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Apocryphal
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I didn't really remark on the strong Christian beliefs, so you might have to elaborate on this one. Overall, I found the mental aspect of the book to be pretty interesting, and especially the different waves on which it might work, rather like radio…
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As I mentioned in Q1, the Metz, the Eleveners, and the Bear People seemed the most credible to me. The tendency to simply write off the Unclean as 'evil villains' was too simplistic for my taste. Aldo ascribes a motive to them that doesn't come acro…
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Yes and no. It was compelling in many ways, and quite unlike anything I've read. For reasons I cant explain, it puts me in mind of Harry Harrison's West of Eden, which was an early club pick. I feel the landscape were pretty effective. He didn't re…
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Thinking back to the episode at the alter, did Agia not slip the Claw, unnoticed, into Severian's pocket? My thinking is that she either planned to reclaim it from Severian's dead body when he lost the duel, or that she hoped all along that it would…
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Agia, at times, seemed like an ally, or professed to be an ally. But as they travelled through the garden, she became increasingly annoyed when Severian interacted with other people, and tried to rush him along. It seemed to me at the time that she …
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(Quote) I'm actually feeling de-mystified by these three. After the last four, I though these were pleasantly straight forward and finally some strings are being drawn together. The note is a little mysterious, but it confirms the idea that she's be…
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Welcome, @BenM , and good luck. We do a monthly book most months, though we don't currently have one lined up for May. And we're currently also doing a slow read of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun which will last until Christmas, reading about 20 …
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Glad to see at least 4 of us are in on this book.
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If Bob & Marie are phantoms from the 20th C., then Severian and Agia would seem to be their tokoloshes - phantoms of their own past actions now visiting them in the future. There seems to be a lot of meaning buried here, but it's hard to extract…
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If only it was also a welcome change from the D&D default!
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(Quote) Interesting question - I suspect they are an Easter egg, rather than something integral to the plot. But that said, I can't help but feel that knowing them makes the plot that much easier to parse, so thanks to @RichardAbbott once again for …
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ANNOTATION - Chapters 21-24 Gowdalie: An Australian Aboriginal fishing spear Oreodont: Extinct four-toed ruminating hog Hesperon: Creataceous diving bird (Image) (Quote) Uakari: A rather spooky looking New World monkey (see above) Margay: Small…
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I didn't remember (or notice) that the claw had the power of resurrection, so I didn't make this connection when reading this chapter, but knowing it improves my reading greatly. I suspected Dorcas was Cas, but thought that was too coincidental. The…
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Specere = To Look Speculum = A mirror, a tool for looking at yourself Speculative Fiction = Fiction that holds a mirror to society (or at least allows the authors to admire themselves?)
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ANNOTATION - chapters 19 and 20 (Quote) Champian - a plain, or large expanse of flat land. Confirmation here that the Pelerines cathedral is indeed a big tent. (Quote) Eponym: Those who have given their names to something (a tribe, or a town). In…
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@RichardAbbott Good point re: Christ vs being an alien, though the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
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ANNOTATION - chapter 18 (Quote) Hypogeum means literally 'underground'. The high Hypogeon is what - the Dungeon Master? (Quote) Onagers: Asiatic wild ass, similar to a donkey, and notoriously hard to tame, with a very hard kick. The romans named a…
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He does say he's telling the story of his 'predecessor' which fairly confirms he will become Autarch. He also begins by saying "It has been a long time (twice I have heard the guard changed outside my study door" since I wrote the lines yo…
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ANNOTATION - chapter 17 (Quote) Pavonine: Peacock-like. (Quote) Vicuna: A thin-necked cameloid of the Andes, related to a llama. (Quote) Psychopomp: Literally 'guide of souls' in Greek. An angel or spirit that guides the soul of a recently depart…
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(Quote) More evidence for the old maxim, LOL. I was surprised nobody commented on the death of Gene Wolfe in the other thread when @NeilNjae pointed it out. I don't think we've ever had an author die in the middle of our discussion before, though I…
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I was going to say - sounds like a Hammond Innes novel! I've reviewed a few, here, but have read many more over the years, including The Blue Ice (my fave of the batch), The Wreck of the Mary Deare, The Land God Gave to Cain, The Doomed Oasis, and …
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Thanks, Richard. I started reading this... The setting is quite distinctive, and the style is somewhat as well. It's not quite like anything I've read before, so I'm finding it quite interesting.
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@NeilNjae Thanks for bringing this to our attention - another great passes. I myself don't know Wolfe's work well enough, but my re-reading of The Shadow of the Torture has given me a new appreciation for his writing. I actually have quite a few of …
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@Ray_Otus Hey, hey, now. It wasn't a joke, per se, it was an observation that amused me. @NeilNjae speculated about the maintenance of the roads, and Clash pointed out they were unmaintained. Then you said 'But if they were maintained' (like the two…
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@clash_bowley I think you're breaking the rules of improv, LOL.
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Another thing about the roads - road projects are usually initiated to make it easier for armies to move quickly across the homeland to respond to threats. Here we have the opposite - roads that are being left fallow to make it harder for rebellion …
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My first impression of Talos was that he was a mountebank, and Baldanders his brawny accomplice. Something about him doesn't add up. Where was he last night, for example? He's also very clever - one gets the feeling he's always a step ahead. This do…
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(Quote) When push comes to shove, there's always still the ability to hope. Even the person falling from a cliff still hopes to have their fall broken by a bush, a pool, or their boss. And hopelessness is also similarly unaffected - look at all the …
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LEXICON (and thoughts inspired by it) (Quote) Lictor: Latin, as all the titles seem to be - An officer in ancient Rome, attendant on a consul or magistrate, who bore the fasces and was responsible for punishing criminals. Thrax also has a meaning -…
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Could be, though I have to say that "I danced and hunted boar" sounds a lot less probable to me than "I danced and flirted with boys". 'Pursued the peccary' sounds a lot like 'pursued the pecker', after all.