/lit/ - Literature

>>21280333
The Sword of the Lictor, The Book of the New Sun #3 - Gene Wolfe (1982)

The most troublesome part of writing about these individually is that so much changes in each book that it may invalidate what I've written previously. This also presents a difficulty in remaining relatively spoiler-free. I could write about the five book omnibus as a single work, which is the edition I'm reading, but I don't have any interest in doing so.

This one starts off having skipped some time, traveling, and events, but as Severian often explains, he doesn't want to write about everything. An element of the narrative that's becoming more and more noticeable is that Wolfe didn't write this to have a singular Chehkov's gun, but rather an entire armory replete with them. Every story element seems to have its place and and they all neatly fit together. Seemingly everything pays off in some way. Life isn't like that at all, but it does make for a satisfying story. That makes it a matter of when rather than if previous information will become meaningful and relevant. There's a considerable number of explicitly stated reveals this time, which may be appreciated by readers.

Severian continues to meander toward his ever new destinations, but he's a changed man now, both literally and figuratively. I still wouldn't call it so much character growth as a superimposition, but that's a matter of semantics, like the Ship of Theseus. I like this more competent, confident, introspective, perceptive, and philosophical Severian. No longer is he utterly baffled by the events around him. He's now able to see the connections between disparate actions, even retrospectively, and detail his thought process and provide conclusions. He has his own goals now.

In many ways though Severian is still the same guy he's been from when he departed from Nessus, as only months have passed after all. One moment he's confessing his devotion to a woman, then the next he's having sex with some woman he just met. I don't see anything wrong with casual sex in of itself, but I don't think he's had sex with a single woman where there isn't a power imbalance greatly in his favor. In one case a married woman is infodumping on Severian and then he tells her that's a nice story, but it's time for sex. It's not quite the sexposition from the Game of Thrones TV series though. Severian notes about the one whom he professes devotion that, "the kind and even noble Severian who existed only in [her] mind". He even says that everything he says matters and nothing she says does. Then he considers "forcing himself on her", but decides that would be a bad move.

I considered rating this lower due to some of the middle part and the inclusion of an extended situation that I tend to dislike. Fortunately that situation resolved itself in a way that gave me a jolt that maybe I shouldn't have liked, but I did. The scenes near the end were also especially nice, so the ratings remains the same.

Rating: 4/5