Book of the New Sun
the shadow of the torturer ; The claw of the conciliator ; The sword of the lictor ; The citadel of the autarch
by Gene Wolfe · first published 1983
68% recommend30% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
Dense, slow, richly written far-future tale narrated by Severian, an exiled torturer, with an unreliable narrator and real English vocabulary. Rewards rereading; suits readers who want demanding, literary SF/fantasy.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…from Moorcock, and Tolkien's work was more entertaining too. EDIT: Oh, and if you want to read some incredibly clever and unique sci-fi/fantasy, check out anything by Gene Wolfe or Jack Vance. Wolfe's Book of the New Sun is brilliant, and Vance's Lyonesse trilogy is amazing.
on “The Anti-Tolkien” ↗Loved Robin Hobb when I was a kid. I read a LOT of fantasy back then and she was up the top of the list next to GRRM for me. The closest thing to traditional fantasy I have read in a very long time is Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, and now I am bit broken trying to chase a similar hit. If anyone has any recommends to scratch the post BOTNS itch please do share.
on “The Animal Is Tired” ↗> Do you realize that most of those "made-up words" in Anathem were just lightly mangled Latin? It still felt cheap. Give me another book like Gene Wolfe's _Book of the New Sun_ where all the made-up words were English words! (And obviously often Latin-derived.)
on “Writer Neal Stephenson unveils his digital novel The Mongoliad” ↗…nihilistic. Not my absolute favorite of his works - that honor goes to Stations of the Tide - but this one's a very close runner-up. Also seconding the recommendation elsewhere in this thread for Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series. Huge and dense and slow and beautiful and absolutely in love with language. I couldn't get into the two subsequent Books of the Long/Short Suns, but the New Sun is amazing. Oh and of course George…
on “Entitlement issues (2009)” ↗Gene Wolfe (Book of the New Sun) is great and a common recommendation along these lines. Ishiguro's The Buried Giant from last year asks to be described as Literary Fiction with a fantasy setting. But chasing down "If you liked Gene…
on “Harper Lee has died” ↗Upon hearing the sad news of Gene Wolfe's passing in April of this year, I took the occasion to reread his Book of the New Sun series. The protagonist is Severian, a banished member of a Torturers guild, who earns some money during his travels by performing professional executions. It's a little unsettling to immerse yourself…
on “What was it like to be an executioner in the Middle Ages?” ↗That was a good article, Wolfe has been my favorite author for years, so it was interesting to read a little about his life. Book of the New Sun is obviously his top work, but he had some other stuff that as really damn good such as his two books series "The Knight"/"The Wizard" Given the popularity of scifi/fantasy TV shows lately would be interesting…
on “Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)” ↗Really? A Fire Upon the Deep and Dune are masterpieces, yes, but The Dark Forest although good isn't in the same league IMO. - - - - Tangent: Have you read Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun? It's less famous than the books above, but (IMO) it's in the same rarefied company as Dune and J.R.R. Tolkien's work.
on “Earth-like planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest star” ↗Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" It's a masterpiece. Not just of sci-fi/fantasy but of literature. I have to be careful: if I pick it up and start reading I tend to sink into it and read until the end. In a sense, it's a bog-standard…
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite fiction book?” ↗Not much fantasy here yet, so Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun tetralogy, republished as two books: Shadow & Claw and Sword & Citadel.
on “What are your favorite sci-fi and fantasy books?” ↗Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. If you're into Mieville you'll probably dig it; I think Perdido Street Station in particular owes a lot to Wolfe. It's hard to pitch the series (4 books, but currently published in two…
on “The Tyranny of Ideas” ↗I'm very fond of Gene Wolfe, but for people who want an intro to his oeuvre I would strongly recommend "There Are Doors" over Book of the New Sun. Not because I dislike BotNS, but it's a real door-stopper slab of a tetralogy (a pentalogy if you count "Urth"). To me There Are Doors really punches way above its weight.
on “Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)” ↗Any list like this that doesn't include Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun is highly suspect. I kept on scrolling, but it wasn't there.
on “The Greatest Books of All Time” ↗Disappointingly, I don't remember the book for sure. I think it might have been one of the volumes of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, which I re-read from time to time for pure pleasure.
on “Ask HN: Teach me something new” ↗There's lots of excellent fantasy out there beyond the big names. Wolfe's Book of the New Sun is a good example of a very creative series, though it can be much harder to read.
on “The Earthsea Trilogy (2003)” ↗