The Shadow of the Torturer

Nebula Award. Locus Award. The World Fantasy Award. British Science Fiction Association Award. “The Book of the New Sun” by Gene Wolfe is one of the most famous science-fiction cycles of all time. It’s a long magical novel in four parts. “Shadow and Claw” contains the first two: “The Shadow of the Executioner” and “The Claw of the Peace-Maker,” which were awarded the World Fantasy Award and the Nebula Award. Severian, a modest apprentice of an executioner, blessed—and cursed—with the gift of photographic memory, tells the story of a path leading him through sex, betrayals, exile, murders, conspiracies, and secrets—toward adulthood and the pinnacle of power over the ancient world of Urth, illuminated by a dying sun. “Shadow and Claw” — the first two books of the celebrated magical tetralogy “The Book of the New Sun.” “The Shadow of the Executioner” features Severian as an apprentice in the Guild of Executioners and a student of the Order of Penitence and Seeking Truth in the strange decadent world of Urth. He is exiled for the most terrible sin in his profession—compassion for the victim. “The Claw of the Peace-Maker” continues Severian’s search for his purpose. Is it connected to an ancient relic supposedly possessing mythical power? Will Severian have to play a role in political intrigues of the Lord of Urth? Or does the apprentice of the executioner have a different fate ahead? “A wonderful thing… a work of art… the best science fiction I’ve read in years.” — Ursula Le Guin “The Book of the New Sun” is almost heartbreakingly good—rich and full of nuances that reveal themselves with each rereading. It’s a masterpiece by Gene Wolfe.” — David Langford, a critic, ten-time Hugo Award winner “One of the most ambitious works in twentieth-century fiction.” — Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine “A masterpiece of science fiction, comparable in significance to the main works of Tolkien and Lewis.” — Publishers Weekly “The book contains elements of Spenser’s allegory, Swift’s satire, Dickens’s social consciousness, and Wagner’s mythology. Wolfe creates a truly alien society that the reader begins to feel from the inside… Once you’re in it, you can’t stop.” — The New York Book Reviews