The Book of the New Sun Vol 4- The Citadel of the Autarch

Please use this thread to discuss The Citadel of the Autarch.

What's with the scene where Severian joins the Irregular Contarii? For his initiation, he has tame a destrier on whose back is riding a woman called Daria. He does so, and rides off with the woman. Where he says he never told her he wasn't going to hurt her, and then appears to rape her.

Or am I reading it wrong?

So the royal "we" which Lola sneered at is not just an historical affectation. The Autarch contains the personalities of his predecessors. He is a "we".

I found something that I think may be an error in the book, but want to see what others think.

At the start of the fourth book, either in the first or second chapter, Severian ponders over how Morwenna killed her children and her husband. However, in book two, in the first chapter, it clearly states that Morwenna was framed by another woman.

Is this simply a plotting mistake by Wolfe, which I very much doubt, or is there something else going on in this sub-plot that I have missed?

At Morwenna's execution, Severian begins to doubt her guilt. Then the other woman mouths something as Morwenna is executed -- "I did it", IIRC. But then she dies, poisoned by Morwenna. As far as I could figure out, Morwenna did indeed kill her husband and child, but did it so cleverly no one suspected her. So the other woman framed her.

Have finished Volume Four, and found it to be quite a lot better than Volumes Two and Three. Lots of the loose ends were tied up, even if I don't get what some of them mean, some good ideas froom the other three books incorporated into the book extremely well.

However, I found Severian's constant ponderings about religion quite tedious (which I am certain is simply Wolfe's mouthpiece in this regard). Normally, I love reading this sort of thing, but Severian's take on religion and religious ideas bored me no end.

I just finished book 4, and I loved it. Although there are still things that I am unsure of, this book pulled it together for me to make it all worthwhile. I personally thought the religious ponderings were necessary to the end of the books, but I can see how others might think it went on too long. I was wondering about Morwenna myself. Out of the four books, I liked this one the best.
--BJ

So the royal "we" which Lola sneered at is not just an historical affectation. The Autarch contains the personalities of his predecessors. He is a "we".

I was sneering at Wolfe's stylistic affectations, and I noted the "multiple personality disorder" in that same sneer. I'm gratified to see my points echoed in a number of posts--not that there are many posts. This classic didn't seem to sit very well with many, eh?