Subject: G.Wolfe _Shadow of the Torturer_

From: Sci Eng Library <scilib at nowalls.ucsd.edu>
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1991 18:51:04 +0000

I'm nearly finished reading Wolfe's SOTT and just noticed that it says
"Volume One of The Book of the New Sun".  Does this mean it goes on (an
on)?  Is our main main Severian going to adventure his way through ___ more
books?  PLEASE, will someone let me know the titles?  Thanks!

D.Ellis
scilib@ucsd

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From: Janet M. Lafler <repnomar at leland.stanford.edu>
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1991 16:49:22 +0000

scilib at NOWALLS.UCSD.EDU writes:
>on)?  Is our main main Severian going to adventure his way through ___
>more books?  PLEASE, will someone let me know the titles?  Thanks!

One of the main features of Wolfe's narrative style is that his stories go
on and on beyond the point you could reasonably expect them to.  If you
like his tricks, he's great.

There are four books in the series, _The Shadow of the Torturer_, _The Claw
of the Conciliator_, _The Sword of the Lictor_ and _The Citadel of the
Autarch_.  There is also a companion volume, _The Urth of the New Sun_,
which I haven't read but have been reliably informed is awful.  That's all
the books there are in the series; I think we can count on him not to write
any more.

Enjoy.

Janet

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From: Matt Austern <matt at physics16.berkeley.edu>
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1991 18:04:07 +0000

repnomar at leland.Stanford.EDU (Janet M. Lafler) writes:
> There are four books in the series, _The Shadow of the Torturer_, _The
> Claw of the Conciliator_, _The Sword of the Lictor_ and _The Citadel of
> the Autarch_.  There is also a companion volume, _The Urth of the New
> Sun_, which I haven't read but have been reliably informed is awful.
> That's all the books there are in the series; I think we can count on him
> not to write any more.

Awful? Gene Wolfe?  Them there's fightin' words.  The Urth of the New Sun
certainly isn't as good as The Book of the New Sun, but a book could be
much worse than The Book of the New Sun and still be very good indeed.
Urth of the New Sun still has the calm voice and meticulous craftsmanship
and sense of inevitability that I find characteristic of Wolfe's writing.

Actually, I don't think I would call The Book of the New Sun a series, or a
tetrology, so much as a four-volume novel.  (And I would call The Urth of
the New Sun a sequel.)

Matt Austern
austern at lbl.bitnet