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victorio 's review for:
Shadow & Claw
by Gene Wolfe
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is my second reading of the series, about six years removed from the first. I've always heard you have to read it twice to fully understand them. While I do believe that's true in some sense, I also believe maybe remaining a little confused helps add to the enjoyment of these books. As I read them now, there are some "oh I didn't catch that the first time" moments, but also a lot of "oh right, that's just this thing" moments as well. And maybe I've just grown a lot in the past six years, but goddamn is Severian sexist. I remembered this from my first read through but either I didn't realize how frequently it came up or it just didn't bother me as much before (which says more about me than the book, because it's very blatant). It's hard to know if this is a reflection of Wolfe or if he intended to write his character in this way. He's constantly "in love" with every woman he meets and kisses or sleeps with most of them, but he's also an unreliable narrator so maybe he's lying?
Anyway, even having read it before, the prose is very hard to get through and I still don't understand about every 15th word, and there's really no sort of plot to keep you interested, so if you don't like world building and being confused, you might not like this book. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I do like these things. A lot of my favorite parts don't even happen till the next volume, and tbh a lot of my least favorite parts happened in this one (besides the misogyny, there's also a really long play that makes zero sense). I feel like I remember it all being worth it in the end. Increate, please, let it be worth it in the end.
Anyway, even having read it before, the prose is very hard to get through and I still don't understand about every 15th word, and there's really no sort of plot to keep you interested, so if you don't like world building and being confused, you might not like this book. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I do like these things. A lot of my favorite parts don't even happen till the next volume, and tbh a lot of my least favorite parts happened in this one (besides the misogyny, there's also a really long play that makes zero sense). I feel like I remember it all being worth it in the end. Increate, please, let it be worth it in the end.