Having just started The Claw of the Conciliator recently, this comes at a very useful time for me, as it reminds me of what key terminology might mean and why Severian recounts events the way he does. I am extremely all the way on board for this.
I’m coming in with completely fresh eyes - this first chapter sucked me right in. I love the twisty prose the same way you do.
I’m going to try not to bring my knowledge of future events into this slow read, because this opening chapter grabbed me so hard I’m now 2/3 done with the first book. Sorry! But even within the next few chapters, I found myself catching on certain words or phrases and flipping quickly back to this first chapter to find them there, suddenly with a little more context, a little more light on the background of this scene. I’ve reread that first chapter three or four times already.
The comparison to Bloodborne feels apt to me, too. Both in atmosphere (that game is definitely affecting how I picture the fall of the light in this necropolis), and in that feeling of constantly retreading old ground with just a few more crumbs of knowledge in your pocket each time.
I’m enjoying the mental work it takes to hold details from this chapter in my head without understanding them. Reading this feels mentally satisfying, somehow, like working on a word puzzle. It’s already a world I want to just marinate in, in the hope the more I absorb the more I’ll understand.
I find the first three chapters so instantly gripping and atmospheric and fascinating that it's difficult to not just keep going for a hundred more pages.
But, yes, coming back to this first chapter is wild because of how much of what's to come already appears to be here.
That glorious feeling of a complete world. You just find yourself trusting the author implicitly because you know he’s got not just the whole picture but perfect control of the whole picture.
Re-reading this has been so amazing. Thanks for bringing us together.
LET'S GO!
Having just started The Claw of the Conciliator recently, this comes at a very useful time for me, as it reminds me of what key terminology might mean and why Severian recounts events the way he does. I am extremely all the way on board for this.
Hell yes!
This'll be fun
I’m coming in with completely fresh eyes - this first chapter sucked me right in. I love the twisty prose the same way you do.
I’m going to try not to bring my knowledge of future events into this slow read, because this opening chapter grabbed me so hard I’m now 2/3 done with the first book. Sorry! But even within the next few chapters, I found myself catching on certain words or phrases and flipping quickly back to this first chapter to find them there, suddenly with a little more context, a little more light on the background of this scene. I’ve reread that first chapter three or four times already.
The comparison to Bloodborne feels apt to me, too. Both in atmosphere (that game is definitely affecting how I picture the fall of the light in this necropolis), and in that feeling of constantly retreading old ground with just a few more crumbs of knowledge in your pocket each time.
I’m enjoying the mental work it takes to hold details from this chapter in my head without understanding them. Reading this feels mentally satisfying, somehow, like working on a word puzzle. It’s already a world I want to just marinate in, in the hope the more I absorb the more I’ll understand.
Yes! This is the hoped for outcome!
I find the first three chapters so instantly gripping and atmospheric and fascinating that it's difficult to not just keep going for a hundred more pages.
But, yes, coming back to this first chapter is wild because of how much of what's to come already appears to be here.
That glorious feeling of a complete world. You just find yourself trusting the author implicitly because you know he’s got not just the whole picture but perfect control of the whole picture.