becoming a source of attraction itself if it travels fast enough; and (2) although light is weightless, it presses against what if falls on like a wind pushes the arms of a mill. He explains that the mirrors are used to travel between the stars, saying “if the light is from a coherent source, and forms the image reflected from an optically exact mirror, the orientation of the wave fronts is the same because the image is the same. Since nothing can exceed the speed of light in our universe, the accelerated light leaves it and enters another. When it slows again, it reenters ours – naturally at another place…. Eventually it will be a real being, if we do not darken the lamp or shift the mirrors. For a reflected image to exist without an object to originate it violates the laws of our universe, and therefore an object will be brought into existence.” The flanking volunteers ran toward him, but he had held onto his weapon. I saw the bright blade flash up, though its owner was still on the ground. I remember thinking what a fine thing it would have been to have had such a sword on the day Drotte became captain of apprentices, and then likening Vodalus to myself. Severian continues his travels toward Thrax, and Dorcas accompanies him. While searching his belongings, Severian finds the Claw of the Conciliator. Apparently Agia stole the Claw from the altar they destroyed and placed it in Severian's belongings knowing that she would be searched. Eventually Severian and Dorcas encounter Dr. Talos, Baldanders and Jolenta, who are almost ready to perform the play they had invited Severian to the morning before. Severian assists in the play, and the next day the group sets out toward the great gate leading out of Nessus, where they meet a man named Jonas. As they are passing through the gate, there is suddenly a commotion and the narration abruptly ends.Per guild custom, a masked and cloaked Severian stands on the scaffold for a long time before Agilus is brought out. Once he is, the execution is swiftly completed. Severian hears Agia’s faraway scream at that moment. After the body is dragged away and Severian is paid a “master’s fee” for his services, he and Dorcas depart after dark per the advice of more experienced guildsmen. It is revealed that Severian was ill after the execution and he attributes that to nerves and concern that something would go wrong. It is my nature, my joy and my curse, to forget nothing. Every rattling chain and whistling wind, every sight, smell, and taste, remains changeless in my mind, and though I know it is not so with everyone, I cannot imagine what it can mean to be otherwise, as if one had slept when in fact an experience is merely remote. Those few steps we took upon the whited path rise before me now: It was cold and growing colder; we had no light, and fog had begun to roll in from Gyoll in earnest. A few birds had come to roost in the pines and cypresses, and flapped uneasily from tree to tree. I remember the feel of my own hands as I rubbed my arms, and the lantern bobbing among the steles some distance off, and how the fog brought out the smell of the river water in my shirt, and the pungency of the new-turned earth. I had almost died that day, choking in the netted roots; the night was to mark the beginning of my manhood.

Drotte continued, "You must know that for certain simples to attain their highest virtues they must be pulled from grave soil by moonlight. It will frost soon and kill everything, but our masters require supplies for the winter. The three of them arranged for us to enter tonight, and I borrowed that lad from his father to help me." Severian and Agia climb up the ladder to the hut and find it inhabited by, as it turns out, the man who fled and now looks out a window (Robert), a woman reading aloud in a corner (his wife Marie) and a naked man crouching at her feet (Isangoma). Isangoma appears to be a local tribesman who speaks of Numen, the Proud One, and says “Everything found beneath leaves is his, the storms are carried in his arms, the poison holds no death unless his curse is pronounced over it!” Isangoma says he loves the Preceptress (Marie) and would save her if he could from the tokoloshe (dwarf-like mischievous evil spirits from South American myth). Robert turns from the window, looks at Severian and Agia and tells Marie, “As Isangoma says, the tokoloshe are here. Not his, I think, but ours. Death and the Lady.” It becomes obvious that Marie cannot see them and Robert says in frustration, “Don’t you see that they are the results of what we do? They are the spirits of the future, and we make them ourselves.” Inside the gardens, Severian falls into a lake used to inter the dead, and while pulling himself out he finds a young woman named Dorcas to have come up from the lake as well. Dazed and confused, the woman follows Severian and Agia. Severian secures the avern with the help of a man named Hildegrin, who he recognizes as a companion of Vodalus from the night they met in the necropolis. Agia, Severian and Dorcas proceed to an inn near the dueling grounds. While eating dinner, Severian receives a mysterious note warning about one of the women. After dinner, Severian fights in the duel, and though stabbed by the avern he miraculously survives. When Severian wakes again, he finds himself to be in a lazaret. After finding Dorcas and identifying himself, he is requested to perform an execution. The prisoner turns out to be his opponent, Agia's brother, whom he executes after learning that Agia had challenged him in disguise, while her brother fought him with the avern, as part of a scheme to kill him and steal Terminus Est. While attending Texas A&M 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 lived in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The Shadow of the Torturer is a fantasy novel by American writer Gene Wolfe, published by Simon & Schuster in May 1980.[2] It is the first of four volumes in The Book of the New Sun[1] which Wolfe had completed in draft before The Shadow of the Torturer was published. It relates the story of Severian, an apprentice Seeker for Truth and Penitence (the guild of torturers), from his youth through his expulsion from the guild and subsequent journey out of his home city of Nessus.

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Audible really outdid themselves with this production. I can't imagine a finer narrator for this series than Jonathon Davis. His pacing, emphasis, vocal expressions and various character renderings are flawless. The pacing is particularly important, as nearly every sentence contains some clue to solving the final puzzle. The only issue I had was that the author does ramble more than once, even to the point of being annoying in a few instances. Once during the book, I did sigh and think, "Can we get on with it?" However, this did not spoil my overall enjoyment. Reading this book is like accidentally stumbling into the dreams of another person that is barely keeping their sanity intact. The narrator for this audiobook is literally the only redeeming feature; he is able to create discrete characters easily and memorably, and strides with aplomb through the made-up waffling of the author. What makes Gene Wolfe's epic different from everything else on the SFF shelf is his unique, evocative storytelling style. The reader isn't given all of the history and religion lessons (etc.) that are often dumped on us at the beginning of a fantasy epic. Rather, Severian's story is episodic and seems like it's meandering lazily, taking regular scenic detours, as if there's nowhere to go and plenty of time to get there. Because the story isn't a straight narrative, we don't understand the purpose or meaning of everything Severian relates ??? we have to patch it together as we go. By the end of the book, we're still clueless about most of it and we're starting to realize that Severian is kind of clueless, too. Much of the power of this novel comes from the sense that there is world-building and symbolism on a massive scale here, but that explanations and revelations for the reader would just cheapen it and remove the pleasure that comes from the experience of discovery.

The Shadow of the Torturer won the annual World Fantasy Award and British Science Fiction Association Award as the year's best novel. Among other annual awards for fantasy or science fiction novels, it placed second for the Locus (fantasy), third for the Campbell Memorial (SF), and was a finalist for the Nebula (SF). [6] [7] [8] Limited edition [ edit ] Little Eata fidgeted with nervousness, and the leader saw us and lifted his lantern over his head. "We're waiting to get in, goodman," Drotte called. He was the taller, but he made his dark face humble and respectful. As they cross the Lake of Birds, Hildegrin says that some call it that because many birds are found dead in the water. However he thinks it’s just because there are so many birds found at the Garden of Everlasting Sleep. He comments, “But she’s a good friend to birds, Death is. Wherever there’s dead men and quiet, you’ll find a good many birds, that’s been my experience.” Severian agrees, recalling the thrushes in the necropolis. Publication: The Shadow of the Torturer". Internet Speculative Fiction Database . Retrieved 2017-10-12. Concerning the tone of the story, the audience is reminded from time to time that these are essentially memoirs of the main character, which does take away from the narrative tension. In effect, you are reading a story knowing the ending beforehand, which I think is an admirable decision on the part of the author. By placing the ending of the story in the beginning, Wolfe has essentially challenged his audience to come along for the ride just to see how the lead character gets to where he is. Severian claims to possess not just an eidetic memory but a perfect memory and as such any contradictions on his part as the narrator are deliberate obfuscations.

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Severian is told to leave the lazaret after the doctor confirms he is healthy because his garb and sword are upsetting the other patients. A magistrate from the Hall of Justice finds Severian and tells his services as carnifex will be needed tomorrow to execute a man who has killed nine people. After securing overnight quarters for himself and Dorcas, Severian visits the prisoner per his guild’s customs. He sees a naked woman (who he is surprised to see is Agia) sobbing beside a chained naked man who she names as Agilus. Their faces are mirrors of each other and does not understand how this can be, until Agilus explains, “It was Agia in the shop. In the Septentrion costume. She came in through the rear entrance while I was speaking to you, and I made a sign to her when you wouldn’t even talk of selling the sword.” Agia then explains that the sword was made by Jovinian and was worth ten times their shop. Severian has much to say about reality, memory, history, story, art, culture, justice, religion, meaning, and love. Provocative lines punctuate his text. Symbols "invent us, we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges." Or "time turns our lies to truths." Or "the charm of words … reduces to manageable entities all the passions that would otherwise madden and destroy us." Neil Gaiman, in his list of the three greatest science fiction novels, ranked The Shadow of the Torturer first, ahead of Neuromancer and The Left Hand of Darkness. [5] Awards [ edit ] The third was the leader Drotte had spoken with outside the gate. "Who are you?" he called to Vodalus, "and what power of Erebus 's gives you the right to come here and do something like this?"