Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by halexb
Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe
4.0
This book is actually two books in one: The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator, but I'll review them as one.
This is a very good book that demands an attentive reading. Gene Wolfe uses an unreliable narrator who may or may not be intentionally omitting or changing certain story elements. The world in which the tale unfolds is Earth in the far future, a surreal world brought to life through the vivid descriptions and use of obscure words such as fuligin and cacogen (bring a good English dictionary and be prepare to Google a lot).
The narrative is not completely linear. The tale is told by Severian and he doesn't always tell us everything or even in the order it happened. Some events and / or people introduced early in the proceedings are only fully explained later. All this makes for a very rewarding reading if that's your thing. If you want a more linear and simple prose, this ain't it. Shadow and Claw demands a lot from the reader and it isn't always willing to provide all the answers. The reader must infer or extrapolate some of it and much is open to interpretation.
This is a very good book that demands an attentive reading. Gene Wolfe uses an unreliable narrator who may or may not be intentionally omitting or changing certain story elements. The world in which the tale unfolds is Earth in the far future, a surreal world brought to life through the vivid descriptions and use of obscure words such as fuligin and cacogen (bring a good English dictionary and be prepare to Google a lot).
The narrative is not completely linear. The tale is told by Severian and he doesn't always tell us everything or even in the order it happened. Some events and / or people introduced early in the proceedings are only fully explained later. All this makes for a very rewarding reading if that's your thing. If you want a more linear and simple prose, this ain't it. Shadow and Claw demands a lot from the reader and it isn't always willing to provide all the answers. The reader must infer or extrapolate some of it and much is open to interpretation.