The Shadow of the Torturer
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
The Shadow of the Torturer
| Full title | The Shadow of the Torturer: The Book of the New Sun, Volume 1 |
|---|---|
| Author | Gene Wolfe |
| Published | 1980 |
| Pages | 303 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Volume one of Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun: Severian, an apprentice torturer on an Earth so far in the future that the sun is dying and old technology reads as magic, breaks his guild’s rules, is expelled, and walks out of the city of Nessus — narrating it himself, and not telling you everything. |
The Shadow of the Torturer
Where I heard about it
- The a16z infrastructure team — on the a16z Infra Reading List, in its Fantasy section, calling the prose “among the best ever written in sci-fi/fantasy” and the books “kind of a puzzle by design.”
About this edition
Start here; the four volumes are one continuous story.
Connections
- a16z Infra Reading List — the list this came from; Fantasy section, Book of the New Sun series entry.
- Gene Wolfe — the author.
- The Claw of the Conciliator — volume two.
- The Sword of the Lictor — volume three.
- The Citadel of the Autarch — volume four.
- Science Fiction — the genre, though the series sits deliberately on its border with fantasy.
- a16z — the firm whose infrastructure team curates the list.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.