The Shadow of the Torturer cover art

The Shadow of the Torturer

Urth: Book of the New Sun, Book 1

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Shadow of the Torturer

By: Gene Wolfe
Narrated by: James Lailey
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

So begins one of the most celebrated stories in fantasy literature . . . packed full of mystery, deep themes and incredible prose, meet Severian the Torturer and follow him on his journey across the great world of Urth

Severian is a torturer, born to the guild and with an exceptionally promising career ahead of him...until he falls in love with one of his victims, a beautiful young noblewoman.

Her excruciations are delayed for some months and, out of love, Severian helps her commit suicide and escape her fate. For a torturer, there is no more unforgivable act. In punishment he is exiled from the guild and his home city to the distant metropolis of Thrax with little more than Terminus Est, a fabled sword, to his name.

Along the way he has to learn to survive in a wider world without the guild—a world in which he has already made both allies and enemies. And a strange gem is about to fall into his possession, which will only make his enemies pursue him with ever-more determination....

1981, John W. Campbell Memorial Award, Short-listed

1981, World Fantasy Award, Winner

1982, BSFA Award, Winner

©1980 Gene Wolfe (P)2021 Orion Publishing Group Dark Fantasy Epic Fantasy Genre Fiction Hard Science Fiction Literary Fiction Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Litany of the Long Sun cover art
The Black Company cover art
The Solar War cover art
Hyperion cover art
Kingfall cover art
Elric of Melniboné cover art
Scythe cover art
Trollslayer cover art
14 cover art
A Canticle for Leibowitz cover art
Terms of Enlistment cover art
Incursion cover art
Elder Race cover art
Swords and Deviltry cover art
The Darkness That Comes Before cover art
The Will of the Many cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Wonderful rendition of one of the greatest books written. Difficult to put down once you get into it.

Wonderful rendition of one of the greatest books

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
as much goes unspoken as is made explicit. a meandering story of allusion and allegory that gives it an almost dream like quality. not for everyone, but to the initiated truly sublime.

dream like, almost ephemeral

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have some friends that love this series, and the concepts and theories they talk about sound interesting, but the this story did not grip me in the same way. Which is unfortunate as it does sound like if you can get into it, it will be very interesting. The narrator was amazing and I believe he helped keep my interest as the story meandered around from point to point.

Great Narration, somewhat confusing story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this is a great creative piece that will capture the minds of many readers with the twisted future world, the strong cast of characters or the beautiful anaology that prevades most of the book.
the only thing that may turn people off is the of the wall rants and turns that can be very hard to decipher what is going on

excellent original story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Incredible book. It wasn’t always un-put-down-able in the way some books are, but this book was certainly like nothing else I’ve yet encountered. A highly distinct and unfamiliar setting, countless alluring mysteries, and above all, the flawless, meticulous language in which the book is narrated. If I had to compare it to something, I would say it reminded me of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s ‘Cage of Souls’. I recommend that to anyone who enjoyed this and vice versa.

Like nothing else

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrator is the only thing that kept me listening until the end. World and story have potential in beginning, ends up being a story of how a weak boy turns macho, cannot explain feelings and spends much more time describing women's physical properties rather than their character.

Expected better story, great narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love this story, remembering it clearly from my youth. The presentation is masterful.

Outstanding

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wow
I read an article on the author a couple years back that likened these books to Miyazaki’s rich video game world and dark dreamlike storytelling it delivered in spades at one point literally. He’s got an incredible voicing and breath of language thats rare in fantasy Patrick Rothus and Scott lynch spring to mind but the depth is that of peake and a dreamy almost intangible world that feels almost murakami esq.
this narration is something else too especially a character near the end who really took me by suprise by how hard the narrator went in on the character, really brought him to life. Gonna be grabbing all of these cant wait.

Dark souls brought me here

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Unlike modern fantasy this story takes you on a journey to the bizarre but believable. One of the best journeys my imagination has taken in years!

A journey to the bizarre but believable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not many books are as engaging, or more so even, by the third read/listen but this is one of them. It is frustrating that Gene Wolfe, and this series in particular, is not better known, as in my view this is a masterpiece in any genre, and on the same level as Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy in terms of the unique writing style and incredible world-building, although both are very different.

Anyone expecting a simple action-packed space opera may be disappointed but this book still feels gripping and includes incredible almost hallucinatory scenes and images that stay with you, from Severian being saved by a giant woman underwater to a dual in which the combatants use the deadly leaves of an alien tree as weapons.

The use of obscure words, without clear descriptions about what a particular thing is, actually works incredibly well to conjure up a world so far in the future that it feels ancient and advanced all at once. This, when coupled with Severian’s not entirely trustworthy account of his life, in which nothing is quite what it seems and you question his repeated boast/complaint that he forgets nothing, means that you notice new details and perspectives on each read.

If you typically like fantasy but not sci-fi books, or visa versa, this book will still appeal to you. The narration is very engaging, enhancing the detached and otherworldly style of Severian’s account and giving each character a distinctive voice. Each instalment of the series is excellent and it is one of those series that you wish could be adapted as films or tv but you know that it would be extremely difficult to pull off. The closet comparison may be the classic computer game Planescape: Torment, if for no other reason than they both feel so distinctive and feature a group of amoral protagonists in worlds where science and magic are indistinguishable.

Hopefully they will produce more Gene Wolfe audiobooks, including his Soldier of the Mist series, which is a brilliant take on the world of ancient Greece and Egypt through the eyes of an amnesiac soldier who can see and talk to gods and other mythical creatures.

Anyway, give it a go!

A classic in any genre

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews