The Citadel of the Autarch
- 317
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
- John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
- 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction
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Our view
“The Citadel of the Autarch” closes “The Book of the New Sun” and throws light back over the three volumes before it. Severian’s story is completed amid war, with questions of identity close to the surface, and the science fiction beneath the fantasy shows more plainly. Some remain unconvinced, finding the fantastical elements arbitrary and thinly treated. It is the last quarter of one continuous story, not a place to begin.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Citadel of the Autarch is a science fantasy novel by American writer Gene Wolfe, first released in 1983. It is the fourth and final volume in the four-volume series The Book of the New Sun.
Reading order · The Book of the New Sun
Full order & progress →- The Shadow of the TorturerStart here
7.77.7 / 10 - The Claw of the Conciliator
8.18.1 / 10 - The Sword of the Lictor
8.18.1 / 10 - The Citadel of the AutarchThis book
8.08.0 / 10 - The Urth of the New Sun
7.87.8 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.3 across 114 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 44% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 8.0 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.2 | 10 | 9% |
| Hardcover | 8.4 | 104 | 91% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Citadel of the Autarch?
It has 317 pages — shorter than 77% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Science fiction — and a score of 8.0, the closest to this book.
