The Citadel of the Autarch

After the events of The Sword of the Lictor, Severian finally makes his way north to where the religious order of the Pelerines are in order to give them back the mysterious Claw, which throughout the journey seems to be an object with power and healing.

Close to the end of the journey is where things get quite weird, to say the least. We’ve been establishing this series is a science fiction, although from the eyes of Severian and many others, it’s as if magic and fantasy is involved throughout. But first, the war. Severian ends up joining some mercenaries to fight the ‘Ascians’, I have no idea really who the Ascians are but the clues tell you that they come from a totalitarian state with doublespeak tendencies that read Orwellian. We learn that the Ascians likely are ‘American’ and embraced complete technological reform, whereas Severian and the society he grew up in are from the ‘Commonwealth’, south of the Ascians, so South America.

We also learn this war is a proxy war designed by cosmic entities to completely make Urth dark and dominate it. The larger conflict at play here is something not totally expected, but we know from Shadow of the Torturer that it’s all leading to Severian becoming the next Autarch. Nearly everything is orchestrated in hope that Severian (or his likeness) will emerge and complete some trial and bring about a New Sun, in order to bring life back to the dying world affected by the dying sun.

Now as crazy as that all is, Severian meets the Autarch again and a lot of this knowledge is passed down to him. Eventually, to become the Autarch, Severian must go through a ritual similar to what he had gone through with Thecla and the elixir of the Alzabo, it’s amazing how far that scene carries and stays in memory throughout the books. Maybe it’s something about a cannibalistic ritual that just leaves remnants you cannot escape from thinking about, the Alzabo, and the ritual tied to it as well, is one of those things I will always remember.

So that’s it? I always thought this was four books, but it turns out there’s another book The Urth of the New Sun. These four are quite self contained, but it does leave something open for Severian to continue upon. You will definitely have questions after reading these books and completing Citadel of the Autarch, and I suspect a re-reading is in order. I sit wondering after these 4 books what I missed, what was said in book 1 that gave clues to what we learned now. Considering time and its direction of passage are important to the plot here, I imagine a re-read would reveal those things missed that were traveling in a different direction of time. There are the things Severian saw with his eyes that were eyes of ignorance, but perhaps knowing now more clearly that everything is meant to be ‘explainable’, perhaps there’s more than meets the eye during certain scenes or sights.

I probably won’t get to re-reading this right away, but I do think perhaps I’ll read the 5th book at some point, and then re-read it all much later. I’ll perhaps first read the follow up to the Soldier of the Mist series or another Gene Wolfe novel, since he does have some aura and interesting writing that I enjoy.

It’s very hard to recommend this whole series to just anyone, I would say, don’t read this if you expect clear answers to things and complete resolution. But perhaps if you like a book that throws you into its world like Dune, or authors like Ursula K. Le Guin, then you might just enjoy this!