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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
----- update 12/2/2015 -----
On this, my first re-reading, I'm stopping with Shadow of the Torturer in a "for now" kind of moment. There are some other things I'd like to read as 2015 winds down. Not sure if I enjoyed the story more or about the same this time around. Certainly not less.
----- original review -----
My first pass through Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer/Claw of the Conciliator was summed up with a status update I made about two-thirds of the way through:
I did not dislike the book, and I expect to re-read it and enjoy it even more some day; but it did not strike me thus. Not on this first reading.
Aerin said it well:
And (and Aerin hints at this, as well) -- there is this tendency to wink-and-nudge your way through a book like this. There's some High Vocabulary, and there is an Intricate Plot, and recognizably Epic Characters. And you know for a fact that Gene Wolfe is no dummy; he is a talented storyteller and a gifted author. And who wants to be left behind? Wolfe is gifted and talented and this is a great and convoluted-and-complex-but-epic story and so... it must be brilliant. Who wants to admit that they're left behind? that they didn't get it? that they were frustrated by it, even as they enjoyed it? (Or at least wanted to enjoy it?)
And that's where I landed with this one. I wanted to enjoy it, and I believe that there is an enjoyable novel in there--but unless you're going to give it the extra effort on the first pass (or unless you're a preternaturally brilliant ascetic), expect to be a little frustrated on that first pass.
On this, my first re-reading, I'm stopping with Shadow of the Torturer in a "for now" kind of moment. There are some other things I'd like to read as 2015 winds down. Not sure if I enjoyed the story more or about the same this time around. Certainly not less.
----- original review -----
My first pass through Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer/Claw of the Conciliator was summed up with a status update I made about two-thirds of the way through:
Flashes of brilliance between swaths of tedium.
I did not dislike the book, and I expect to re-read it and enjoy it even more some day; but it did not strike me thus. Not on this first reading.
Aerin said it well:
Reading these books is like trying to watch a foreign movie without subtitles - from two miles away with a crappy set of binoculars, and the audio coming over a fuzzy radio frequency, mixed with three other simultaneous broadcasts. [...] most of the time you're just watching incomprehensible things happening, thinking if you could only see things a little more clearly and understand what the hell people were saying, this might be a really interesting story.
And (and Aerin hints at this, as well) -- there is this tendency to wink-and-nudge your way through a book like this. There's some High Vocabulary, and there is an Intricate Plot, and recognizably Epic Characters. And you know for a fact that Gene Wolfe is no dummy; he is a talented storyteller and a gifted author. And who wants to be left behind? Wolfe is gifted and talented and this is a great and convoluted-and-complex-but-epic story and so... it must be brilliant. Who wants to admit that they're left behind? that they didn't get it? that they were frustrated by it, even as they enjoyed it? (Or at least wanted to enjoy it?)
And that's where I landed with this one. I wanted to enjoy it, and I believe that there is an enjoyable novel in there--but unless you're going to give it the extra effort on the first pass (or unless you're a preternaturally brilliant ascetic), expect to be a little frustrated on that first pass.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I can understand why people rave about this book, and I can see why people hate it, too. I thoroughly enjoyed most of it, though there were a few factors that churned my stomach a bit.
First the positive: This was a dense, intense, vividly written and imagined universe. It's Earth, a long time in the future, as we're approaching the death of the sun. A mythology has grown up around the dying sun, in fact, complete with prophecies of a New Sun that will herald the dawn of a newer and brighter era, hence the name of the tetrology. The world is rich and well-rendered. Wolfe has managed to capture the atmosphere just right, using lovely archaic words and hinting at aspects he never fully fleshes out. However, the reader is able to glean (from geography, some of the legends, and a glorious glimpse of a maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus, the first I've ever encountered in a novel) that the story takes place (or at least begins) somewhere in South America, near the Amazon River.
The story follows an apprentice torturer, Severian, as he makes a series of decisions that drastically change his life. In the process, he has a series of remarkable adventures, but he's certainly no assistant pig keeper. This book is much darker than your average hero quest. Of course, given Severian's vocation, this isn't a surprise. All the sex and the blatant sexism was a bit of a surprise (though it's hardly the first overtly sexist SF classic).
Here is a list of all the females, above the age of puberty, that Severian met on his travels and did not immediately fall in love with/lust after: . There you go. That says a lot. All the women are beautiful, though of course in different ways, and Severian spends a lot of time ruminating over how their beauty differs and what different feelings each woman engenders in him. I get the feeling these are meant to be deep, insightful inner monologues, but they're shockingly sexist, shallow, and they really alienated me from Severian, who I otherwise pretty much liked. He has sex (sometimes quite upsetting, only questionably-consensual sex) with as many women as possible, as quickly after meeting them as plausible. All this coupling got in the way of the otherwise engaging story and plot.
People have complained about the vocabulary and, while I understand their complaint, I don't agree with it. I loved all the old words, looking them up was fun, and they went along way to creating the haunting, alien, dissonant atmosphere that made the book so intense.
Occasionally, the plot would take an inexplicable turn that seemed to make sense to Severian, but never really did to me. However, I'm fine being a little lost at points in a book. I rather enjoy it. Someone said this wasn't a good beach book; I completely disagree. The perfect beach book is one that is dense, absorbing, intense, and fully transports you to a completely alien world where you have to puzzle out everything that's going on around you.
I will certainly read the next two books, though I hope Severian maybe begins to interact with women as if they are actual human beings at some point.
First the positive: This was a dense, intense, vividly written and imagined universe. It's Earth, a long time in the future, as we're approaching the death of the sun. A mythology has grown up around the dying sun, in fact, complete with prophecies of a New Sun that will herald the dawn of a newer and brighter era, hence the name of the tetrology. The world is rich and well-rendered. Wolfe has managed to capture the atmosphere just right, using lovely archaic words and hinting at aspects he never fully fleshes out. However, the reader is able to glean (from geography, some of the legends, and a glorious glimpse of a maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus, the first I've ever encountered in a novel) that the story takes place (or at least begins) somewhere in South America, near the Amazon River.
The story follows an apprentice torturer, Severian, as he makes a series of decisions that drastically change his life. In the process, he has a series of remarkable adventures, but he's certainly no assistant pig keeper. This book is much darker than your average hero quest. Of course, given Severian's vocation, this isn't a surprise. All the sex and the blatant sexism was a bit of a surprise (though it's hardly the first overtly sexist SF classic).
Here is a list of all the females, above the age of puberty, that Severian met on his travels and did not immediately fall in love with/lust after: . There you go. That says a lot. All the women are beautiful, though of course in different ways, and Severian spends a lot of time ruminating over how their beauty differs and what different feelings each woman engenders in him. I get the feeling these are meant to be deep, insightful inner monologues, but they're shockingly sexist, shallow, and they really alienated me from Severian, who I otherwise pretty much liked. He has sex (sometimes quite upsetting, only questionably-consensual sex) with as many women as possible, as quickly after meeting them as plausible. All this coupling got in the way of the otherwise engaging story and plot.
People have complained about the vocabulary and, while I understand their complaint, I don't agree with it. I loved all the old words, looking them up was fun, and they went along way to creating the haunting, alien, dissonant atmosphere that made the book so intense.
Occasionally, the plot would take an inexplicable turn that seemed to make sense to Severian, but never really did to me. However, I'm fine being a little lost at points in a book. I rather enjoy it. Someone said this wasn't a good beach book; I completely disagree. The perfect beach book is one that is dense, absorbing, intense, and fully transports you to a completely alien world where you have to puzzle out everything that's going on around you.
I will certainly read the next two books, though I hope Severian maybe begins to interact with women as if they are actual human beings at some point.