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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Shadow & Claw contains the first two volumes (Shadow of the Torturer and Claw of the Conciliator) of the quartet.
This is an intense, deep and thoughtful framed narrative about Severian's life, told by an unreliable narrator that redefines unreliability at so many levels. It is disguised as a fantasy, yet it has many clues of a sci-fi background.
Let me go first through common details.
This is a framed narrative that could be classified as an epistolary first-person narration in past-tense; namely, Severian is writing an account of his own life. According to him, he has perfect memory and thus although some dialogue is transcribed, other is summarised as if irrelevant.As soon as you begin reading this, you may find out that Severian constantly forgets stuff. Or omits it purposefully, distorts it, etc. I suggest that you do not believe his claims of perfect memory.
There is also an added confounding layer—Wolfe's Appendixes are (somewhat) part of the story. In those, Wolfe explains that he was actually translating the Book of the New Sun (aka, the manuscript that Severian wrote), and that he (Wolfe himself) had some trouble translating some words. This is quite interesting, because it adds some blurriness and inaccuracies into the text.
Overall, the prose is Wolfe's. If you have read Wolfe, you know what I mean. If you haven't read him before, consider that this is not a book to read only once. The prose is somewhat complex, Wolfe's sentences are structured sometimes unintuitively, and they are often long; furthermore, the text is so filled with clues, covert foreshadowings, hints, and Severian's own implied knowledge, that you may need to re-read it (multiple times, mind you) to just pick up everything.
The above is something that Wolfe excels at—the clues are always in the text. They may not be clear, though. Other times, Severian just drops bombs that completely spoil future outcomes... yet those outcomes (at the moment of the revelation) seem utterly unfeasible. As a result, that word-trick left me with an insatiable curiosity of wanting to know how the event in question would happen. Such curiosity-driven approach may not be appreciated or liked by every reader.
Something to consider is that, well, Severian is a Torturer by profession—yet the book is not as darker as it could. There are two execution's described, and that's it; Severian himself writes in his manuscript that he won't describe anything further... and from then on, he only hints at whenever he executes/tortures someone. I personally appreciated that.
Likewise, sex scenes are mostly fade-to-black; there are a few explicit thoughts on horny moments, but that's it. You won't find that here either.
I honestly really liked the setting, and how Wolfe blended the fantasy-façade with the sci-fi elements—but I'll put that in spoilers.There are plenty of sci-fi elements lurking in the background, lie semi-demolished skycrappers, aliens and/or biologically-changed humans, wormholes, Jonas (android? alien?), Father Inire's mirrors-that-are-not-mirrors, something that may be a laser gun... they are all blended so subtly, so delicately and covertly, that more than once I found myself blinking and double-checking the text to see whether I had caught the reference correctly.
Finally, something to mention is that the "goal" that Severian has on the first book (aka, Shadow)… is actually a very long-term goal.He is told he needs to go to Thrax, but by the end of the second book (Claw) he is nowhere near Thrax. You need to set your expectations, though.
Overall, I loved the book and I know I'll be re-reading it just to find the details I have surely missed. However, I would not recommend this book to anyone. If you like to let the book take you somewhere, without expectations, without spoon-fed information or worldbuilding, and with a narrator that is wholly unreliable... then read it. Otherwise, this book may not be for you.
In my honest opinion, Wolfe's writing was just at another level. This is truly a SF Masterwork.
This is an intense, deep and thoughtful framed narrative about Severian's life, told by an unreliable narrator that redefines unreliability at so many levels. It is disguised as a fantasy, yet it has many clues of a sci-fi background.
Let me go first through common details.
This is a framed narrative that could be classified as an epistolary first-person narration in past-tense; namely, Severian is writing an account of his own life. According to him, he has perfect memory and thus although some dialogue is transcribed, other is summarised as if irrelevant.
There is also an added confounding layer—Wolfe's Appendixes are (somewhat) part of the story. In those, Wolfe explains that he was actually translating the Book of the New Sun (aka, the manuscript that Severian wrote), and that he (Wolfe himself) had some trouble translating some words. This is quite interesting, because it adds some blurriness and inaccuracies into the text.
Overall, the prose is Wolfe's. If you have read Wolfe, you know what I mean. If you haven't read him before, consider that this is not a book to read only once. The prose is somewhat complex, Wolfe's sentences are structured sometimes unintuitively, and they are often long; furthermore, the text is so filled with clues, covert foreshadowings, hints, and Severian's own implied knowledge, that you may need to re-read it (multiple times, mind you) to just pick up everything.
The above is something that Wolfe excels at—the clues are always in the text. They may not be clear, though. Other times, Severian just drops bombs that completely spoil future outcomes... yet those outcomes (at the moment of the revelation) seem utterly unfeasible. As a result, that word-trick left me with an insatiable curiosity of wanting to know how the event in question would happen. Such curiosity-driven approach may not be appreciated or liked by every reader.
Something to consider is that, well, Severian is a Torturer by profession—yet the book is not as darker as it could. There are two execution's described, and that's it; Severian himself writes in his manuscript that he won't describe anything further... and from then on, he only hints at whenever he executes/tortures someone. I personally appreciated that.
Likewise, sex scenes are mostly fade-to-black; there are a few explicit thoughts on horny moments, but that's it. You won't find that here either.
I honestly really liked the setting, and how Wolfe blended the fantasy-façade with the sci-fi elements—but I'll put that in spoilers.
Finally, something to mention is that the "goal" that Severian has on the first book (aka, Shadow)… is actually a very long-term goal.
Overall, I loved the book and I know I'll be re-reading it just to find the details I have surely missed. However, I would not recommend this book to anyone. If you like to let the book take you somewhere, without expectations, without spoon-fed information or worldbuilding, and with a narrator that is wholly unreliable... then read it. Otherwise, this book may not be for you.
In my honest opinion, Wolfe's writing was just at another level. This is truly a SF Masterwork.
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As this book (along with Gene Wolfe's previous two books Peace and Fifth Head of Cerebus) is one of my favorite books of all time, I wanted to give a short defense on the misogyny in this book.
This book is misogynistic, and I hate the defense "oh it's the narrator that's misogynistic not the author" though it sometimes true. Severin is constantly trying to convince you he is some misunderstood victim and erasing the stories of those he has harmed or mistreated. The four main female characters do have their own arcs, not all defined by the men in their lives, but you must read between the lines to see them (like most things in this book).
Still I was on the fence about this defense until I read Peace and Fifth Head of Cerebus which both have strong central female characters (moreso in Peace). Often the misogyny of a character is the misogyny of the author bleeding through, and taken alone, Book of the New Sun looks like that's true. But looking at the authors whole output of this era, I don't think it's the case.
This book is misogynistic, and I hate the defense "oh it's the narrator that's misogynistic not the author" though it sometimes true. Severin is constantly trying to convince you he is some misunderstood victim and erasing the stories of those he has harmed or mistreated. The four main female characters do have their own arcs, not all defined by the men in their lives, but you must read between the lines to see them (like most things in this book).
Still I was on the fence about this defense until I read Peace and Fifth Head of Cerebus which both have strong central female characters (moreso in Peace). Often the misogyny of a character is the misogyny of the author bleeding through, and taken alone, Book of the New Sun looks like that's true. But looking at the authors whole output of this era, I don't think it's the case.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is amazing. I love the world building most, as it is as intricate as it is opaque. All events and characters seem to resonate through the rest of the story, but on one read, you will never tell.
I really can't say much here without giving the game away. Read this book, as I will be reading it again before too long.
I really can't say much here without giving the game away. Read this book, as I will be reading it again before too long.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Ocena za 2 tom👌 Jeśli myślicie, że 1 tom pogmatwany to tej był jeszcze bardziej😂
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Not enjoyable.
Harsh world, treatment of female characters.
Phenomenal writing.
Harsh world, treatment of female characters.
Phenomenal writing.
very slow paced, even though the world building was great. i might pick up where i left off eventually.