Title: The Shadow of the Torturer
Author: Gene Wolfe
Category: Fiction/Fantasy
ISBN: 0312890176
The Shadow of the Torturer
Gene Wolfe
This book forms the first part of The Book of the New Sun , which won both the World Fantasy and the Nebula Awards. Wolfe sets his masterpiece in the distant future, where the sun is about to die and the Urth (which is how it is spelt in the book) is a planet depleted of resources, with long winters and mild summers. Magic and mysticism abound. The story itself recounts the adventures of Severian, a young member of the feared guild of Torturers.
There are two reasons why I liked the series. Firstly, Wolfe uses language to convincingly convey the surreal atmosphere, the tired sun and the depleted Urth. He often uses obscure words to denote things, which provokes the reader to imagine the object that the word may represent and paint a picture of the scene being depicted. For the same reason, some people may not find this an easy read. On a higher level, the storyline is taut, and each niggling thread that he starts in the story is eventually wrapped up. The suspense is well-maintained with many things left unexplained till later in the book.
The first book is by no means complete, and the series must be read as a whole. Highly recommended.