Shadow of the Torturer – Gene Wolfe – Book of the New Sun
This is my favourite book series. Not only does it have a strange plot, but the pacing swings from slow and thoughtful to a breakneck pace when needed, always keeping you your toes. This tale, spread across five books, is about Sevarian’s journey to find meaning for his life, world, and ultimately humanity. It is a journey of death, of half and hidden truths, and really interrogates what power is, who wields it, who has the right to wield it, and ultimately how fragile it is.
The tale begins with Sevarian as a boy apprenticed to the torturers of the Citadel who has a violent encounter with corpse-eaters and revolutionaries. Bedazzled by a counterfeit coin, he is convinced that he now sits upon the side of Vodalus, the leader of the corpse-eaters. He grows and is given stewardship over Thecla, a political prisoner of the Autarch, and is given an education in culture and lust. It can not be said that Sevarian’s moral compass is not interesting. Upon his elevation into full membership of the guild, he is exiled for showing mercy to Thecla, and sets out for a far away post in Thrax. Upon his walk through the city in the garb of his guild, the guards plead with him to wear anything else to stop spreading panic.
He stays in an inn where he must share a room with a Baldanders the giant and Dr. Talos. His dreams that night at of the deep waters and what may lie within them. In the morning looking for new clothes he is pounced upon by Agia and her brother, who wish to scam Sevarian of his wealthy equipment.
Still reeling from the cultural shock of leaving his guild, Sevarian accepts a duel from a passing nobleman, and is mostly swept along by Agia as she helps him collect what he needs to participate. Which in this case is a violent alien flower that much be collected from a liminal greenhouse of alien spaces. On the way they crash through the Cathedral of the Pelerines and their alter, accidentally gaining a relic of great import, before arriving at the gardens. Within he walks within a rain forest, has a deep connection with a plain of sand and stone, and finally to an endless pool of preserved corpses where the Avern plant grows. Accidentally dropping his sword as they cross the lake, he plunges in, to return with the sword and a new amnesiac woman: Dorcas.
With the scary plant in hand, they move to the Inn of Lost Loves, built in a great tree near the duelling grounds. Their waiter delivers a note with a great truth written upon it, hidden in plain sight as is Wolfe’s way.
The duel arrives, and they fight by flinging deadly leaves at each other. Sevarian is mortally wounded and dies for perhaps the second time in this book but doesn’t. Awaking in the hospital of a guard outpost, completely recovered, he is summoned to execute his former opponent who murdered nine people as he fled their duel. The opponent is Agilus, Agia’s brother, doing his part of the scam. His performs his duty meticulously and professionally, leaving with Dorcas, coin, and a vengeful Agia hiding in the shadows.
They come upon Baldanders and Talos again and join their wandering theatre troupe which delights in scaring their audience from their coin. Finally, we end the book with Sevarian leaving the walls of the city, Nessus, and losing his companions in the press of the crowds.
Horror: There are many elements in this book which are horrific, but none quite live up to the opening sections of the book where Sevarian is happily leading his life of a torturer’s apprentice. The casual way that excruciations are performed, not with cruelty, but with professionalism. The half boot. The revolutionary. Each described in detail enough to make your skin crawl. The later sections also have their horrors, such as the lake of corpses and the execution, but it is those which Sevarian relays from his childhood memories which really hit for me. 8/10
Embodiedness: This book is written in the first person, but as an elder Sevarian looking back at his memories. It cuts closes to the bone where it is needed, but mostly it cuts close to his brain. Veering off to philosophical tangents and catechisms which half seem like he is convincing himself. It feels personal, yet also performative. But the text draws you in so you feel like you are there wrestling with his feelings as he is slighted by Thecla after ascendancy, as he trudges in glee at the beginning of his exile, and as he sees the psychedelic visions as his brain shuts down from Avern poison. 7/10
Weirdness: You step back and just think about the world that Sevarian describes and the weirdness level skyrockets. Wolfe does a very good job at Sevarian not reacting to things which to him, are normal. That the citadel is a number of defunct rockets, that the city is enormous, that people must protect their corpses, that duels happen with giant plants. This is the reality of Sevarian’s world, and it is weird as hell. 9/10
Narrative Complexity: The book is a masterclass in complexity. There is so much happening on the page and off the page, but the clues are there. Then there is the reread potential. Events of later books completely change the framing of this book, as it changes the framing of elder Sevarian entirely.
One example that I find compelling, is the sentencing of Thecla. There are many hints that the prisoners will swap their sentences while they are being transported to the Tower. It is also a tenant of the guild that they follow orders without question. How difficult would it be for a young and angry Sevarian, recently slighted by the woman he was trying to impress, to fake some orders? He was certainly upset enough, given his red eyes were noticed by his fellow journeyman, who will be used to understanding their masked brethren by their eyes. Then there is the story of Dorcas, which we will cover during Claw and Lictor. 10/10
HEWN: Overall, this story has everything I look for. It feels like you at the edge of your seat during the action, it forces you to think during the cerebral sections. We are close to Sevarian during his journey yet so much is hidden from us. Taking a step back from the whole series and looking at Shadow, a lot happen, yet it feels like the first few steps into the wider universe that Urth sites within. 34/40.
