Severian of the Guild: Shadow of TheTorturer; Claw of The Conciliator; Sword of The Lictor; Citadel of The Autarch: With Shadow of the Torturer AND ... AND Citadel of the Autarch (GOLLANCZ S.F.) [Paperback]

There are some books you have to have read if you want to claim to know science fiction. This is one of them. (Liz Holliday SCI FI NOW )

'One of the great science fantasy epics of all time' George R.R. Martin

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 beautiful young noblewoman. Out of love, Severian helps her commit suicide and escape her fate - no more unforgivable act for a torturer. He is exiled from the guild and his home city to the distant metropolis of Thrax with little more than Terminus Est, a fabled sword, to his name. Along the way he has to learn to survive in a wider world without the guild - a world in which he has already made both allies and enemies. And a strange gem is about to fall into his possession, which will make his enemies pursue him with ever more determination . . . Welcome to a world in which nothing is quite as it seems; to an unreliable narrator; to extraordinary, vivid and evocative writing; to one of the greatest genre classics of all time.

Gene Wolfe, born in New York and raised in Texas, trained as a mechanical engineer. He began to publish short stories in the 1960s. He has won many awards, including a World Fantasy Award for THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER and a Nebula for THE CLAW OF THE CONCILIATOR. He is a World Fantasy Life Achievement winner.