The Sword of the Lictor

This, as well as the first two books and theoretically the last in the series, is rapidly becoming the most difficult work of SF I've ever read. Why? It's not particularly difficult to follow; the Hero's Quest is rather straightforward throughout. Nor is the main character Severian particularly uninteresting or difficult to like.

My main concern, as well as my questionable joy, is in the author's requirement that we take not just an active role in the reconstruction of this tale, but that even a deconstruction, a literary analysis, a creative interpretation, a fuck-you-sideways until you bleed from your eyeballs reinterpretation, might not quite be enough for us to reconcile story elements from action elements from reflective elements show more from literary elements.

I'm assuming, just from my own idiocy, that this is a 4-d topographical map and I must rip out the pages according to odd-numbered reoccurring themes, plaster them together in the shape of the Claw of the Conciliator, and then read the text while standing on my head. And I can't do it while inebriated. This isn't, after all, noir fiction.

This is, supposedly, the most brilliant literary mindfuck of a SF novel ever written, only it's so far beyond bizarro fiction that it has usurped James Joyce's throne. Take your pick if you want to liken it to SF [b:Ulysses|338798|Ulysses|James Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1428891345s/338798.jpg|2368224] or SF [b:Finnegans Wake|11013|Finnegans Wake|James Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336408055s/11013.jpg|322098]. I mention the last just because this has darkened depths to it where deep literary beasties roam, unseen, and not because it's batshit crazy like the author.

I'm not saying that Gene Wolfe is crazy. Not at all. But for all the ways that this *appears* to be sword and sorcery on the surface, and decent sword and sorcery that happens to take place a million years in the future on Earth where the sun is dying and aliens mess with us and tech indistinguishable to magic roams the earth, events, plot elements, and narrative elements will sometimes hit is from out of nowhere and they will make absolutely no sense at all if you are reading on the simple surface.

Truly, just the little hints are enough to drive me crazy. Yes, I pick up quite a few, like Severian's little discussion with little Severian about men who decide that living like men is too much for them so they get a special lobotomy so they don't have to reflect or worry about what it means to be a man, that they can live happily like beasts. Little Severian says, "Is that why you go without a shirt? Because you are like the beast men?" "No, I haven't undergone the procedure, but yeah, perhaps I do go without reflection like them." Of course, in the story context, he's saved the kid with his name, vows to be his papa, and proceeds to watch him die, moving on to the next quest without much reflection. Right. (Btw, I'm not checking my review for precise quotations, I'm paraphrasing from memory.)

This isn't even the biggest bit of crazy. There's resurrected love interests, either pure memory from an alien juice and another from a time-reversal trick, both of which he loses, aliens with masks as many roles, with the real one being as smooth as unworked clay, as like unformed from conception or story, a mirror for everything else that goes on, and giants who resemble the witches whom Perseus steals the eye and the tooth.

Don't get me wrong. It's pretty cool. But when the fiction turns metafiction, when plots get thrown right into some heavy meta-soup and we're left wondering what the hell we just stepped into, we still have the sense that we *ought* to be knowing what the hell is going on. It doesn't let us drop, exactly. It just tries to entice us into rereading the books 5-10 times to try to figure out just what the hell is going on. I have to question myself: Do I care enough to become a devoted scholar of Wolfe and write at least a dissertation on his work? Do I care at least enough to finish through the 4th book?

The answer is No, and Yes. It's frustrating to see all those little fishes in the dark water below my feet, see them scurrying away, but I'm not quite hungry enough to get down on my hands and knees and beg Poseidon to make them jump right into my mouth.

Maybe someday, when I've burned all my other books and am exiled to a desert island where I have nothing else to read than these four admittedly interesting books will I sit down and devote the rest of life to figuring out just what the hell is going on here. :) I don't quite think I'm alone in this feeling, either.

Shouldn't there be a whole cottage industry devoted to figuring this thing out? Where are the scores of scholars? Is this going to go down into history as "The series everyone wants to say is genius but no one has the guts to say they have no idea what's going on"? I'll at least say it. I don't know what's going on. Surface? Sure. Pretty damn straightforward. It's everything else. Gahh! show less

This was a good book but it did not capture me to the same extent as the first two volumes in The Book Of The New Sun. I found The Shadow Of The Torturer to be a fascinating introduction to this future culture and Severians place in it. The Claw Of The Conciliator also drew me in as Severian's relationships became more complicated and the world of The Urth became more expansive. In contrast, The Sword Of The Lictor is more of a single person Odyssey when Severian escapes the city of Thrax and travels mostly alone in his attempt to elude the city's soldiers. There are fascinating situations but their relationship to Urth and Severian are incredibly difficult to follow! But this does not detract from the narrative - it only makes the show more mystery deeper. So, it is a good book, but I miss the relationships and culture that Wolfe developed in the first two volumes. Having said that, the last section of the book with the lake people and Talos, Baldanders and the cacogens leaps forward very quickly. That part of the book is incredibly engaging.

So should you read it? Yes, it is well worth reading. Wolfe's prose is always enjoyable to read if rather dense. But I do feel like I am just barely glimpsing what is really going on. And I suspect that Wolfe wrote that way on person so that we were experiencing the same thing that Severian is experiencing not always understanding what is happening to him, what is going on around him, and the reasons for people's actions. of course I am going to read the the last volume, The Citadel of the Autarch! I gotta find out how this ends and what kind of person Severian really is. Is he a messiah? Is he a pawn? Is he good? Is he evil? Or is he all of these things at the same time? I suspect it is the latter. show less

Severian has arrived at the city of Thrax and taken up his duties as Lictor. He plays his part, he makes appearances when required to show the fist inside the not-so-velvet glove of Thrax's Archon, and he carries out his duties as torturer as required, But he is not happy; and neither is Dorcas, his travelling companion and paramour. They soon part ways, and Severian begins a journey to the north, to find his destiny.

The Gormenghastly detail of Wolfe's Urth is still there; but up until now, Severian was merely journeying, meeting with various people and having adventures interrupt his progress. But now he has struck out into the world on his own and he runs into extraordinary meetings on his way. There is more action in this volume than show more we have seen up to now; by the end of the book, Severian has encountered some old faces, he has embraced responsibilities, and suffered losses that will change his course.

This is possibly the most science fictional volume of the story so far; but Severian is only encountering the reality and the deep age of Urth. Once again, I found this an engaging read and I am looking forward to moving on to the final volume in the first part of Wolfe's Solar Cycle, The Citadel of the Autarch. show less

A reread. Third volume in The Book of the New Sun, and the one most packed with set pieces: the Salamander, the Alzabo, the lore dump covering the last bajillion years of Urth's history, the mountainside that's slid away to reveal layers of civilizations, Little Severian, Typhon, the lake people, the fight with the giant in the castle. The one where he starts to grow up. All killer, no filler.

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Gene Wolfe’s The Sword of the Lictor essentially contains no plot, but it’s the best plotless book I’ve ever read. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read, period. I loved every moment of it! (I read this on audio; Audible Frontiers' audio version, read by Jonathan Davis, is exceptional.)

This third installment of The Book of the New Sun continues Severian’s journey from apprentice in the torturers’ guild to Autarch. He doesn’t seem to be getting any closer to his exalted position (if anything, I’d say farther) and we’re no closer to understanding how he’s going to get there. But that’s totally fine. Unburdened by a need to be anywhere or to achieve any goals or deadlines, show more Severian wanders the earth almost aimlessly, and it’s this wandering that’s so fascinating.

For a reader who’s only anxious for action and story progression, The Sword of the Lictor is not likely to work and, indeed, I usually get annoyed with authors who take too long to tell their stories. However, when I’m reading Gene Wolfe, it not only works — it is pure delight. For Wolfe’s old earth, set in a far future when the sun is dying (similar to Jack Vance’s Dying Earth), is full of wonder and amazement and he tells us all about it in his simple but elegant style:

“… authors are so anxious to move their stories forward (however wooden they may be, advancing like market carts with squeaking wheels that are never still, though they go only to dusty villages where the charm of the country is lost and the pleasures of the city will never be found)… The assassin who holds a dagger to his victim’s neck is eager to discuss the whole matter, and at any length the victim or the author may wish. The passionate pair in love’s embrace are at least equally willing to postpone the stabbing, if not more so… In life it is not the same…”

I wish I could be there with Severian as he climbs down the steep cliff overhung with a waterfall and embedded with the fossils of earth’s lost architecture, and explores the round metal building that we recognize (but he doesn’t) as a spaceship… I’d love to tell you more and to discuss what it all means (there’s so much symbolism here), but then you’d miss the jaw-dropping, eye-widening, brain-expanding experience for yourself. I’ll just say that what Severian experiences on his journey perfectly captures the essence of excellent speculative fiction — it’s the reason I love SFF.

Nobody creates such a sense of wonder and amazement, such truly unique and bizarre ideas, and relates them in such a beautiful way as Gene Wolfe does. I want to spend a lot more time exploring his world. show less

3.5

Easily the best so far. Still pretty glacial and meandering, but the prose has improved, the characters slightly better developed and the world and excursions much more engrossing. This felt less like a vague 300 page trot round the corner, and more like an engaging fantasy trek (The Alzabo is a particularly cool and creepy encounter). There's a lot of neat world building, and by the end it feels like the 4th book might actually lead us somewhere?? (one would hope)

Still, while I get that this is apparently "designed" to be read for the second time, and that every flaw is supposedly intentionally woven in by the author for a reason... that's not really good enough for me. A book should work the first time round before it demands your show more attention a second time (life is too short). I'm refraining full judgement until the end of the next (and last) book, but this has been a frustratingly inconsistent journey. I'm getting pretty tired of Severian's perception of women too. show less

This is the best installment yet in Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series. Our protagonist Severian makes an epic journey, escaping from his assigned job as Lictor of Thrax to try to find his future over the mountains to the north. Along the way encounters more strange characters, especially the bizarre two-headed former Autarch of Urth. The balance here between lighting-flash action and deep introspection and metaphysical speculation is extraordinary; I can't think of another author who could pull this off the way Wolfe does here.