The Shadow Of the Torturer

Gene Wolfe - The Shadow Of the Torturer

The Shadow of the Torturer is the first volume in the four-volume epic, the tale of a young Severian, an apprentice to the Guild of Torturers on the world called Urth, exiled for committing the ultimate sin of his profession – showing mercy towards his victim.

This is one of the great overlooked Fantasy/Sci-fi adventures of all time. And to be honest, I hate even putting it into a genre category; it's just a damn good read. After having read tons of sci-fi/fanasy in my youth, I had reached a point where I was embarrassed to read any more of the stuff; almost all of it was trite, Tolkien- or Arthur C. Clarke-derivative, and, frankly, just plain juvenile....