The Shadow of the Torturer
- 303
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
- Tähtivaeltaja Award
- World Fantasy Award for Best Novel
- 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction
- BSFA Award for Best Novel
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Our view
“The Shadow of the Torturer” is a dense, strange opening volume with admired prose and a narrator who cannot be taken at his word. Severian, an apprentice torturer cast out of his guild, describes a vast world he only half understands, which invites rereading; the vocabulary sends some readers to the dictionary. Others find the second half far heavier going than the first. A book for patient readers who enjoy working things out.
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 Shadow of the Torturer is a science fantasy novel by American writer Gene Wolfe, published by Simon & Schuster in May 1980. It is the first of four volumes in The Book of the New Sun which Wolfe had completed in draft before The Shadow of the Torturer was published. It relates the story of Severian, an apprentice Seeker for Truth and Penitence, from his youth through his expulsion from the guild and subsequent journey out of his home city of Nessus.
Reading order · The Book of the New Sun
Full order & progress →- The Shadow of the TorturerThis book
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 Autarch
8.08.0 / 10 - The Urth of the New Sun
7.87.8 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.4 across 375 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 72% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.7 comes out. A further +0.10 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.0 | 21 | 6% |
| Hardcover | 7.4 | 354 | 94% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Shadow of the Torturer?
It has 303 pages — shorter than 94% 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 7.7, the closest to this book.
