I'm really not going to be careful with spoilers, so if that bothers you stop reading now.
I loved Wolfe's description of the Citadel, and his excellent portrayal of the professionalism and dedication of the torturers to their guild, where the flaying of skin to the bone of a 'client' is discussed by master torturers in a professional and passionate manner akin to computer science professors at a top university debating the merits of a particularly interesting algorithm.
They might be intensely interested in their art, but they completely distance themselves from the justice of the essentially random and senseless punishments they are carrying out. It is explained that 'clients' arrive carrying:
...his or her papers and thus his or her fate. All of them had broken the seals and read those papers, of course; and some had destroyed them or exchanged them for another's. Those who arrived without papers would be held until some further word concerning their disposition was received - probably for the remainder of their lives. Those who had exchanged papers with someone else had exchanged fates; they would be held or released, tortured or executed, in another's stead.Gradually hints are dropped and you come to the realisation that this society is not medieval, but set in the far far distant future on Earth as our Sun is dying and technology has peaked. Society has fallen back to a feudal level ruled by an upper class with some control over high technology, while most of the populace cannot distinguish such technology from magic. Wolfe has been called the master of the casual reveal, and I felt that many times, here's a casual line dropped by Severian:
The lights of the oubliette are of that ancient kind that is said to burn forever, though some have now gone out.Just as I was starting to feel comfortable in this world, and ready to learn more about the Torturers, Witches and follow Severian as a journeyman, the book lurches into a series of increasingly mad, and seemingly disconnected adventures. What's going on? Here's a mini summary:
Someone in armor gives you a seed and suddenly you jump in a cab and steal the most important artifact of a religion, on the way to Hunter S. Thompson's Botanic Gardens where you wander through a desert and a naked jungle hut discussion before coming to a lake full of bodies, get collected by a guy who is searching for his dead wife with a row boat and a grappling hook for well, possibly forever, and pick the nastiest, deadliest piece of flora which will be your weapon in an upcoming fight to the death that you somehow agreed to.
So this is why you should probably read the Wolfe hints for beginners, and Neil Gaiman's advice. It feels like you're trying to solve a puzzle being described by a narrator who is fond of LSD and lying.
Now I could no longer be sure my own mind was not lying to me; all my falsehoods were recoiling on me, and I who remembered everything could not be certain those memories were more than my own dreams.And it is a beautifully crafted and complex puzzle, which has hooked me into buying the next two books. But I have many questions in my troubled, troubled mind:
What is the nature of Severian's allegiance to Vodalus? When asked about it he says 'I saved him once' and that symbols 'invent us', with reference to the coin given to him by Vodalus. He says he 'backs into the throne', which I assume means he becomes the Autarch? Does the Autarch actually exist at present, or was this business about mirrors and light 'creating' something mean that the Autarch doesn't yet exist? Severian met the androgynous Autarch in the house of Secrets, but I really don't know what to make of that, does taking the Autarch's life mean killing him/it or something else? (note the contradiction in the meaning of the word Autarch and its use as a monarch-like figure) Or is Severian Vodalus? Oh wait, the coin has a 'worn, serene, androgynous face on its obverse' so perhaps the Autarch is real but Vodalus is a construct created by the Autarch? Dorcas and Severian are described as innocence and death, but it seems like it should be the other way around? Did Dorcas kill Jolenta?
But despite all this deep thought-provoking analysis, the truth is I definitely didn't enjoy large parts of this book. It is very very wordy, and difficult to read: it's been called the Odyssey of Science Fiction. And while there is a lot of depth and mystery, and little secrets to unlock, I'm sure not every boring and diversionary little anecdote was essential to the story:
Must it not be then that in darkness order grows ever less, flowers leaping from nothingness into a girl's fingers just as by light in spring they leap from mere filthiness into the air? Perhaps when night closes our eyes there is less order than we believe. Perhaps indeed, it is this lack of order we perceive as darkness, a randomization of the waves of energy (like a sea), the fields of energy (like a farm) that appear to our deluded eyes-set by light in an order of which they themselves are incapable-to be the real world.Perhaps indeed, it is such passages that detract from an otherwise 5 star novel? It feels like much of the book is padding to provide nooks and crannies for Wolfe to stash his secrets. I found reading Dr. Talos's play especially painful, possibly since it reminded me of boring English classes that sucked all the enjoyment out of Shakespeare.
I've heard the books are best on your second or third re-read, but if this novel was truly great, as many claim it is, it would be great the first time. It's a remarkably interesting and complex puzzle, but not a great novel.
3 stars.
