Locus Award.British Fantasy Award.John Campbell Memorial Award.Apollo Award.Chinese Galaxy and Nebula Awards.Hugo, Nebula, Balrog Award Finalist, British Scientific Association Award Fantasy, World Fantasy Award. SF Chronicle Magazine Award and Gigamesh Almanac. "The Sword and the Citadel" is the second half of the celebrated magical tetralogy "Books of the New Sun." "The Sword of the Lictor" Severian, who has become the lictor of the city of Thrax, again breaks his duty as an executioner and arranges an escape the woman he was supposed to kill. He is forced to flee to the north of the Commonwealth, into the mountains, pursued by Thrax's guards and monsters sent by his old enemies. War is raging in the north: the Autarch's troops are fighting the Ascian army. "Autarch's Citadel" The story of Severian is nearing its end. He will discover the source of the Peacemaker's Claw's powers and learn the nature of the Autarch. Severian will return to Nessus, to the Citadel, to his teachers, but in a new capacity. Will the former executioner become the New Sun? “The best science fiction of the last century.” – Neil Gaiman “Books of the New Sun is almost heartbreakingly good, rich and full of nuances that emerge with each reread. This is Gene Wolfe's masterpiece." —David Langford, ten-time Hugo Award-winning critic "A surprisingly colorful and inventive book... The most extraordinary hero in the history of epic fantasy." – The Washington Post “A science fiction masterpiece that rivals the major works of Tolkien and Lewis.” – Publishers Weekly “The book contains elements of Spenser's allegory, Swift's satire, Dickens' social consciousness, and Wagner's mythology. Woolf creates a truly alien society, which the reader begins to feel from the inside... Once in it, it is no longer possible to stop.” – The New York Book Reviews