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Of all mortals Latro was the least favoured - or the most. The wound that had destroyed his memory had given him the ability to see the unseen: the world of the gods, the demi-gods and the fabulous.

Latro forgets everything when he sleeps. Writing down his experiences every day and reading his journal anew each morning gives him a poignantly tenuous hold on himself, but his story's hold on readers is powerful indeed. The two previous novels, combined in Latro in the Mist (Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete) are generally considered classics of contemporary fantasy. Latro now finds himself in Egypt, a land of singing girls, of spiteful and conniving deities. Without his memory, he is unsure of everything, except for his desire to be free of the curse that causes him to forget.

Gifted with courage, strength, and the intelligence to know when to fight, Sun Wolf is the greatest mercenary in a land overrun by war. With his first lieutenant, Starhawk - a woman more deadly than any man - at his side, he has laid waste to countless cities, taking the best of their treasures for himself, and distributing the rest among his bloodthirsty crew.

Then a woman comes to him, an emissary from the town of Mandrigyn, a lush port city recently sacked by a powerful, mad wizard of unmatched abilities. She offers Sun Wolf untold riches for the use of his army, but the captain is not fool enough to wage war against a magician. He refuses her offer, but that is not the end of it. The women of Mandrigyn can be very persuasive.

Recently voted the greatest fantasy of all time, after The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun is an extraordinary epic, set a million years in the future, on an Earth transformed in mysterious and wondrous ways, in a time when our present culture is no longer even a memory. Severian, the central character, is a torturer, exiled from his guild after falling in love with one of his victims, and journeying to the distant city of Thrax, armed with his ancient executioner's sword, Terminus Est.

Contents:

• 5 - The Shadow of the Torturer - [Book of The New Sun - 1] - 1980
• 249 - The Claw of the Conciliator - [Book of The New Sun - 2] - 1981
• 483 - The Sword of the Lictor - [Book of The New Sun - 3] - 1982
• 715 - The Citadel of the Autarch - [Book of The New Sun - 4] - 1983

Banished for the sin of mercy, Severian, one of the ancient guild of Torturers, flees from exile.

In a mountain wilderness Severian, the disgraced apprentice torturer, has reached his place of exile - Thrax, the city of Windowless Rooms, where he must take up his post as Lictor, executioner and torturer. However, he flees the city and heads into the mountains. There he meets the Alzabo, in whom those eaten seem to live on, adopts a son only to lose him in battle and discharges an old debt to vengeance. As his exile takes stranger and stranger turns, he encounters fanged aliens who hide behind masks of beauty, and meets the mysterious Dr Talos . . .

Severian the Torturer continues his epic journey across the lands of Urth, carrying with him the Claw of the Conciliator and the great sword, Terminus Est. All his travels are leading towards a destiny that he dare not refuse.

"We must be bound to one another then. Bound by hell-forged chains and fate-haunted circumstance. Well, then - let it be thus so - and men will have cause to tremble and flee when they hear the names of Elric of Melnibone and Stormbringer, his sword. We are two of a kind - produced by an age which has deserted us. Let us give this age cause to hate us."

Imrryr, the dreaming city; Yyrkoon, the hated usurper; Cymoril, the beloved... all had fallen to the fury and unearthly power of the albino prince and his terrible sword. An Elric faced at last the fate that was to be his in this haunted era - that he must go forth, sword and man as one, and havoc and horror would be forever at his forefront until he found his Purpose that was yet obscured to him.

A young man in his teens is transported from our world to a magical realm that contains seven levels of reality. Very quickly transformed by magic into a grown man of heroic proportions, he takes the name Abel and sets out on a quest to find the sword that has been promised to him, a sword he will get from a dragon, the one very special blade that will help him fulfill his life ambition to become a knight and a true hero.

Inside, however, Abel remains a boy, and he must grow in every sense to survive the dangers and delights that lie ahead in encounters with giants, elves, wizards, and dragons.

Sir Able returns to Mythgathr on his steed Cloud, a great mare the color of her name. Able is filled with new knowledge of the ways of the seven-fold world and possessed of great magical secrets. His knighthood now beyond question, Able works to fulfill his vows to his king, his lover, his friends, his gods, and even his enemies. Able must set his world right, restoring the proper order among the denizens of all the seven worlds.

The young man Col dreams of one day joining the holy clergy and departs on a journey from the bathhouse "The Spice and Wolf Inn," owned by his savior, Lawrence. The Winfiel Kingdom's prince has invited him to help correct the sins of the church. But as his travels begin, Col discovers in his luggage a young girl with a wolf's ears and tail named Myuri who stowed away for the ride!

In the past, Col had accompanied the wisewolf Holo and the traveling merchant Lawrence on their own wanderings, eventually growing up alongside their daughter, Myuri as siblings. But as Col prepared to set off, Myuri opposed his departure and so she secretly ran away from home to join him!

This is the story of Wolf and Parchment, and the pair's travels that will someday change the world!

The young man Col and the daughter of the Wisewolf, Myuri, survived the scripture riots in the port town of Atiph. Col spends intense days being pined for after Myuri tells him about her love.p

Meanwhile, Heir Hyland commissions them for another next job. In the coming war with the Church's forces, control over the strait between the Kingdom of Winfiel and the mainland will play a crucial role. While Myuri is excited for a new adventure, Col cannot hide his unease after hearing about potential heresy among certain pirates for their faith in the "Black-Mother"!

The companion of the young man who wishes to become a priest, Col, is the daughter of the wisewolf, Myuri, and she urges him to make her his wife. After leaving the pirate islands, the two get caught up in a storm and arrive the port town of Desarev in the Winfiel Kingdom.

In this town, where the Church lies dormant, Col is called "The Twilight Cardinal" and is treated like a savior. He also has to face Myuri's unrequited love, so he forbids her from calling him "Brother," and tries to change their relationship.

Before them appears a merchant girl who calls herself Ilenia. She is the embodiment of a sheep, and asks them to help her with some "big plans"...!

Rausbourne, Winfiel Kingdom's second-largest city, is on the verge of boiling over. Col and Myuri have come to this bustling metropolis at Heir Hyland's request-but as soon as they land, they find themselves caught between heavily armed tax collectors and mercenaries hired by the local merchants association. The stakes are high when it becomes clear that Rausbourne's troubles are simply one part of the wider conflict between the Kingdom and the Church, which has actually worsened due to Col's deeds as the Twilight Cardinal.

If nothing changes, it'll be only a matter of time before fighting breaks out. Right as things start to look their bleakest, Lawrence's old archrival Eve Bolan offers a convenient lifeline. Will the fearless miser turn out to be friend or foe? Either way, Col has no choice but to dive into a three-pronged standoff between the Church, the Kingdom, and the merchants!

After saving the Knights of St. Cruza from the brink of destruction, the Col and Myuri form their very own knightly order. Although Myuri is thrilled to finally hold a title she's long obsessed over, she realizes that her position as a knight is making it harder for her to fawn over Col. Before she can rack her brain for a solution, however, a request comes in from Hyland for her to investigate Raponel, a region whose prodigious wheat production is rumored to be the product of a deal with a devil. Meanwhile, Col gets asked to discover a new continent to resolve the conflict between the Kingdom and the Church?!