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)

not a whole story.

it's the first of a trilogy, I get that, but it doesn't have an ending. it cuts off mid story, instead of being a complete story into itself.b that was disappointing.

Slow build that delivers.

A fascinating story that vacillates between fantasy and sci fi with a dizzying swiftness. Set in a distant future or possibly an alternate dimension; it's a story that accumulates layers of strangeness. Well worth the read just for the language alone.

Pretty great

Any additional comments?

They should have all the tetralogy in one audiobook, or at least split into 2 and 2

it must be quiet time

The reader's voice is to soft and monotone , I had a hard time telling the difference between characters, man or woman. It seems to be a very interesting story line but I have had a hard time listening to it.

The Start of Something

Any additional comments?

Well this was interesting, it's the first 1/4 of a novel and just the beginning, so it's hard for me to really know if is will be a good story or not, it is literally the start of the story with nothing ending, no other way to explain it.

Brutal world

I both enjoyed and was repulsed by the story of Severian’s upbringing and apprenticeship in the Guild of men called Torturers. It was the Catholic Inquisition brought to life in an epic fantasy world. As horrible as the fate of the “clients” was under the seemingly compassionate but relentless skill of the torturers and the inevitability of pain and death, I managed to stay fascinated by the story Gene Wolfe created. I was not able to multi-task easily while listening to the book. Normally I have little problem doing normal tasks while keeping my brain entertained listening to a story, but this one was dense, the terminology archaic and inventive, the events meaningful such that any inattention meant going back and re-listening! It was worth the trouble though, and my normal tasks are not going anywhere.
I have already purchased the next book in the series and am eager to immerse myself in Severian’s story again. I set the narration at 1.1x after feeling like I was plodding along. The narrator was very good and I was happy once I sped the reading up just a tad.

Classic Sci-fi I didn't know I needed

This book gave me everything I needed out of it. Esoteric cults, Dying Earth feels, Decadence, Adventure, and a heavy dose of the strange. A fever dream from the distant future.

Great book that drew me in until chapter 21

I loved the world building and the atmosphere in this very interesting book. Although at points I was somewhat confused with different elements of the world. Up until around chapter 21 I loved it, then it was monologue after monologue and story within story. Eventually, I couldn’t listen anymore after being uninterested because of this. Im saddened by this, as I was super invested with the story.

Leans heavily towards exposition

A lot of time is spent describing details, but without providing a larger framework for the exposition. Nothing about the character development leads me to invest and I am unable to discern a primary story line.

Very unsure of scope

The writing was good, flowy and poetic. I didn’t like the huge variance in the narrators volume. At times it was really soft/loud and found I needed to adjust my volume more frequently than usual (which is usually zero, set it and forget it). Mostly I could not get a grasp of what is actually gonna go down in the greater arc of the series. THAT being said I might have said the same about the Hyperion Cantos at one point. The writing is quality and some of the exposition (especially the library scene) was really good so I am likely to read the other books and hope for the best.