Citadel of the Autarch, chapters 1 to 4

dr_mitch

Time for the final volume!

Severian has reached the warzone, his planned destination. Starving, he robs a dead soldier for food- and only after he has eaten thinks to use the Claw to resurrect him. The two stagger northward to the front line base. The two are both treated - Severian too is hurt, presumably after the fight after the end of the last book.

Apocryphal

Noted that Arioch has been added to the list of Leviathans.
And the Vodalarii are 'seditionists' who have help from the Ascians.

Other than that - I'm not sure what to think. Seems were in for a whole bunch of new characters in this book, and I wonder if many of the ones we've previously met will have tidy endings or will just be dropped. In particular I wonder about Jonas, Dr Talos, and Dorcas.

NeilNjae

Not only is Severian in the war zone, but he's in the care of the Pelerines. Will they recognise him? Will they realise he has the Claw? Will Severian return the Claw?

RichardAbbott

@Apocryphal said:
Other than that - I'm not sure what to think. Seems were in for a whole bunch of new characters in this book, and I wonder if many of the ones we've previously met will have tidy endings or will just be dropped. In particular I wonder about Jonas, Dr Talos, and Dorcas.

Jonas surely has to come back, given the nature of his departure.

Back with the narrative, I found it interesting that the Claw took a very long time to get the soldier back from wherever it was that he had gone. It was certainly not an instant revivification act. I also wondered if Severian's malaise was an after effect of using the Claw, rather than because of the book 3 fight?

Thecla's life memories surface vividly during Severian's fever, and there was the interesting aside "I knew this was a signal that I had in some sense become the soldier too". He's accumulating identities as he goes along, to some end that we don't yet know.

dr_mitch

The point where Severian considered himself to be Thecla was interesting to note and a follow on from the point he made in the previous volume that he's *literally* not the same person he was when he became a Journeyman torturer. Thecla's experiences are now as valid as those of the boy torturer.

clash_bowley

@NeilNjae - He already gave them the Claw with his other stuff, and they cleaned it all and gave it back.

Apocryphal

@clash_bowley Yeah, but not till chapter 5!

dr_mitch

Naughty!

clash_bowley

Oh! I must've overshot! D'oh!

Apocryphal

LEXICON

The men who followed him on foot were antepilani of the heavy infantry, big shouldered and narrow-wasted, with sun-bronzed, expressionless faces. They carried three-pointed korsekes, demilunes, and heavy-headed voulges. This mixture of armaments, as well as certain discrepancies among their badges and accouterments, led me to believe that their mora was made up of the remains of earlier formations. p207

Antepilani: First or second line formation infantry.
Korseke: A spetum or polearm. However, we learn in the next chapters that korsekes are actually energy weapons.
Demilune: Literally 'half-moon', an Awl-pike, which is a very long (10-20') polearm.
Mora: In this context, an ancient Spartan military unit of about a sixth of the Spartan army, typically composed of hoplites.

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In the end I took the coutel from his belt and cut them, then drove the point into a tree.

Coutel: A knife, from Latin via French and Middle English.