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Gene Wolfe
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Genre
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Media
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Book
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Publisher | Gollancz | ||
ISBN | 978-057508130 | ||
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Reviewer
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Vicky
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Synopsis
Severian is a torturer, born to the guild and with an exceptionally promising career ahead of him . . . until he falls in love with one of his victims, a beautiful young noblewoman. Out of love, Severian helps her commit suicide and escape her fate - no more unforgivable act for a torturer. He is exiled from the guild and his home city to the distant metropolis of Thrax with little more than Terminus Est, a fabled sword, to his name. Along the way he has to learn to survive in a wider world without the guild - a world in which he has already made both allies and enemies. And a strange gem is about to fall into his possession, which will make his enemies pursue him with ever more determination . . . Welcome to a world in which nothing is quite as it seems; to an unreliable narrator; to extraordinary, vivid and evocative writing; to one of the greatest genre classics of all time.
Review
It took me a long time to pick up this book and read it - but the wait was worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed Gene Wolfe's style of writing which I found easy to read. Everything flowed and I found myself turning the pages rather rapidly to find out what happened next with Severian.
I liked the way in which we are drawn into his journey from the first paragraph to the end of the Appendix. It is detailed writing but it was personal - I felt I'd got inside Severian's head and why he made the decisions he did. Also in this day and age where torture has made headlines this book is actually quite relevant. Hopefully we will never go as far as setting up a guild!
Defintely a must read.
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