The Shadow of the Torturer: Urth: Book of the New Sun Book 1 (Gateway Essentials 174)

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You won't be getting in tonight." The leader put his hand on the hilt of his knife before taking a step closer. For a moment I was afraid he knew who we were. This work is also extremely metatextual, allegorical, and metaphorical from a wide variety of cultures, religions, and languages. This makes the text incredibly rich and dense which also makes the book feel a lot longer than it actually is, because you can read a single sentence and extract multiple meanings from it. Likely this means that every person reading it will get something unique from it, which is not easy to do by any means. Gene Wolfe does have passages in this book where he nods to the reader and sort of breaks the fourth wall, at one point even telling you that he understands if you don't continue reading Severian's journey.

Agia says they must depart because the descending sun will soon strike the City Wall, which is the signal for the guards to close the gates to the City and for the dueling to commence. If a duellist is not on the fields by the time the sun is fully below the City Wall, he is assumed to have refused satisfaction and can be freely assaulted anywhere by the armiger or hired assassins. Shortly before Severian is elevated to journeyman he encounters and falls in love with Thecla, a beautiful aristocratic prisoner. Thecla's crime is never made clear, though it is implied that she is imprisoned for political reasons since Thecla's half-sister is Thea, Vodalus's lover. The Autarch (ruler of the Commonwealth) wishes to use Thecla to capture Vodalus. When finally Thecla is put to torture, Severian takes pity on her and helps her commit suicide by smuggling a knife into her cell, thus breaking his oath to the guild. As they cross the Lake of Birds, Hildegrin says that some call it that because many birds are found dead in the water. However he thinks it’s just because there are so many birds found at the Garden of Everlasting Sleep. He comments, “But she’s a good friend to birds, Death is. Wherever there’s dead men and quiet, you’ll find a good many birds, that’s been my experience.” Severian agrees, recalling the thrushes in the necropolis.

Here." He laid something in my palm: a small coin so smooth it seemed greased. I remained clutching it beside the violated grave and watched him stride away. The fog swallowed him long before he reached the rim, and a few moments later a silver flier as sharp as a dart screamed overhead . The woman said something I could not hear, and the slender man told her, "You didn't have to come, Thea." deadhedge on The Secret of the Sul’Dam: Subtle Changes to the Way the One Power Works in The Wheel of Time TV Series 50 mins ago In a stunning blend of the lyric extravagance of fantasy and the keen edge of science fiction, meeting in a future so distant that it seems like the ancient past, Gene Wolfe begins his chronicle of Severian the Torturer, in this the first volume of The Book of the New Sun.

They arrive at the far shore and walk toward the averns, Severian wondering aloud, “They are not from here, are they? Not from Urth.” But no one answers him. The averns have sharp dagger-like leaves and Agia tells him to snap a plant off at the stem to avoid touching the poisoned leaves. As Severian approaches the averns, Hildegrin states, “I’ll take the females to safety”. This statement reminds Severian where he has met Hildegrin before – in the Citadel cemetary when he made a similar statement to Vodalus about taking Thea to safety. Master Palaemon's hand, dry and wrinkled as a mummy's, groped until it found mine. "Among the initiates of religion it is said, 'You are an epopt always.' The reference is not only to knowledge but to their chrism, whose mark, being invisible, is ineradicable. You know our chrism." Someone's coming," Roche whispered. Drotte jerked Eata out. I looked down the street. Lanterns swung there among the fog-muffled sounds of feet and voices. I would have hidden, but Roche held me, saying, "Wait, I see pikes." When finally Thecla is put to torture, Severian takes pity on her and helps her commit suicide, by smuggling a knife into her cell, thus breaking an oath to his guild. Severan finds 3 men and 2 women eagerly waiting to meet the carnifex. Among them is a small gray man with madness in his eyes who speaks of a beautiful doll he had when he was on the Quasar and its subsequent loss. He curses all evildoers and asks Severian, “W-without you, where are their nightmares, where are their restitution, so long promised? Where are their chains, fetters, manacles and cangues?”A man who had not spoken before said, "I'm going to watch over my mother. We've wasted too much time already. They could have her a league off by now." Master Malrubius in his post-death appearances is not a ghost or hallucination, but a construct based on Severian's memories.

Severian continues his travels toward Thrax, and Dorcas accompanies him. While searching his belongings, Severian finds the Claw of the Conciliator. Apparently Agia stole the Claw from the altar they destroyed and placed it in Severian's belongings knowing that she would be searched. Eventually Severian and Dorcas encounter Dr. Talos, Baldanders and Jolenta, who are almost ready to perform the play they had invited Severian to the morning before. Severian assists in the play, and the next day the group sets out toward the great gate leading out of Nessus, where they meet a man named Jonas. As they are passing through the gate, there is suddenly a commotion and the narration abruptly ends.I have said that I cannot explain my desire for her, and it is true. I loved her with a love thirsty and desperate. I felt that we two might commit some act so atrocious that the world, seeing us, would find it irresistible.” The Complete Book of the New Sun: The Shadow of the Torturer, The Claw of the Conciliator, The Sword of the Lictor, The Citadel of the Autarch, The Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe – eBook Details