Review: Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe

Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe

Published: Timescape Books, 1983

Series: Book 4 of the Book of the New Sun

Awards Nominated: BSFA, Locus Fantasy, and Nebula Awards

Awards Won: John W. Campbell Memorial Award

The below may contain spoilers for the series.

The Book:

“Severian continues his journey, and now it leads him into war.  He still searches for the Pellerines, in order to return the sacred artifact called the Claw of the Conciliator.  Severian will have to face who he is and who he must become, if there is to be any hope for the future of Urth and its dying star.” ~Alli

This is another audiobook that I listened to during my commute. Reviews of the previous three books in the series can be found here, here, and here.

My Thoughts:

The Citadel of the Autarch seems pretty much the same as the previous three volumes, with Severian wandering around, having experiences, and listening to stories.  This time he comes into an area at war, which is somewhat less exciting to me than when he was traveling in Nessus or in the mountains. One of the highlights of this section for me was a storytelling competition that he oversees among fellow patients in a sickroom. The competition provided an interesting chance to see the values of a variety of different cultures on the planet, including the Ascians, who can only speak in discrete set phrases (perhaps a pun on ASCII). As the series comes to a close, many of the mysteries from throughout the story are cleared up, and there are some interesting thoughts on identity and time travel.

I’d been delaying writing this review for a while now, both because I’ve been very busy and because the overall completed series has left me unenthused.  I can tell that this is a very carefully constructed tetraology, and I can understand how many people have probably had a lot of fun analyzing it. The world is also complex, and I have enjoyed uncovering different aspects of it slowly through Severian’s experiences.  Ultimately, though, there are no characters that I particularly care about, and I didn’t find the plot particularly engaging.  Severian wanders from encounter to encounter, and he is surprisingly passive through it all.  I was hoping there would be something more to his being made into the autarch than fate, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The series has certainly had its moments, but in the end I think I have to admit that it just doesn’t speak to me.

My Rating: 2.5 / 5

I had a hard time getting into this classic series, and ultimately I think it is just not for me.  I think the first novel is a pretty good indicator for whether or not you will enjoy the series as a whole, since it continues in much the same manner.  This last installment was less interesting for me, since it largely featured a war I never managed to care about, and since I was underwhelmed by the conclusion of Severian’s personal story.  I have never been especially engaged by the characters or the plot, and my main joy from these novels has been from reading experiences of Severian’s that are either creepily atmospheric, point out creative aspects of the world of Urth, or both. I know a lot of people love these books, and I gave it my best shot.  In the end,  I probably should have accepted earlier that this just wasn’t going to be my kind of series.

Review: The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe

The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe

Published: Timescape Books, 1981

Series: Book 3 of the Book of the New Sun

Awards Won: BFS and Locus F Awards

Awards Nominated: BSFA, Nebula, Hugo, World Fantasy Awards

Warning: This is the third book of a series, so there are some spoilers of the first two books in the following text.

The Book:

“The exiled torturer Severian has finally reached his post at the city of Thrax, where it appears he will be able to settle into a regular career and position in society.  However, when Severian finds that he is unable to carry out a sentence without question, he must flee Thrax and head into the wilderness.

Severian follows the trail of the Pelerines, the religious order from whom he accidentally received the Claw of the Conciliator, while he was in Nessus.  Along his path lie many familiar and unfamiliar dangers, and he will face many experiences that are both wondrous and horrifying.” ~Allie

For the third book of the series, I listened to the novel on audiobook during my daily commute.  I plan to also listen to the final installment of the series through audiobook, after I finish my ongoing listen of Greg Egan’s Permutation City.

My Thoughts:

After three books, I think that this series is starting to grow on me. I was a little frustrated that the first half of the series finished without Severian ever reaching Thrax, since his inability to reach his destination left me with the sense that he was wandering around with no purpose.  I was delighted to see that this novel opened with him already settled in Thrax, even though he didn’t stay there for long. The format of this installment of Severian’s memoir was similar to the previous ones; he spent most of the book wandering around having adventures and occasionally recounting in-universe stories.  Even so, I felt that his journey was a little more focused on his eventual goal than it was before, and I appreciated that small sense of forward momentum.

The highlights of previous books have been, for me, the creative details of Severian’s various encounters.  The Sword of the Lictor is no different in this respect, and I especially enjoyed the creepy and oppressive atmosphere of several of his more horror-themed experiences.  For instance, one scene takes place in the traditional horror locale of an isolated cabin, and involves a very creative kind of monster.  Another takes place up in the mountains, and involves a monster of the human variety.  In addition to enjoying the stories on their own merit, I was also pleased to see some of the mysteries from previous novels finally explained.   I enjoyed seeing more of the dying ‘Urth’, and hearing more about how various people lived on it.    

One of my largest complaints about the earlier books was the character of Severian, and I felt like this was the first book that took steps towards making him a little sympathetic.  Several acts that contributed to this involved him caring for children in need, with no expectation of repayment.  The act that caused him to flee Thrax also helped me see him in a slightly kinder light.  I think it also helped that a long stretch of this novel did not involve Severian sleeping with women, since his perspective on women is problematic at best.  I appreciated seeing a bit more about the rationalizations he had been given as a child for his career as a torturer, since this made it a little easier to see where he was coming from. I still wouldn’t say Severian is a good person-- not by a long shot-- but I am starting to see him as a person that is perhaps in transition into becoming someone better.  I’m looking forward to seeing how he might grow in the final fourth of the story!

My Rating: 3.5/5

I’ve been having a hard time getting into this classic of science fiction, but The Sword of the Lictor is my favorite of the series so far.  Though it still features Severian wandering around and encountering various situations, the overall story felt a little bit more focused.  Some of the individual encounters are especially chilling, and I was happy to see some long-standing questions answered at last.  I’ve never been particularly fond of the main character, the torturer Severian, but I felt like he took some steps toward becoming a better person in this fourth of the story.  I’m looking forward to seeing what will happen next!

Review: The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe

The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe

Published: Timescape Books, 1981

Series: Book 2 of the Book of the New Sun

Awards Won: Nebula, Locus Fantasy

Awards Nominated: World Fantasy, Hugo, Mythopoeic

Warning: This is the second book of a series, so there are some spoilers of the first book in the following text.

The Book:

“Armed with the gem known as “The Claw of the Conciliator” and the sword Terminus Est, Severian continues his journey to become the new carnifex of Thrax.  On the way, his journey is temporarily derailed by his devotion to the revolutionary Vodalus, who sends him to deliver a message to a servant in the House Absolute.  His path will cross with many former friends and acquaintances, and many strange and surreal experiences await him.”~Allie

Since this is a continuation of the story from the first novel, I would strongly recommend for prospective readers to begin the series with The Shadow of the Torturer. Also, the review of The Golem and the Jinni is coming soon; I just got a little out of order!

My Thoughts:

The Claw of the Conciliator is the second fourth of Severian’s story, and most of the things I liked and disliked from the first novel are present here, as well. I enjoyed the far future, dying earth setting, with a decayed society living alongside high technology from days gone by. I read once that high fantasy often tended to describe a world declining from past greatness, while science fiction often tended to describe a world progressing towards greatness. I enjoyed how Wolfe wrote his science fictional world with this kind of fantasy-esque atmosphere.  It was always interesting to see how the characters would interact with modern or future technology, and I felt like I was also starting to get a better sense of the myths and legends Wolfe was drawing from for particular events or characters.  I’m sure I’m still missing a lot of the allusions and references, but it’s fun to try to pick them out as I go.

However, while I enjoyed the setting, I found it much harder to drum up sympathy for the main cast of characters. I think that Severian might have been an easier character to like if I were privy to less of his thoughts. For instance, Severian carefully described the bodies of all the women he met, and pondered the subtle nuances between the different kinds of lust he felt for each of them.  I did not find these considerations as fascinating as teenage Severian must have, and I found many of his views on women and other topics to be pretty appalling.  Some of the other characters, such as Dorcas, Jolenta, Dr. Talos and Baldanders, had pretty interesting histories or circumstances, but none of them were particularly easy to like.  I was curious about the source of Dorcas's dreams, and the nature of the connection between Dr. Talos and Baldanders, but only in a detached sort of way. Of course, not all novels necessarily need to have a cast of likeable characters, but as it was, it was hard to feel emotionally invested in their personal stories.  

I was less surprised by the plot structure this time around, since the second novel is much like the first.  Severian is technically still on his way to Thrax, as ordered near the beginning of the first novel, but he is still incredibly easy to distract from that goal.  Instead of following a direct path, he wanders through a variety of surreal, improbably connected events.  His meandering experiences are also interrupted by several stories within the story: one written tale and one play that the group with Dr. Talos is performing. I suspect they contain clues for the nature of the story to come, but I admit that I am not yet clear on what many of those clues might be. I found it to be easier to appreciate the story once I let go of the expectation that the plot would proceed in any particular direction, and simply enjoyed the scenes as they passed.

My Rating: 3 /5

The Claw of the Conciliator is similar in style to The Shadow of the Torturer, with the same wandering plot structure and series of surreal experiences.  As Severian wanders, though, more of the nature of the world and of the story in which he is living is beginning to be revealed. While the second novel provided more insight into the structure of the world, it also managed to destroy most of my remaining sympathy for the characters, particularly the protagonist.  While I am still interested in considering the tetralogy as a complete work, having to experience the story from Severian's point of view can be very wearing.  I will probably finish the rest of the series, but maybe not until I've caught up with my 2014 challenges.

Review: The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe

The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe

Published: Simon & Schuster/Sidgwick & Jackson (1980)

Series: Book 1 of the Book of the New Sun

Awards Won: World Fantasy and BSFA

Awards Nominated: Nebula, Campbell, and Locus F

The Book:

“The Shadow of the Torturer begins the 4-volume story of Severian, who we meet as an apprentice torturer on a decaying world called Urth.  His orderly life takes its first unexpected turn when he has a chance encounter with the revolutionary Vodalus.  It is changed forever when a small act of mercy towards a ‘client’ causes him to be exiled from the Citadel that was his home.

Severian begins his journey to become the local carnifex (executioner) of the distant city of Thrax.  As it turns out, he is able to follow his path only to the city outside the Citadel, Nessus, where many encounters and complications delay his passing.” ~Allie

This is the first Gene Wolfe novel I’ve read, and I plan to at least finish this tetralogy.  I’ll likely read more of Wolfe’s work, depending on how I enjoy the complete series.  I’ve heard a lot of praise for these novels, so my expectations are high!

My Thoughts:

The Shadow of the Torturer is the first novel of a tetralogy, and it definitely feels like the first quarter of a larger work.  The novel is described as a document translated from a future language into current English, and it tells the story of Severian, who lives in a far-future dying ‘Urth’. Since the story is set far from modern-day, the narrator’s vocabulary includes a number of unusual words, some of which are taken from non-English languages and other which are derived from words in currently existing languages. I thought this was a neat touch, and it made it easier to work out the meanings of many of the words. The story is a memoir told by an older Severian, so it is shaped around events that he wants to relay, skipping over ‘unimportant’ events.  Severian also occasionally digresses a little from the story to discuss particular topics in more detail. My idea of what events were important did not always seem to match up with Severian’s, but I’m guessing that some seemingly minor events in the story will grow in importance as I gain more information throughout the series.

Severian’s world feels mostly like a feudal fantasy scenario, but there are also occasional pieces of advanced technology, as well as references to or relics of a technological past. At this point in the story, the distinction between fantastical and science fictional doesn’t seem to make that much difference, but I’ll be interested to see if and how this changes in the future volumes.  This atmosphere does allow for some really creative scenes, which are probably technology-based, but sometimes seem magical. For instance, Severian is at one point challenged to a duel—to be fought using poisonous flowers that are collected from the banks of a lake that preserves the bodies of the dead. For this and many other interesting scenes, no explicit explanation is given, so it rests in an ambiguous place between science and magic.   

The way the story drifts from one of these strange events to the next gives the feeling of wandering through a dream.  Severian’s response to the things that happen around him intensifies this feeling, since he approaches everything with a very passive, detached, and incurious attitude.  Like a dreamer, he seems to just accept everything that happens to and around him with little question. At first I found the way the story was progressing to be frustrating, since Severian didn’t really seem to be getting anywhere in terms of his stated goals (such as going to Thrax).  Once I got used to the style, though, I was better able to appreciate the interesting aspects of each event as it occurred. I expect that many of the events of this novel, and characters introduced, will play some greater role in the novels to come.

Though Severian’s detached personality helped set the tone of the story, I really disliked him as a character. He was raised to be a torturer, and he takes great pride in the proper execution of his craft.  He does not care for the guilt or innocence of his ‘clients’, but only that the proscribed sentences are carried out smoothly.  Given his upbringing, I think his amorality and lack of compassion make a lot of sense, but understanding the origin of these traits doesn’t make him any easier to like.  He also has an unfortunate view of women, which colors how the female characters are treated and act in the novel.  Some of his musings betray that he has some pretty disturbing opinions on sexual violence.  I don’t get the impression that any of these character traits are likely to change, or even to be treated negatively in the text.  Given this, I think I can just accept that I will never approve of Severian, and continue to enjoy the creative story.  

The novel ends abruptly, and it seems clear that the novel is meant to be read as the first quarter of a larger work. In the end, Severian’s adventures in Nessus seemed more like a string of events than a single cohesive story.  A few of the subplots are resolved, in a way, before the end of the novel, but most of them leave many lingering questions. I have actually already started reading the second novel in the tetralogy, because I think I really need to continue while all the details are fresh in my mind.  Based on my experience so far with the second book, I feel pretty sure my opinion of the first novel will be changing as I progress through the series.

My Rating: 3.5/5

The Shadow of the Torturer is the first quarter of the Book of the New Sun, and it definitely feels like a piece of a larger work.  Very little is resolved by the time one reaches the abrupt end of the novel, and I’m sure many of the subplots will play a larger role in the future novels.  The story seemed to wander from scene to scene in a dreamlike fashion, which was intensified by the detached, musing style of the narrator and protagonist, Severian of the guild of torturers.  The individual scenes were often delightfully strange, leaving me more interested in the world than in the story’s amoral main character.  I’m curious to see how this series will turn out, and how my opinion of it might change as I learn more about the world and larger story!