Every few years I come across something that prompts me to read The Book of the New Sun, the four-volume series of which The Shadow of the Torturer is the first book. It always seemed a little dim and intimidating, so I would put it off. Prompted this time by Jo Walton’s An Informal History of the Hugos, which I really like, I decided to try it.

For me, the book falls into a classic tough-to-review zone: powerful and creative, but fatally flawed. I’ve given it three stars, but I think anyone serious about the genre should read it. At least get through the first third.

The world is dim, but it’s also dense and compelling. Everything is tarnished and sinking into myth, but at least in the first major section, before Severian is exiled from his guild, it feels detailed and real. It doesn’t drown itself in theatrical oppositions and alignments. The torturer’s guild itself is very strange, its practices brutal and cruel, but it’s neither parody nor satire. And by giving Severian and the torturers dignity and humanity, you know without seeing it how different the society that tolerates and maintains it must be. This section of the book is challenging, but rewarding. I may not have loved every paragraph, but it forms a cohesive creative work.

(It’s worth noting that Wolfe wrote all four books as one and then broke them apart for publication, which may explain some of the pacing I’m about to complain about, but even if the balance is better when all four books are taken together, any pacing issues that remain will be that much more of a problem because they’re occurring in a book that’s four times as long!)

Then Severian is exiled, is given a mysterious sword on his way out, and in the wider city descends into a maelstrom of obscure, surreal experiences. Characterization, that was previously specific and human, becomes symbolistic. The only motivating element after Severian’s exile, other than “travel north to his destination”, involves finding a poisonous plant to fight a ritual duel, which turns out to be a scheme by a brother and sister to steal Severian’s valuable sword. This stuff is mostly nonsense.

Worth reading, but probably will not continue, at least not until next year when another book tells me to.