
The Shadow of the Torturer
The Book of the New Sun, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Davis
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By:
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Gene Wolfe
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On Blue’s Waters
- Book of the Short Sun, Book 1
- By: Gene Wolfe
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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On Blue's Waters is the start of a new work by Gene Wolfe which takes place in the years after Wolfe's four-volume Book of the Long Sun. Horn, the narrator of the earlier work, now tells his own story. Though life is hard on the newly settled planet of Blue, Horn and his family have made a decent life for themselves. But Horn is the only one who can locate the great leader Silk and convince him to return to Blue and lead them all to prosperity. So Horn sets sail in a small boat, on a long and difficult quest across the planet Blue in search of the now legendary Patera Silk.
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Getting the hang of Wolfe
- By Patrick DeWind on 09-20-24
By: Gene Wolfe
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Soldier of the Mist
- Latro, Book 1
- By: Gene Wolfe
- Narrated by: Gregory Connors
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The first volume of Gene Wolfe's powerful story of Latro, a Roman mercenary who received a head injury that deprived him of his short-term memory. In return it gave him the ability to converse with supernatural creatures, gods, and goddesses who invisibly inhabit the ancient landscape.
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Read Gates of Fire first for context
- By Amazon Customer on 07-17-22
By: Gene Wolfe
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The Night Land
- A Love Tale
- By: William Hope Hodgson
- Narrated by: Drew Ariana
- Length: 18 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In the far future, an unnamed narrator, who along with what remains of the human race dwells uneasily in an underground fortress-city surrounded by brooding, chaotic, relentless Watching Things, Silent Ones, Hounds, Giants, "Ab-humans," Brutes, and enormous slugs and spiders, follows a telepathic distress signal into the unfathomable darkness. The Earth's surface is frozen....
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Tough read, but rewarding
- By Anon on 02-04-14
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Dr. Bloodmoney
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Phil Gigante
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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What happens after the bombs drop? This is the troubling question Philip K. Dick addresses with Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb. It is the story of a world reeling from the effects of nuclear annihilation and fallout, a world where mutated humans and animals are the norm, and the scattered survivors take comfort from a disc jockey endlessly circling the globe in a broken-down satellite.
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Post nuclear apocalyptic surburban middle class
- By Michael G Kurilla on 01-04-18
By: Philip K. Dick
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Litany of the Long Sun
- Book of the Long Sun, Books 1 and 2
- By: Gene Wolfe
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Litany of the Long Sun contains the full texts of Nightside the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun that together make up the first half of The Book of the Long Sun. This great work is set on a huge generation starship in the same future as the classic Book of the New Sun (also available in two volumes from Orb).
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Utterly brilliant in it’s tedium
- By John on 04-14-22
By: Gene Wolfe
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The Knight
- The Wizard Knight Series, Book One
- By: Gene Wolfe
- Narrated by: Dan Bittner
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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A young man in his teens is transported from our world to a magical realm that contains seven levels of reality. Very quickly transformed by magic into a grown man of heroic proportions, he takes the name Able and sets out on a quest to find the sword that has been promised to him, a sword he will get from a dragon, the one very special blade that will help him fulfill his life ambition to become a knight and a true hero. Inside, however, Able remains a boy, and he must grow in every sense to survive the dangers and delights that lie ahead in encounters with giants, elves, and wizards.
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Confusing as hell.
- By Zachary on 09-26-18
By: Gene Wolfe
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On Blue’s Waters
- Book of the Short Sun, Book 1
- By: Gene Wolfe
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On Blue's Waters is the start of a new work by Gene Wolfe which takes place in the years after Wolfe's four-volume Book of the Long Sun. Horn, the narrator of the earlier work, now tells his own story. Though life is hard on the newly settled planet of Blue, Horn and his family have made a decent life for themselves. But Horn is the only one who can locate the great leader Silk and convince him to return to Blue and lead them all to prosperity. So Horn sets sail in a small boat, on a long and difficult quest across the planet Blue in search of the now legendary Patera Silk.
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Getting the hang of Wolfe
- By Patrick DeWind on 09-20-24
By: Gene Wolfe
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Soldier of the Mist
- Latro, Book 1
- By: Gene Wolfe
- Narrated by: Gregory Connors
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The first volume of Gene Wolfe's powerful story of Latro, a Roman mercenary who received a head injury that deprived him of his short-term memory. In return it gave him the ability to converse with supernatural creatures, gods, and goddesses who invisibly inhabit the ancient landscape.
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Read Gates of Fire first for context
- By Amazon Customer on 07-17-22
By: Gene Wolfe
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The Night Land
- A Love Tale
- By: William Hope Hodgson
- Narrated by: Drew Ariana
- Length: 18 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the far future, an unnamed narrator, who along with what remains of the human race dwells uneasily in an underground fortress-city surrounded by brooding, chaotic, relentless Watching Things, Silent Ones, Hounds, Giants, "Ab-humans," Brutes, and enormous slugs and spiders, follows a telepathic distress signal into the unfathomable darkness. The Earth's surface is frozen....
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Tough read, but rewarding
- By Anon on 02-04-14
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Dr. Bloodmoney
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Phil Gigante
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What happens after the bombs drop? This is the troubling question Philip K. Dick addresses with Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb. It is the story of a world reeling from the effects of nuclear annihilation and fallout, a world where mutated humans and animals are the norm, and the scattered survivors take comfort from a disc jockey endlessly circling the globe in a broken-down satellite.
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Post nuclear apocalyptic surburban middle class
- By Michael G Kurilla on 01-04-18
By: Philip K. Dick
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The Dying Earth
- Tales of the Dying Earth, Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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The stories in The Dying Earth introduce dozens of seekers of wisom and beauty, lovely lost women, wizards of every shade of eccentricity with their runic amulets and spells. We meet the melancholy deodands, who feed on human flesh and the twk-men, who ride dragonflies and trade information for salt. There are monsters and demons. Each being is morally ambiguous: The evil are charming, the good are dangerous. All are at home.
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A Decadent and Hopeful Dying Earth
- By Jefferson on 06-27-10
By: Jack Vance
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The Darkness That Comes Before
- The Prince of Nothing, Book One
- By: R. Scott Bakker
- Narrated by: David DeVries
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In a world scarred by an apocalyptic past, evoking a time both 2,000 years past and 2,000 years into the future, untold thousands gather for a crusade. Among them, two men and two women are ensnared by a mysterious traveler, Anasûrimbor Kellhus - part warrior, part philosopher, part sorcerous, charismatic presence - from lands long thought dead. The Darkness That Comes Before is a history of this great holy war, and like all histories, the survivors write its conclusion.
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Finally in audiobook!
- By Andy on 06-28-12
By: R. Scott Bakker
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Eon
- By: Greg Bear
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 17 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Perhaps it wasn't from our time, perhaps it wasn't even from our universe, but the arrival of the 300-kilometer long stone was the answer to humanity's desperate plea to end the threat of nuclear war. Inside the deep recesses of the stone lies Thistledown: the remnants of a human society, versed in English, Russian and Chinese. The artifacts of this familiar people foretell a great Death caused by the ravages of war, but the government and scientists are unable to decide how to use this knowledge.
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Am Epic Original SciFi Read Worth Your Time...
- By Michael on 07-01-12
By: Greg Bear
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A Canticle for Leibowitz
- By: Walter M. Miller Jr.
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel and widely considered one of the most accomplished, powerful, and enduring classics of modern speculative fiction, Walter M. Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a true landmark of 20th-century literature—a chilling and still-provocative look at a postapocalyptic future.
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Introibo Ad Altare
- By richard on 03-20-13
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The Black Company
- Chronicles of The Black Company, Book 1
- By: Glen Cook
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hardbitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead - until the prophesy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more. There must be a way for the Black Company to find her....
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Hard Boiled Morally Ambiguous Epic Fantasy
- By Jefferson on 03-18-11
By: Glen Cook
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Barrowlands
- Iconoclasts, Book 0
- By: Mike Shel
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 1 hr
- Unabridged
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No one enters the doom-haunted Barrowlands without royal sanction. But Hesk Atterley has. Accompanied by seedy companions and a hunger for riches, what he finds may change his life forever...if it doesn't kill him first.
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Short but Interesting
- By Michael on 02-01-21
By: Mike Shel
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The King of Elfland’s Daughter
- By: Lord Dunsany
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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After 700 years of being ruled by man, the Parliament of Erl is ready to be ruled by a magical lord. Obeying the immemorial custom, the lord of Erl sends his son Alveric to fetch the King of Elfland’s daughter, Lirazel, to be his bride. Alveric makes his way to Elfland, where time passes at a rate far slower than the real world, wins her hand, and they return to Erl together. Alveric and Lirazel marry and have a son, but marriage between a mortal and a fairy princess is never simple. Lirazel struggles to adapt to the customs of humans.
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Brilliant at times, but disjointed. Great narrator
- By J. Angel on 12-09-20
By: Lord Dunsany
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Broken Empire: Volume 1
- By: Noah Douglas
- Narrated by: Skyler Brackenbury
- Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Humanity has spread to other worlds, yet in its ambition it's unity shattered, if it was ever even there to begin with. Humanity's domains remain split between the United Alliance of Planets and the Conglomeration of Corporate Authorities. The two governments lash out at each other in ceaseless conflict, at the cost of countless lives. Furthermore, the war has left a power vacuum closer to home, as a terrorist organization known as the Syndicate rises to power.
By: Noah Douglas
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Queen of Angels
- By: Greg Bear
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 19 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Emanuel Goldsmith, a famous poet, murdered eight people, then disappeared. Three people want to find him: an aspiring writer, an embittered scientist who wants to use him, and a policewoman who needs to put him in custody before the Selectors, a vigilante organization, get to him first.
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fantastic, a whole new experience on audio
- By Tungsten on 04-02-16
By: Greg Bear
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The Dervish House
- By: Ian McDonald
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 21 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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It begins with an explosion. Another day, another bus bomb. Everyone, it seems, is after a piece of Turkey. But the shockwaves from this random act of 21st century pandemic terrorism will ripple further and resonate louder than just Enginsoy Square. Welcome to the world of The Dervish House; the great, ancient, paradoxical city of Istanbul, divided like a human brain, in the great, ancient, equally paradoxical nation of Turkey. The year is 2027....
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Listen, but then read
- By Karen on 09-18-11
By: Ian McDonald
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Dominion
- A Coldfire Novella
- By: C. S. Friedman
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 2 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Four hundred years after mankind's arrival on Erna, the undead sorcerer Gerald Tarrant travels north in search of a legend. For it is rumored there is a forest where the fae has become so powerful that it devours all who enter it, and he means to test its power.
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It is what it is
- By MrBoobo on 06-11-12
By: C. S. Friedman
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Ubik
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Glen Runciter runs a lucrative business - deploying his teams of anti-psychics to corporate clients who want privacy and security from psychic spies. But when he and his top team are ambushed by a rival, he is gravely injured and placed in "half-life," a dreamlike state of suspended animation. Soon, though, the surviving members of the team begin experiencing some strange phenomena, such as Runciter's face appearing on coins and the world seeming to move backward in time.
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Holy sh*t
- By Amazon Customer on 03-17-17
By: Philip K. Dick
What listeners say about The Shadow of the Torturer
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Ryan
- 03-20-10
great writing, won't appeal to everyone
There was a time when the fantasy genre didn't just exist to entertain, but sometimes aspired to a higher level of artfulness. The Shadow of the Torturer is such a book. Set in a far distant future, when Earth's sun is fading and human society has lost much of its technological aptitude, Wolfe's novel has a haunting, elegiac quality. It's written in a voice reminiscent of 19th century writers like Poe or Dickens, which adds to the melancholy beauty. Fortunately for the squeamish, though torture is part of the story, it's not described in much detail.
In terms of plot, The Shadow of the Torturer isn't a complex novel. The protagonist grows up under the protection of a strange, cloistered society, learns a few things about the outside world, betrays his guardians, and is thrown out to seek his own fortune -- familiar fantasy stuff. But what sets the book apart from standard swords-and-sorcery fare is the richness of its language and the great imagination in its details; the difference is like comparing a fine oil painting to a crude computer graphic rendering. It has subtlety that forces the reader to pay attention. Wolfe messes with time and space, contemplates philosophical ideas, writes long exchanges whose import isn't immediately clear, and relies on the audience to make sense of the strange, slightly dreamlike events that unfold in the story, rather than spelling out how they're connected.
Without a doubt, this is a book that will absorb some readers and alienate others. Wolfe's ornate, college-level English, though not difficult, is not for everyone. Nor will everyone relate to the protagonist's detached, clinical voice. Basically, if you're looking for a light, Harry Potter-style book with instantly charismatic characters, you're better off going elsewhere. But, for readers who appreciate sophisticated writing and atmospheric, textured imaginary worlds, this is a great read.
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169 people found this helpful
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- David S. Mathew
- 11-15-16
Seeking Truth and Penitence
This is the first in Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series. It's a grim science fiction at its finest, yet framed more in the spirit of fantasy novels with heroic quests. This is the autobiography of Severian, apprentice member of the Torturer's Guild in a future world where the Earth is in decline and the Sun is going out. Past that I can't say much more because this novel has quite a few twists and turns that I wouldn't dare spoil for you.
Also, Jonathan Davis' performance is outstanding. I hadn't previously liked his work very much, but here he is flawless. He perfectly captures the lyrical, philosophical, yet deeply grim atmosphere of Severian's narration and Wolfe's world of the New Sun. I highly recommend this novel.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Bruce Rosen
- 08-03-16
Deep dark and dank
Where does The Shadow of the Torturer rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This was the first audiobook I listened to. As it's the first it was by far the best audiobook I've listened to thus far. I will listen to more and rank them accordingly.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Shadow of the Torturer?
Spoiler: When Severian gives Shadlowling Thecla(sp?) the knife. Assisted suicide is a pretty controversial topic, but it made it relatable given her tormented state.
What does Jonathan Davis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
A great sense of intention. He is able to channel the characters clearly while being able to quickly switch between them.
Any additional comments?
A great first book to start my journey into the audiobooks world. I'm going to be listening to rest of this series as well as the Wheel of Time series. Be back after the next one is done.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Betsy
- 11-17-16
not a whole story.
it's the first of a trilogy, I get that, but it doesn't have an ending. it cuts off mid story, instead of being a complete story into itself.b that was disappointing.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Cliffton
- 08-20-14
Slow build that delivers.
A fascinating story that vacillates between fantasy and sci fi with a dizzying swiftness. Set in a distant future or possibly an alternate dimension; it's a story that accumulates layers of strangeness. Well worth the read just for the language alone.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Little pete
- 03-23-18
Pretty great
Any additional comments?
They should have all the tetralogy in one audiobook, or at least split into 2 and 2
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 04-24-12
it must be quiet time
The reader's voice is to soft and monotone , I had a hard time telling the difference between characters, man or woman. It seems to be a very interesting story line but I have had a hard time listening to it.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Andrew
- 01-08-15
The Start of Something
Any additional comments?
Well this was interesting, it's the first 1/4 of a novel and just the beginning, so it's hard for me to really know if is will be a good story or not, it is literally the start of the story with nothing ending, no other way to explain it.
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- N
- 02-21-21
Brutal world
I both enjoyed and was repulsed by the story of Severian’s upbringing and apprenticeship in the Guild of men called Torturers. It was the Catholic Inquisition brought to life in an epic fantasy world. As horrible as the fate of the “clients” was under the seemingly compassionate but relentless skill of the torturers and the inevitability of pain and death, I managed to stay fascinated by the story Gene Wolfe created. I was not able to multi-task easily while listening to the book. Normally I have little problem doing normal tasks while keeping my brain entertained listening to a story, but this one was dense, the terminology archaic and inventive, the events meaningful such that any inattention meant going back and re-listening! It was worth the trouble though, and my normal tasks are not going anywhere.
I have already purchased the next book in the series and am eager to immerse myself in Severian’s story again. I set the narration at 1.1x after feeling like I was plodding along. The narrator was very good and I was happy once I sped the reading up just a tad.
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- Unicronic
- 12-05-20
Classic Sci-fi I didn't know I needed
This book gave me everything I needed out of it. Esoteric cults, Dying Earth feels, Decadence, Adventure, and a heavy dose of the strange. A fever dream from the distant future.
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