Does BoTNS make any sense without reading picrel? I'm tired of it

You have to understand that Wolfe wrote his entire story in one go and that the 4-volume cut-out is his publisher's choice.

If you don’t like shadow I don’t think you’re going to like any of the rest of it either. Another user in this thread disagrees with me, but I loved every second of that entire series, and to me the first book is the highlight of the series.

I'm 100 pages in and I've found it interesting since maybe 50, maybe you just need to give it some time

The Shadow of The Torturer is the best book in the series though. If you don't like it, then I'm afraid I have some BAD NEWS for you.

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I read BoNS, absolutely loved it. Do any of you anons have experience with other stuff Wolfe wrote? I’m eyeing The Wizard Knight series next. Curious if anyone has read it and how it compares

That's literally the prologue. So while you don't miss anything plotwise, you miss everything characterwise and what sets up the entire story.

He's generally great. Many say BotNS is his masterpiece, but that often sounds like its the only book of his they have read. Out of his works I've read, I personally rank Soldier of the Mist/Arete, Fifth Head of Cerberus, Short Sun and top short stories like the DoctorIslanDeaths above New Sun.

What’s better: the tor books hardbacks or the sf masterworks paperbacks? I found the tor books paperbacks at a bookstore but I hated the texture on the covers.

Are you at the botanical gardens? That section drags on a bit.
BotNS is best thought of as a novel in four parts, so skipping random sections is not the best idea. The botanical gardens/adventures with Agia make sense in hindsight, but could have been trimmed down a bit.
Just finish it, and then read the second volume (Claw of the Conciliator) to see if it keeps your interest.

Also, for anyone who hasn't read it, Short Sun>New Sun>Long Sun

Grab the old 80's Timescape covers on thrift books

Peasant

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>$60 dollars for each quarter used vs $20-30 for each half new
thanks for the response user, I’m looking for what I can get for a decent price off amazon or ebay.

Rad, thanks user. That’s wonderful to hear, and I’ll definitely try some of his other work now.

The Wizard Knight is pretty good. It's a bit less cryptic than BotNS but still has a few things you piece together yourself. It drags a bit in the second half but you'll probably like it if you liked BotNS

>it’s less cryptic
You got filtered lolz. The entire plot is about two chimeric twins in the womb

i think you mean you need an IQ below 145 to enjoy it.

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I really can't believe you posted this. How old are you? The more I think about this the weirder it gets. Holy shit. Zoomers are a hell of a drug.

for me it's 4>2>1>3

The Tor Essentials hardcovers are ~30 Canadian each, two volumes, on Amazon.

Some of the reviews I've seen are dumbfounding.

>I was searching for a dark souls themed book and a lot of people suggested this series. In simple terms I don’t recommend. The author attempts to make scenes vivid by using very descriptive words, unfortunately this causes an extreme amount of unnecessary fillers. The thoughts are there on what the author wants to happen but it’s all over the place and difficult to understand. Sections of dialogue are put on hiatus to describe details only to resume the same conversation after. 40 pages in and I had no idea what was happening. I found my self retracing only to try and understand some small detail that wasn’t covered previously.

>Ignore the reviews by critics, and even by acclaimed authors like Neil Gaiman. The Book of the New Sun is quite possibly the worst book ever written. I have stuck through some doozies, but none take the cake like this, and I wish I had trusted my gut instinct numerous times throughout the series to stop instead of pushing through to the end for the sake of completion. Nothing makes sense or can be followed as the author just invents words and items without descriptions, leaving you to wonder what the hell you're reading. It doesn't get better across the various books, the author if anything doubles down throughout them. The author has invented a world without explaining its contents to the reader

>Overall, it's alright. Certainly not a page turner. It takes a looooooong time to get into. I honestly had to force myself to read the whole thing and it took over a year to do (could only read a few pages at a time some times). I wasn't sure what was happening throughout the novel and even after I finished it, I had to read the wiki plot.

OP is an idiot. there's your (You)

Yeah I was looking at those. Just wanted to know if anyone has them and could say if they’re good hardbacks. If not I’d rather save the money and expand the sf masterworks collection.

You’re a retard

why the fuck would you skip shadow of the torturer?

>those reviews
Holy filter, batman!

Absolutely gorgeous set

>The Shadow of The Torturer is the best book in the series
That's a strange way to spell The Sword of the Lictor, friend

For me, it's probably 3 > 4 > 1 > 2
But i haven't finished 4 yet. Do you guys reccomend reading Urth immediately after? The copy I have keeps them together and calls it the "complete" botns pls no spoil pls.

Post fan art and memes

Terminus Est might be one of my favorite swords in all of SF&F. Absolutely kino

>executes a tranny
>uses the male edge
>>heh, nothin' personel, troon

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>Do you guys reccomend reading Urth immediately after?
I was reading Lexicon Urthus last night and the author alludes to there being some disagreement as to whether Urth is book 5 in the series or a standalone sequel.
But I don't see why you shouldn't read it right after, unless you prefer re-reading the first four first. That's what I was going to do, but Citadel explained a lot by the end so I felt less of a need to re-read.

I finished 1-4 but never read Urth, and I don't think I ever will. Although I might after a few re-reads if I feel the urge. From what I understand, Urth is basically an appendix tacked on (against Wolfe's wishes btw) that basically goes through and clarifies/reveals a lot of the mystery and ambiguity throughout BotNS. For me, this mystery and ambiguity were a very large part of why I enjoyed the series, but it's pretty clear not everyone enjoyed it like I did, so just go with your gut. If you want things spelled out for you, read Urth, if you would prefer to puzzle it out yourself or just marinate in the enigma, avoid it like the plague.

>sword filled with liquid mercury
>fucks up weight balance as it sloshes back and forth when you swing it
why not just use an axe? or a kukri? a khopesh?

Lexicon Urthus also has huge spoilers of small details that you wouldn't realize without a close rereading. I know that might be obvious but it jumps out at you in non-obvious entries before you realize it's coming.

RIP. I definitely will be rereading at lease once before I dive in to those two volumes then. Have you read anything from Wolfe besides BotNS user?

It's not meant to be swung back and forth. It's an executioner sword meant only to swing in one direction to decapitate someone. Severian uses it as a weapon but it's primarily a tool

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Yeah, Soldier of the Mist, and the novella The Death of Doctor Island. The latter is a mind-bender that definitely merits rereading.
Soldier, I mean it does too, but I thought it was more about figuring out what was happening in the moment because of Latro's amnesia. By the time I finished it, I didn't feel there was anything I didn't understand, although it would be difficult to summarize because of the jumbled way it's told.
I want to read the sequel to Soldier, as well as Wizard Knight, and Fifth Head of Cerberus, but BotNS still has a lot to give.

Wonderful. I'll put The Death of Doctor Island at the top of my list. I am just about to start The Wizard Knight, but otherwise haven't read anything besides BotNS. I definitely didn't crack it completely, but my mind has been fried by modern technology and I can't stay handle multiple consecutive reads, so I plan on returning to it after a small break. As an aside these threads almost wish there was a way to talk with people like you outside of this place. I am from a small town and know literally zero people who read. It's nice to hear other people's opinion on the works I enjoy.

I like to imagine Sevarian just swings it in a circle and pivots on his heels since that's the only way anybody would be able to use that sword in combat

That's the only reason to come here isn't it? Even though I live in the city, I'm still isolated from like minds. You can only get that sort of thing on the Internet, and the love of books filters out a lot of shit. Yea Forums deserves the complaints it gets, but it could be a lot worse. It could be Yea Forums.

Coolness factor. Also, symbolism (it's harder to lift because of the gravity of what you're about to do).

Amen bro. Kek, Yea Forums is truly a hell beyond comprehension. Best wishes my friend.

Pirate Freedom is the best plotted novel I've read, even better than Treasure Island albeit not as good overall.

Is any of that addressed or described in the narrative? Because a sword with no point and fucked up weight balance just seems like a shitty axe to me.
I train with steel mace bells and it would be ridiculously terrible to use if the bell slid up and down the shaft.

>I am a retard and have no idea what is happening
I first read it when I was like 8 thanks to some neckbeard at the comic shop and it genuinely blew my fucking mind when I realized the tower was a spaceship. These people are literally being outsmarted by children who didn’t have the internet

The reason for the liquid mercury is stated, that it's to help with the downswing on executions. It also mentions that the tip is squared, not pointed, but it doesn't give the reason for that explicitly. Executioner swords were squared irl, so that's meant to be understood going in or realized via context (he's given the sword when he's told that he's to become a lictor (an executioner))
the name of the sword is latin, roughly translated to "this is the end" or "it is the end". Although Severian translates it as "this is the dividing line" and another character as "this is the place of parting". All of the translations are extremely fitting for the sword's purpose.

Book of the short sun is better than new sun. Fight me

Are you retarded

> It also mentions that the tip is squared, not pointed, but it doesn't give the reason for that explicitly. Executioner swords were squared irl
You are giving a lot of credit to how to mind of midwits work. You think these are simple deductions everyone should be able to deduce, because you obviously can. 40% of humanity is probably too stupid to even comprehend the end of a sword not ending in a point

>1-4
You’ve literally read less than half of the entire story

>Executioner swords were squared irl
Ah, fair enough, wasn’t aware they were like that in 15th-17th century europe. Thanks user.

Executioner's swords weren't made up for these novels, they were real and they didn't have points because the executioner was never going to stab anything with it. The only part that's made up is the liquid mercury, which is explained, but would be pointless because the sword is already designed to decapitate and wouldn't need the extra weight.

Are you talking about long sun and short sun?

>wouldn't need the extra weight
Yeah but it's neat, tho

As well as the ones you mentioned, I enjoyed Peace a lot