The Torturer's Wondrous Journey Continues: The young torturer Severian continues his journey in this, the second volume of Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" series. Skipping the first volume (The Shadow of the Torturer) is not recommended - this series is difficult enough to follow even for those who read every page. References to events that took place earlier are explained only in the briefest detail.In this volume, Severian's uneasy allegiance to both the Autarch and the mysterious revolutionary named Vodalus is severely tested. While journeying to Thrax where his guild has a position awaiting him, he takes part in the brutal execution of an innocent woman, has a mysterious assignation with his late beloved Thecla, battles a horde of man-apes, is captured by Volalus, participates in the bizarre sharing ceremony of the alzabo, and suffers a lengthy imprisonment before a portentous encounter in the picture room at the House Absolute, among other adventures.Once again, Wolfe uses language to create the other-worldly locale, employing archaic words to describe objects that are common enough on "Urth", but are unfamiliar to us. And even though the practical-minded Severian frequently doesn't seem to react to the astounding things he sees and experiences, most readers will find themselves intrigued, even though the question "What does it all mean?" remains unresolved.Like the first volume, this book is pretty light stuff - pure escapism, with no real point or depth of human insight apparent, but it is still a quick, enjoyable read. The fictional narrator foreshadows great things in Severian's future, and presumably the succeeding books will show an overall plan and sense of purpose that this novel lacks in and of itself. The violence and sexual content of these books makes this series unsuitable for young teens, but fans of this kind of pseudo-medieval fantasy should be very pleased indeed.

There's no drop off from book 1 to book 2 of this series, this is still excellent. ( )

There are scenes that seem like they came out of an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, others that seem like they were written by Borges, and others that remind me of The Prisoner. An easy book to appreciate, but at times a difficult one to read. ( )

The torturer Severian continues his journey towards his city of exile. Along the way he evades attempts on his life and becomes caught up in the schemes of the rebel leader Vodalus, which takes him to the House Absolute and a reunion with several companions from the previous book.

I had a hard time maintaining much interest in this book. Sevarian spends a large portion of the book involved with a theatre troupe, and and me the whole book feels more like a stylized play than a story taking place in a fully-realized world. The whole world it takes place in seems very small, and Severian runs into the same people over and over despite journying what seems to be quite a distance. A good portion of the book is taken up with the Theseus-like fable of the Corn Maidens and a play about the Autarch. I'm sure these were dense with symbolism, but they slow the story even further and I just did not have the interest to try and work out how all the symbols might relate to the larger story. At this point I am not interested in continuing my re-read of this series. ( )

The Claw of the Conciliator is phantasmagoric, yet bound up in a kind of terrible unity -- words fail me when trying to describe Gene Wolfe's ability to tell a story.

This second installment in Wolfe's Book of the New Sun takes our hero Severian into the House Absolute, the castle of the Autarch itself. Punctuated by feverish action sequences and ripe with symbolic meaning, this is science fiction -- no, just fiction -- at its finest. ( )