Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #274658 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 912 pages

Review
"There are some books you have to have read if you want to claim to know science fiction. This is one of them." (Liz Holliday SCI FI NOW )

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.

About the Author
Gene Wolfe, born in New York and raised in Texas, trained as a mechanical engineer. He began to publish short stories in the 1960s. He has won many awards, including a World Fantasy Award for THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER and a Nebula for THE CLAW OF THE CONCILIATOR. He is a World Fantasy Life Achievement winner.

Customer Reviews

Nicely packaged omnibus of one of the greatest novels of speculative fiction
Do you like Nabokov - did you meet the challenge of Pale Fire?
Do you like Borges - did you enter his labyrinths?

If the answer is yes, then you will like Wolfe, and hopefully you will spend some time on Urth!

It is difficult to summarise these books. On the surface they are a bildungsroman detailing young Severian's amazing adventures on a far future earth. So far in the future that - to paraphrase an expression of the late, great Arthur C. Clarke - technology is indistinguishable from magic. But delve deeper and you will find multitudes of puzzles, mysteries and profundities. It is a book that demands rereading: I have read the entirety of it maybe 7 times and I've discovered something new every time.

There are drawbacks to depth, however. Sometimes Wolfe's prose can be tiring, sometimes one may wonder where the plot is going, or be frustrated when interesting characters are not developed and fall by the wayside. Wolfe challenges us to read actively, to think, to pick up clues. The sheer length is daunting too, but if people can put up with thousands of pages of Terry Goodkind or Robert Jordan, then maybe they can try this as well.

I feel that if Wolfe had chosen to write "real" fiction instead of Fantasy or Science Fiction, he would be lauded as one of the best American novelists around.

High Fantasy Compendium
Famed for his writing style and well known amongst a certain number of fans of the fantasy genre, Gene has been something of a badly kept secret with recommendations left right and centre. Now for the first time an omnibus of what some would think of as his greatest work has hit the book shops and I hope will allow those unsure of whether to buy a tale or two the pleasure of reading his work for the first time.
After all 1008 pages of reading pleasure for under a tenner. That's pretty damn good value for money and is probably something that will make Gene cringe when he thinks about how long he slaved over each manuscript contained within. High fantasy at its best with easy access for fans new and old and something that will make sure that a high time is had by the readers. Wonderful stuff.