The Claw of the Conciliator
The Claw of the Conciliator picks up right after Shadow of the Torturer following Severian’s journey and exile towards Thrax, after the events of the first book where he falls in love with the prisoner Thecla and shows her mercy by giving her an easy way out. The book really ups the ante by moving away from an introduction to the grim and dying Urth (Earth) and out into the open of the weird world Gene Wolfe introduced us to. There’s still a lack of transparency in the book around the broader plot of the world, or the words are mentioned but not dwelled on much, so you need to pay high attention.
One scene that will stay with you is an encounter quite early in the book, where in a feast Severian is cornered to drink an elixir made of an organ from an alien beast called an Alzabo alongside the flesh of Thecla. He’s warned beforehand that the Alzabo is a beast that came from space:
“That animal was brought from the stars long ago, as were many other things for the benefit of Urth.”
It’s described as a mindless beast that can gain human memories temporarily. Paired with Severian’s nearly photographic memory, ingesting both permanently gives him Thecla’s memories causing a narrative shift as his consciousness tends to bleed between Severian and Thecla, especially immediately after the feast where it almost feels like one was trying to take control of the other. Going forward his psyche contains both himself and Thecla.
“Yet some part of her is with me still; at times I who remember am not Severian but Thecla, as though my mind were a picture framed behind glass, and Thecla stands before that glass and is reflected in it.”
As Severian journeys he encounters man apes in a subterranean cave, which he fends off with the ‘Claw’, the namesake of the novel. The Claw itself is shrouded in a mystery concerning its power. In one event the Claw fends off the man apes, and in another it heals someone. This adds a big open question, is this science fiction, or is this fantasy, or is it both? For instance, these man-apes, are they from some form of human branch of evolution, and how did they end up in the cave? We know the setting of this book is Earth (Urth) some million of years in the future where the Sun is dying, and there are other ’fantastical’ elements at play like creatures that were put on Urth from space. We can also know infer that Severian is an unreliable narrator, one big reason being that he simply doesn’t know much about the world or recognize things from the far distant past.
Last thing perhaps to mention, without getting into plot points, is Severian befriends a man named Jonas, carrying over from the end of the first book. Jonas treats Severian as a friend, unlike others that seem to only want to manipulate Severian or use him as a tool. Jonas himself is covered in an air of mystery, mentioning his ‘ship’ and being stranded, finding his friends, and more.
“We crashed. It had been so long, on Urth, that there was no port when we returned, no dock.”
Jonas seems to have keen insight and observation of people, as well:
“I have to talk to somebody, so it has to be you even though you’ll think I’m a monster when I’m done. You’re a monster too, do you know that, friend Severian? A monster because you take for your profession what most people only do as a hobby.”
Gene Wolfe offers no answers on a silver platter, the reader has to do the work, and Claw of the Conciliator only raises more questions. The secrets of Urth are shrouded, and it’s a demanding read in which perhaps a re-read is required to put the puzzle together. I know I haven’t fully captured all the mysteries or understand all the science fiction elements better than Severian can, but I’m in for the ride, and just hoping I get more answers in the next book.