The Shadow of the Torturer
Gene Wolfe
303 pages
published in 1980

The Shadow of the Torturer is the first volume of the Book of the New Sun, widely considered to be one of the absolute masterpieces of science fiction (or fantasy, depending on your outlook). The Book of the New Sun could be described as Wolfe's magnum opus, his masterwork; it's certainly the series that made his reputation. It is usually also described as a difficult book to read, but worth persisting with. It is in short, a book with a Reputation.

Which is probably why it has taken me so long to read it. I've tried to read this before, first in Dutch translation, later in English, but never got far. Last year, I bought the two Fantasy Masterworks volumes which together contain the complete Book of the New Sun, but put them on my bookshelves without even attempting to read them. It was only because I'd read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and gotten a taste for literary fantasy and science fiction, that made me pick up this again.

I'm glad I did. For some reason, where earlier attempts to read The Shadow of the Torturer went badly, this time I was halfway through the novel without noticing. What I did notice was the richness of the language Wolfe used and the world he describes. It is a world that is both familiar and bizarre, with the bizarre flowing naturally from the world which Wolfe has created.

The world Wolfe has created is that of Urth, Earth in the far, far, far future, with the sun dying and so weak it is possible to see the stars during the day, at a time so far removed from ours there are beaches whose pebbles are grains of glass. It is a world which at first looks like any other fantasy world, the usual quasi medieval setting, but sooner or later you notice that things are not entirely what they seem. For example, are the destriers Wolfe mentions true horses or something that has taken the place of horses?

Because we see Urth through the eyes of Severian, our hero and narrator, who starts the novel as an apprentice to the guild of torturers, it all seems familiar to us, since he thinks it familiar and does not question his surroundings much. It is only when he has to leave the guild, to take up a position elsewhere as an executioner and torturer, when he moves from his familiar surroundings into the wider world that we get some sense of curiosity out of him. And this is still tempered by the fact that this is really a reconstruction, his memories written down long after the events in the book.

Severian is something of a cold fish then, somewhat flattened in his responses to the wonders and miracles he encounters on his journey, which just help to bring these wonders into greater clarity. At times, the The Shadow of the Torturer reads less than a novel than as a collection of set pieces for Wolfe to describe. but there is a plot there, a direction to Severian's travels, but it is subtle and only pays off in the later volumes of the Book of the New Sun

Not that this matters, as this is very much a book where the journey has more rewards than the destination. After this first full reading of The Shadow of the Torturer I know I've missed much, if not most of the points Wolfe was making with it. I know I will have to read it again and again. Such a misery!