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174 of 185 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding, but not an unqualified recommendation..., May 24, 2001
I've read some of the reader reviews of "Shadow and Claw" and come to the conclusion that the book needs an introduction. Many of the negative reviews, I think, come from readers who weren't familiar with Gene Wolfe's writing style, which is understandable. So let me say for Wolfe that you cannot by any means read "The Book of the New Sun" the way you would ordinarily read a book. This mostly stems from the fact that the book is supposed to be an autobiography, and the writer, Severian, really can't be trusted to describe things accurately. A pretty good example would be the first woman Severian becomes interested in, Agia. He tells us that she was the most unattractive woman he has ever been attracted to. Fine, but the way that he becomes somewhat obsessed with her at a glance would suggest otherwise, and the way she treats him would account for his recalling her as being ugly. This is a minor example, to be sure, because it is a matter of Severian's perspective. There were other times in the book that I got the impression that Severian was telling flat-out lies. It's confusing, but it makes the book extremely interesting to read, simply because you are able to figure out much of what actually happened. Another thing to keep in mind, as somebody said in a quote on Wolfe's "The Fifth Head of Cerberus," (I forget who, and don't really care to find out, mostly because I'm lazy) is that Wolfe is "a master of the casual revelation." Which is to say that Severian will out of nowhere mention some vital piece of information, apparently assuming that we already knew about it. And we probably would know were we from his world, as he assumes we are. The only other thing to be aware of is the vocabulary, which thankfully is not nearly as difficult as people have described it. By and large, you won't have to look up the words being used simply because while you may not what an individual word means, you can infer it's meaning from the sentence it is used in. I started out looking up words constantly, and found that they mostly meant what I had already assumed they did. This is not to say that you shouldn't have a dictionary on hand, but looking up every word used that you don't know would be excessive. If all this sounds intimidating, I highly recommend that you read "Cerberus" which will give you a better handle on Wolfe's style. It's great book, and a good place to start if you are unfamiliar with Gene Wolfe. (If you do take my advice, it would be good to note that Severian's writing style is most similar to the first novella in "Cerberus.") The main thing I want to be clear on is that you shouldn't start reading this book expecting another "Lord of the Rings." While it can be argued that the "New Sun" series is of a similar calibur in terms of greatness, these are entirely different books. "LOTR" is an entertaining story, and you don't have to read into it at all. Everything you need to know is right there on the pages. The "New Sun" series is a bit more literary (Which sounds like a cultural elitist term, but I can't think of another one. Rest assured, I don't mean to belittle "LOTR" in any way, shape or form). If you're reading purely for an entertaining story, you would probably do well to look elsewhere.
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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Surely the Book of Gold, September 30, 2001
Gene Wolfe's four-volume work The Book of the New Sun must rank among the finest works of literature of the past quarter-century. SHADOW AND CLAW is an omnibus consisting of the first half, the volumes THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER and THE CLAW OF THE CONCILIATOR.The Book of the New Sun is shelved among science-fiction, but it is much more. Wolfe draws on Christianity, the works of J.L. Borges, medieval morality plays, and a thousand elements of "Spritus Mundi." It is essentially a Christian allegory, as "Sun" is clearly the homophone of "Son." However, this element doesn't intrude on the unbelieving reader. The BotNS is written with a colourful array of obscure English words, for example: odalisque, fulgurator, carnifex, cenobite, peltast. Nonetheless, Wolfe gives such context that reaching for the Oxford English Dictionary is hardly necessary. A saint's dictionary helps, however, as most characters are named for nearly-forgotten saints. SHADOW AND CLAW introduces us to Severian, an apprentice to a guild of torturers in a far-future Earth, when the sun is dying. As he confesses early on, Severian's narration is essentially the story of how he has "backed into the throne." He begins by telling the reader of his exile for showing a condemned woman mercy and his going forth into a world both alien and wispily recognizable. THE CLAW OF THE CONCILIATOR continues Severian's wanderings, and his unwitting involement in the mysterious politics of his day. Most striking is a play transcribed in the second half. "Dr. Talos' Play: Eschatology and Genesis" seems at first a poorly written morality play, but the careful reader will notice myriad hidden references to the book's plot, Greek and middle-eastern myth, and the renewing salvation of Christ as seen by Christianity. Severian is among of one the most complex and believable narrators I've ever read. Wolfe uses Severian to see Urth through his eyes, and much of the information we gather about his world comes from what he doesn't understand. For example, he lives in a world where one no longer distinguishes between ocean and space-going craft, and his confusion gives us important clues about the character Jonas. Furthermore, this book, although only four volumes and a coda, spawns whole years of exegesis, as denizens of the 'net mailing-list "Urth-l" can attest. Mystery has always been a continual element in Wolfe's works, but answers do luck in every paragraph. I admit that the Book of the New Sun is not for everyone; its million allusions and complex language require a fair degree of classical education and may bore many people. Nonetheless, for me it was "The Book of Gold," as I discovered it at an age when it sped me on to the glories of world literature. It shows the way to Borges, Robert Graves, Roman and Greek history and myth, the splendour of exegesis and, for at least me personally, the Catholic Church. If this review makes the work sound appealing, I would recommend buying SHADOW AND CLAW and experiencing this wonderful work.
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34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A marvelously complex work--Gene Wolfe's magnum opus, February 14, 2000
By A Customer
The Book of the New Sun is an amazing literary work. The language is poetic (and have your Oxford English Dictionary close at hand), the images are beautiful and strange, and the thoughts--almost essays--of the narrator lead the reader to look at the story, and life, in a whole new light. This is a book of revelations, a book of thoughts; each time one reads it, it is somehow a different story. Each time I think I grasp something, it shifts into "something rich and strange" (in the words of Shakespeare).The plot is relatively simple. Severian, an apprentice of the torturer's guild, is exiled for an act of mercy, and he must wander the distant future world of Urth. Urth is a world in which the sun is dying, and there is a prophecy that the New Sun will come to renew life to the world. Urth has generated a spacefaring empire, but in the millenia that empire has collapsed, and Urth is older even than that. In one of the volumes, we learn that excavations present us not with fossils of dinosaurs but with the fossils of previous civilizations. The sands of the seashore, it is rumored, are not sediment but rather ground bits of glass from generations of cities. Perhaps a million years have passed since our time--perhaps more. Wolfe is able to evoke this distant world--a human world that is at once both alien and familiar--by the use of archaic words and by his depiction of future artifacts and monuments whose meaning and purpose has been lost in the interval of time between us and Severian. Urth is a world of staggering technology, built on an epic scale, but it is also a world filled with philosophy and mysticism. Severian, who has lived his entire life in the Citadel, discovers this world even as the reader does. And the imagination that goes into constructing this distant world is astounding. As the reader finds new mysteries and new angles in Severian's narrative, the reader is compelled to ask: What is this story? On one level, The Book of the New Sun seeks to define just what a story IS. The reader thus sets out on a quest every bit as strange and multifaceted as Severian's quest. The book is as much a paradox as a tale, but it is also fine, enlightening entertainment that can be read on a number of levels. I highly recommend this book.
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