The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

This thread is to discuss November's group read The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe.

I read the whole series, but the first book was special: beautiful prose, unexpected moments. Plus the choice subject: Severian: what is he, where does he come from? some parts we are told, some we can guess, but there is something a dreamlike quality of it all that we cannot hep but be drawn into the read.

My library does not have this book, not an audiiobook, an ebook, or a printed book. Nor is it available for me to recommend that the library acquire it. I have read nothing of Gene Wolfe's. He seems to be more of a fantasy author while I am more of a hard science fiction reader. So, I've decided to see if the concensus is that this book is worth the price.

i read the first book but didnt really enjoy it. I think it was the style of writing i didnt like but i cant say for certain. In saying that I did finish it but then tried the second book and had to put it down, it seemed like filler.

I will probably finish this one at the weekend but I am coming to the conclusion that most of the books we read are slightly odd.

This is definitely more fantasy than sci-fi but for a fantasy book it's remarkably slow paced. I don't mind the writing style in fact I agree with Andrea that there is a dreamlike quality to the book. The whole story seems to meander around and events happen but as this is the first book in the series I was kind of expecting it all to be leading up to something. I have 10% left to read so I will find out shortly....

Buck wrote: "My library does not have this book, not an audiiobook, an ebook, or a printed book. Nor is it available for me to recommend that the library acquire it. I have read nothing of Gene Wolfe's. He s..."

The first two books were collected as Shadow & Claw. You may be able to find it more easily than the first book alone since it's newer.

It's looking like I won't get around to rereading this in November. I found myself reading other kinds of things this month- a couple of Michael Crichton's noir novels from Hard Case Crime and an interesting history book Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. It looked at the changes that happened environmentally when the colonists came to America. I sometimes have trouble sticking with a group read schedule. I definitely wander a lot when I read.