From the Bookshelf of Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
I tried reading this in paperback a couple of times over the years & it always bored me early on. I thought I'd try it in audio & see if I can get through it since it is a group read. No go. I was alternately bored & horrified. Sick world, boring characters. I made it about 10 chapters, over an hour in. Definitely not for me.
That's unfortunate since the alternate group read is Titus Groan which falls into the same category for me. ...more
That's unfortunate since the alternate group read is Titus Groan which falls into the same category for me. ...more
I gave SHADOW OF THE TORTURERS only three stars, having been greatly disappointed in Gene Wolfe’s character development and plot, In all fairness I half expected Wolfs books to be on the level of Joe Abercrombie’s Inquisitor Glokta, in THE BLADE ITSELF with characters like Logan Ninefingers and Captain Jezal . No such luck , while the book one of four starts off slow, nothing grabbed me in the book of four about a young Sevarian apprentice in the guild of Torturers on a world called Urth, exiled
...more
Wow, I didn't like this. I thought about giving it two stars, but honestly, it was so much effort to finish, I ended up docking that additional star. The story meanders. I found Severian completely unsympathetic, and would happily see him die in a fire. He's one of those male characters who objectifies every woman he meets, playing weird power games with them and treating them terribly, and the text rewards him for it, consistently. It's gross, and it sapped a large amount of enjoyment from the
...more
Jul 24, 2012
Danielle The Book Huntress
marked it as to-read
Jul 29, 2013
Jason Koivu
marked it as to-read
Jul 09, 2014
Jak J
marked it as to-read
Aug 25, 2014
Paula
marked it as to-read
Feb 13, 2015
Ian
marked it as to-read
Jun 30, 2017
Vanessa Gayle ⚔️ Fangirl Faction
marked it as to-read
Nov 03, 2017
Michael
marked it as to-read
Apr 02, 2018
Petre
marked it as to-read
Dec 04, 2021
Jess
marked it as to-read
3.5
Aug 14, 2023
Alex
marked it as to-read
Jun 08, 2024
Kimberly
marked it as to-read
