Book Review – The Shadow Of The Torturer By Gene Wolfe

I’ve been getting back into and reading more sci-fi these days and really enjoying it. I’ve heard a lot said about The Book of the New Sun series and what I heard was always “it’s one of the best sci-fi series of all time that really sci-fi fans know about” and then “don’t ask me anymore until you read the book”. So the fans care about the reading experience and that says a lot. So my review will follow that similar pattern of no spoilers but a few tidbits of help that might help you in deciding to read it or in your reading.

The story is told from a first-person perspective from our main character, Severian. He is part of a guild of torturers (him in training) who are tasked not with the extraction of information but just carrying out torture and executions in this world. Wolfe also has this higher metanarrative concept from him that the autobiography of Severian is given to him through some sort of time travel means. While not actually central to the story this helps further build the lore of the book.

Just a straightforward reading of the book makes one believe that this is a typical fantasy setting and even most of the book artwork you see has that old-world feel to it. However, this book takes place far, far into the future where it does seem that adage, that almost is never true is true here, “technology looks like magic from some perspectives”. So here is your hint, dear reader, to look for things that seem like they are out of place in a fantasy story are supposed to be there because you’re in a sci-fi story. So there are maybe elements of aliens, robots, clones, and maybe other sorts of sci-fi elements there.

Another interesting concept that I haven’t had much experience with is the possibility of Severian being an unreliable narrator. After watching some discussion videos on just this first book, I’m not sure if Wolfe is writing Severian as unreliable or just adding in aspects that we, ourselves, use in our everyday talk. “I have a perfect memory of this incident” and then later you say you didn’t remember this one thing happening isn’t necessarily a “liar revealed” trope. However, this is only the first book. Severian is telling the story from his position as leader of this world and that’s another element I missed until I saw it come up again in the book later.

As for the story, the plot is there and it is interesting but it’s the way Wolfe unfolds the world you’re seeing and experiencing through Severian. Not everything is explained to you because Severian doesn’t have your context to explain why “this picture” or “this structure” is the way that it is because of a) Severian limited experience based on his position of this Torturer and b) to Severian those items aren’t of note in his world because they’ve been there or are just there. Wolfe does a great job of crafting this story and he does have two, almost three, different layers to this story. I get why hard sci-fi folks like this because to get a lot out of it you need to put in the effort of paying attention and asking questions of you to what you’re reading. I gather re-reads of this book are common for fans and multiple reads still reveal new questions or observations.

This story stuck with me after finishing it almost a week ago now. That’s usually how I know something that’s a good slow burn is there to stay in my mind. Just now getting into a bigger world of sci-fi than I have before I’m kind of surprised I hadn’t heard about this before. Whether this is post-modern sci-fi or hard sci-fi or fantasy with a veneer of sci-fi is up for discussion but the story is just plain good. I will continue this series and believe I’ll go on enjoying it.