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A review by blazeofredfiree
The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe
This was an interesting one- not like anything I've ever read before!
Wolfe is clearly an incredibly talented writer- his descriptions and prose was so vivid and gorgeous. His worldbuilding was also very clever- there was no infodumping or explicit feeding of information, yet I could still get the impression of a very detailed and unique world.
Severian was an interesting main character- a lot of emotional depth. I feel like there was a lot of subtext when it came to him and the world that I just didn't really understand/pick up on. Perhaps this will be one to reread in the future! The literary style was somewhat dense for me (it's not something I'm used to) but it ended up fitting with the story very well I feel- which felt quite messy and meandering, but ended up tying together in a somewhat satisfying way.
I didn't really love the fact that every female character seemed to be an object of desire for the main character, and there are some rather outdated ideas about women scattered throughout. Whether that's just because of the time or it's supposed to reflect the main character's own prejudices wasn't entirely clear to me, but I managed to ignore it and it didn't affect my enjoyment too much.
Not quite sure what to make of this one- I wouldn't say I was gripped throughout, but I was certainly intrigued. Though it felt meandering, I also feel that the author has a much grander plan in mind with this series. Perhaps I wil read the others to see, perhaps not, but I don't regret reading this one!
Wolfe is clearly an incredibly talented writer- his descriptions and prose was so vivid and gorgeous. His worldbuilding was also very clever- there was no infodumping or explicit feeding of information, yet I could still get the impression of a very detailed and unique world.
Severian was an interesting main character- a lot of emotional depth. I feel like there was a lot of subtext when it came to him and the world that I just didn't really understand/pick up on. Perhaps this will be one to reread in the future! The literary style was somewhat dense for me (it's not something I'm used to) but it ended up fitting with the story very well I feel- which felt quite messy and meandering, but ended up tying together in a somewhat satisfying way.
I didn't really love the fact that every female character seemed to be an object of desire for the main character, and there are some rather outdated ideas about women scattered throughout. Whether that's just because of the time or it's supposed to reflect the main character's own prejudices wasn't entirely clear to me, but I managed to ignore it and it didn't affect my enjoyment too much.
Not quite sure what to make of this one- I wouldn't say I was gripped throughout, but I was certainly intrigued. Though it felt meandering, I also feel that the author has a much grander plan in mind with this series. Perhaps I wil read the others to see, perhaps not, but I don't regret reading this one!