Shadow & Claw: The First Half of the Book of the New Sun

ISBN: 9781250781253
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Overview

Shadow & Claw are the first two novels in Gene Wolfe's epic four-part masterpiece, The Book of the New Sun, now together in one volume as a Tor Essentials title...
  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Wolfe, Gene
  • ISBN: 9781250781253
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 8.20 x 1.50
  • Number Of Pages: 528
  • Publication Year: 2021

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  • The First Half of the Book of the New Sun

    Jenny G. - 8 months ago

    The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator, collected here as Shadow & Claw, begin the chronicles of Severian, of the Seekers for Truth and Penitence, a guild of torturers. Gene Wolfe is an incredible writer. The world and setting are vibrant and original, the plot exciting and engaging, science and philosophy are masked by magic, and the characters- well, that's complicated. Severian, as he claims, is possessed of an eidetic memory, and as such implies that as a narrator he is undeniably sound in his recollections. Yet the more you read, the more it seems like Severian is quite naive, and nowhere does this show more than in his assumptions of the people he encounters. Shadow & Claw really gets interesting when you start questioning Severian's perceptions and especially his interpretations of events. Wolfe has woven a breathtakingly complex and intricate experience into reading this story, and while you can certainly enjoy the book without diving into its philosophical depths, plumbing them proves quite rewarding.

    HPB Staff Review

  • An Essential Science Fantasy

    Bryan W. - 1 year 9 months ago

    Shadow and Claw includes the first two installments of Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, a classic of the Dying Earth genre. Through the eyes of Severian, an unreliable narrator (and professional torturer), we experience the disturbing and strangely beautiful future of human civilization in its twilight years. Wolfe portrays the distant future by evoking the past in his language and themes, and even the familiar seems strange and wonderful as told by Severian, who is gifted (or cursed) with the ability to remember everything he has ever experienced.

    HPB Staff Review

  • The beginning of a momentous and life-changing journey

    Samuel B. - 3 years 1 month ago

    Shadow and Claw is a compilation of the first two (out of five) books in Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. There is no other work in science fiction that approaches its grandeur. Taking place in the last gasps of humankind, Severian the Torturer is expelled from his guild and takes to the road where he witnesses and partakes in events tragic and farcical, world-spanning and intimate, violent and disturbing. At once a theodicy, adventure story, and rumination on humankind's place in the universe, the book transcends its genre trappings to generate something that will stand the test of time as a great work of literature. For those looking for a book that will stay with them long after they have finished reading it, Severian's journey awaits.

    HPB Staff Review

  • Dark but Rewarding

    Aaron I. - 5 years 11 months ago

    I have never in my life read a book like this. Deep, dark, and rich. Some of it is difficult to get through but it is worth it. The first time reader will not understand it at first but I would recommend it anyway!