This was one of the most unusual books I have ever read. A clever blend of fantasy and scifi that only slowly reveals its nature to the reader.
Set3.5
This was one of the most unusual books I have ever read. A clever blend of fantasy and scifi that only slowly reveals its nature to the reader.
Set in a future so distant that our civilization is lost even to the faintest of memory, our science and technology are no more than a mystery, a world in which our sun is slowly drawing its dying breath. We follow a young apprentice of the guild of torturers who recounts his life’s story in a framing narrative.
Initially this feels like a fantasy book. Only with carefully dropped bits of information does the picture begin to change. The world building is subtle, hidden in small details, almost nothing told outright. This creates a dark, eerie atmosphere, bizarre without overtly grotesque descriptions or much violence.
Severian is a curious character, a torturer but far from a vile person. He is kind and inquisitive, but falls out of favor with his brothers for committing the greatest sin of his craft: showing mercy. That's what starts off the plot.
Wolfe’s prose is unlike anything I have ever experienced. His vocabulary is so extensive that it borders on pretentious, yet this creates a coherent vibe. His prose is sparse but elegant. He creates depth and impact with carefully chosen words. This book demands your undivided attention and a slow reading pace. I often had to repeat paragraphs because it’s challenging to comprehend the imagery of his words. This is extremely high level literary fiction.
The plot is simple on a surface level, but convoluted upon diving into it. There are sideplots emerging within sideplots. It ends abruptly, I feel like I only read half a book which annoyed me a bit. I barely scratched the surface of the story and I certainly know nothing of the big picture yet, apart from the smallest bits of ‚aha‘-moments. It’s slow and thoughtful without much entertainment value but still deeply fascinating. Give this story to a lesser writer and this wouldn’t have caught my interest in the slightest. It's Gene Wolfe’s incredible prose and the enchanting atmosphere that makes me want to unravel the mysteries of this world....more
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