A Major work of twentieth-century American Literature.

An extraordinary epic, set a million years in the future, in the time of a dying sun, when our present culture is no longer even a memory. Severian, a torturer'

An extraordinary epic, set a million years in the future, in the time of a dying sun, when our present culture is no longer even a memory. The torturer's appren

Shadow of the torturer.; Claw of the conciliator.; Sword of the lictor.; Citadel of the autarch.

Severian is a torturer, born to the guild and with an exceptionally promising career ahead of him . . . until he falls in love with one of his victims, a beauti