The Shadow of the Torturer

The Book of the New Sun, Book 1

By: Gene Wolfe

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

The Shadow of the Torturer is the first volume in the four-volume epic, the tale of a young Severian, an apprentice to the Guild of Torturers on the world called Urth, exiled for committing the ultimate sin of his profession - showing mercy towards his victim.

Listen to more in the Book of the New Sun series.

©1980 Gene Wolfe (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The best science fiction novel of the last century." (Neil Gaiman)

• World Fantasy Award, Best Novel, 1981

• Favorite Audiobooks of 2010 (Fantasy Literature)

Some examples of Wolfe's style—judge for yourself

There are plenty of helpful reviews here. I wanted to give the would-be listener a couple examples of Wolfe's writing style, which I chose nearly at random. The reason to read this book is for this style, which I found to be very lyrical and sharp, and not for plot or character. I thought the narrator was well-suited to this style, because he was slow and articulate--listen to the sample to see if you agree.

"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges. When soldiers take their oath they are given a coin, an asimi stamped with the profile of the Autarch. Their acceptance of that coin is their acceptance of the special duties and burdens of military life—they are soldiers from that moment, though they may know nothing of the management of arms. I did not know that then, but it is a profound mistake to believe that we must know of such things to be influenced by them, and in face to believe so is to believe in the most debased and superstitious kind of magic. The would-be sorcerer alone has faith in the efficacy of pure knowledge; rational people know that things act of themselves or not at all."

"I saw a caique, with high, sharp prow and stern, and a bellying sail, making south with the dark current; and against my will I followed it for a time—to the delta and the swamps, and at last to the flashing sea where that great beast Abaia, carried from the farther shores of the universe in anteglacial days, wallows until the moment comes for him and his kind to devour the continents."

Requires patience and an open mind...

Perhaps my taste in science fiction is a bit puerile, but I found this book to be only somewhat enjoyable. Very often, the "author" Severian will go on extremely lengthy and esoteric digressions about Wolfe knows what. As the book progressed, I grew to expect these frustrating breaks from what tend to be interesting and (also) esoteric characters. The lore is a mystery, the world is a mystery, the characters are a mystery. Very little is fleshed out in this book, and as confused as you are when it starts, you will be doubly so by the end when even more names, religions, and legends are introduced. I continue the series as a loyal Jonathan Davis listener (Snow Crash is a masterpiece), and to see if any of my multitude of questions are answered. If you have the patience to try and absorb the wash of information (largely unexplained) that will be thrown your way, I would give this a try. If nothing else, the imagery is always vivid and intense, even if you have no idea what the deuce is going on.

Languid, lush, dark speculative fiction

This is a highly literary work of dark fantasy, or properly speaking, dark science fiction, as the world of Urth slowly unveiled to us, with its dying red sun and distant, populated stars from which have been brought back alien creatures and plants, is a possible vision of our own world in the far future.

Severian is a young apprentice in the guild of torturers. As sinister as that sounds, Severian, who has grown up with his guild, accepts it as a matter of course, thinking of his job as being no different from any other. The torturers are just working professionals going about their job of punishment and interrogation in the name of the law. This changes for Severian when he forms an attachment to a beautiful woman brought in for "indefinite detainment." It turns out that her sister is connected to a rebel named Vodalus, a rogue whom Severian had a secret encounter with earlier.

After the prisoner is subjected to a horrible, soul-destroying device, Severian gives her the means to end her own torment rather than dying slowly. This act of mercy is both unprofessional and a complete betrayal of his guild, but for political reasons, they cannot simply kill him. Thus, Severian is sent as "Carnifex," or executioner, to a distant village named Thrax.

The rest of the book is taken up by the beginning of Severian's journey to Thrax - though in fact he never actually makes it out of the vast, future-gothic city where he started. Along the way, he acquires a magic sword and a magic ring (not really "magic," but thematically, same difference), he runs into a brother-sister pair of shopkeepers, falls in love with the sister, finds a crazy girl who falls in love with him, and is challenged to a duel to the death with razor-sharp alien flowers as the weapons.

It's a slightly bizarre setting with clues as to its nature dropped abruptly in the middle of long stretches of descriptive prose. Gene Wolf's lush, languid writing is quite a nice treat compared to the turgid prose of less skilled writers in this genre trying to accomplish the same effect, but it demands patience and you have to pay attention or you'll miss something. This isn't a fast-paced book; the infrequent action scenes seem to move no more quickly than the philosophical dialog or the exposition.

It's enjoyable for those who like their sci-fi with a side of literary, but if you want answers, or resolution, you're going to have delve into the next book in the series, because this is only the start of Severian's journey to the throne (a fact he tells us nearly at the outset), and ends thus:


Here I pause, having carried you, reader, from gate to gate. From the locked and fog-shrouded gate of our necropolis to this gate, with its curling wisps of smoke. This gate, which is perhaps the largest in existence, perhaps the largest ever to exist. It was by entering that first gate that I set my feet upon the road that brought me to this second gate. And surely when I entered this second gate, I began to walk a new road. From that great gate forward, for a long time, it was to lie outside the City Imperishable, and among the forests and grasslands, mountains and jungles of the north. Here, I pause. If you wish to walk no farther with me, reader, I cannot blame you. It is no easy road.

Excellent intro

This was my introduction to Gene Wolfe and this series. The writing was fantastic and esoteric in the best way. I'm excited to keep reading and listening to this series and the performance by Jonathan Davis was engaging and understated.

A must-read series read well

Very well done. Davis's voice quality and characterization are excellent and make it easy to forgive the occasional flat line reading. Also had the ebook so I could keep it all together and enjoy the vocabulary more. I recommend this easily, especially since all four volumes cost only about ten dollars.

weird story wonderfully written

challenging to follow, but there are many sections that are astonishing to listen to.

it's hard to overstate the pure command for language displayed by the author.

however, the story seems absurd, and I'm not sure it's trying to be absurd. All of this may tie together eventually but at this point I'm not confident the story has a deliberate direction.

I'm going to give the next book a chance to see if the story develops or flounders. Retrospection may elevate this book or ... not.

It is not a good audiobook

Some books lend themselves to audio recordings, some take a while to get into and some like this book are just not a good listen. I don’t remember how many times I went back to catch something, my mind wandered, missed it again and did the whole thing over just to find out what I thought would be a climatic scene just died a boring death. The writing is just convoluted, ponderous and protracted. One afternoon in the book can literally last hours of audio. I caught myself wondering if I should look for CliffNotes and then realized I didn’t care enough about the characters or storyline to fully understand it. The narration was just as ponderous and lacking emotion which may have been intended since the main character had his emotions and empathy stamped out at a young age. Normally listening to the process of turning a child into a psychopath would be disturbing and his process of coming back from that but once again I couldn’t bring myself to care. That is how lackluster and emotionless this book is. I do not recommend it and I am sorry I wasted a credit to buy it and hours of my time to listen to it.

A true classic

This is one of the best stories, I have ever read. And the narration is perfect. There really is no reason to write a long review. Your time would be better spent engaged in this wonderful story.

Revisiting an Old Favorite

One of my favorite books. It was nice to hear it narated for once, which was a nice expiriment for my dyslexic brain.There was a little confusion where the narrator would use a voice for a character, and carry it on for the dialogue of another character which made it a touch difficult to differentiate between characters.

Not too fast, not too slow, just right

Would you listen to The Shadow of the Torturer again? Why?

Only to bits of it to review before the next book, but that said, I always want a new book as there are so many waiting to be read/listened to.

Would you be willing to try another book from Gene Wolfe? Why or why not?

Yes. Am already into book 2. There are some signalling of what is about to happen but there are enough surprises to keep interest and he draws sympathetic characters.

Which scene was your favorite?

That would be a spoiler alert.

Any additional comments?

Nicely paced reading.