The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe (American, 1982)

Summary:
The book narrates the story of Severian, a man in a medieval-futuristic land, where a war has broken out, and has extraordinary abilities that will lead him to take the role of the Autarch. Severian is wandering around, with no clear direction, when he finds a dead soldier; as Severian has the claw (a sort of gem that brings dead back to life) he uses it to revive the soldier. Once alive, the Soldier and Severian travel until they find a camp. They spend some days there, but after some time Severian is asked to bring to the camp a man who lives alone and that might be in danger due to the war. Severian looks for the man and after spending some days wandering around he finds him. However, the man is not a common one: he is a man from the future whose task is to see how the story of the world unfolds. Severian convinces the man to go out of the house but the man vanishes in thin air, so Severan has to return alone. Once at the camp, he finds out that the people from the camp are either dead or dying, so he is again forced to wander around. He finds a group of men that lead him to a battle. After being injured during the battle, Severian is rescued by the Autarch, a powerful man who has large knowledge, and they both travel to the Autarch’s House Absolute. During the flight they are attacked and later imprisoned; right before dying the Autarch tells Severian to take a drug and eat part of his body to become the new Autarch, so he does. Severian is rescued from prison and then is send to House Absolute to fulfill certain tasks, if he succeeded in those, he would prevent a glaciation in the future (foreshadowed by the man of the future).The book ends with Severian taking the role as the Autarch and him closing his recounts by saying that he still needs to keep doing his job.

Another summary:
Severian, originally from the citadel of Nessus, walks aimlessly, weakened by thirst, hunger and fatigue; he is losing more and more strength, which he recovers after finding a dead soldier and eating his food. When he finishes eating, he finds a letter written by the soldier and decides to use the Claw to revive him; he wakes up and seems to be in good condition even though he cannot speak, so together they embark on a new path. Severian decides they will walk north; his purpose is to find the location of the Pelerines, which they reach after a long and painful walk. Once there, the locals assist them both, who are feverish and weakened, and the soldier who seemed unable to speak gets to easily communicate with the people. After Severian recovers, he tries to talk to the soldier, but learns that he is an Ascian and that he is a prisoner until the war is over; but it is very likely that war will never end. Foila, a woman from the camp decides to do a storytelling contest to choose a man to marry, Melito or Hallvard, and Severian participates as a judge. After hearing the stories of both and also the Ascian soldier he found, and after having a long talk with a Pelerine during which they discuss the Claw and the use that Severian has been making of it, Foila has a chance to tell her own story; Severian decides to leave the Claw under a stone on an altar. After this, he finds a Pelerine called Mannea, who asks him to go look for an anchorite and persuade him to return to the camp with them and prevent the war from ending with him when it arrives at the place where he is. Severian accepts and manages to meet him, Master Ash, but when he manages to convince him, he disappears. When he returns to the camp he meets Foila and learns that the place was destroyed and almost everyone he knew is dead. After realizing what has happened, he meets Guasacht, his second, Erblon, and company, and joins them in their guerrilla confrontations against Ascian troops. It is in a battle where he comes to the verge of death and is taken to the House Absolute. There he meets the Autarch of the Commonwealth and is cared for his recovery. While they fly over the battlefield, they have a conversation in which the Autarch tells Severian that he is destined to be his successor, their flier is attacked, the Autarch ends up very hurt and Severian remembers that he had told him to eat his meat and swallow a drug that was inside him while he was still alive, so that's what he does. After the Autarch dies, Severian meets Vodalus, who has taken him prisoner, Thea, and Agia, whose brother had been killed by Severian and intends to kill him, so Severian fights to escape; although he ends up injured, the weapon of Agia does not manage to assassinate him, an old man is in charge of taking care of him while he recovers from the confrontation and soon he is visited by Vodalus, with whom he speaks about his position as the new Autarch. Once Severian manages to escape thanks to a time traveler, he also gives him the opportunity to see Malrubius and Severian's dog, Triskele, in a new person. In this encounter Malrubius reminds Severian that he is the new Autarch and reveals to him that it is up to him that man can re-enter space, for which it is necessary that he overcome a future challenge and, if he does not overcome that test, he will lose his manhood and the possibilities of begetting, just like what happened with his predecessor. After this important revelation to Severian, he returns to his city Nessus, practically in ruins, now as the Autarch to take charge of matters relating to his position. He meets Master Palaemon and tells him everything that has happened until he became the new Autarch. Severian knows he has to leave the citadel in a few days, there are no friends left and Palaemon does not seem to be very helpful for his plans. Before leaving he is visited by Drotte, Eata and Roche, and they take a walk during which they meet Ouen and Severian converses with him. He tells him that there is a woman in the house whom she has to convince to leave the city and while persuading her he must protect her. After saying that, Severian realizes that he is very lonely since he can not count on any of the people he loves. Now Severian is in a ship, writing a manuscript about what he has lived and what he thinks is The Book of the New Sun, because what is related in it is related to the future arrival of the New Sun, and also plans send it to Master Ultan. In addition, he reflects on who he is and believes that there are two different Severians, the first one, who won the Phoenix Throne, and the second, who became the Autarch.

Another summary:
The book begins with the main character, Severian, half starved walking down a road. He is a torturer who finds himself alone after a series of events. He happens upon a dead soldier whom he revives with the power of The Claw, a relic he has been carrying for a while with the intention of returning it to its rightful owners, the Pellerines. Severian, with the now live soldier, arrives to the Pellerines’ camp where they take care of the wounded and ill. There they both received attention, Severian for a fever that had gotten to him and the unnamed soldier for the general weakness that came with being revived. While in the Pellerines’ camp Severian gets to know a few soldiers from the war that is being held up in the north against the Ascians. These are a group of people who seem to be living in a totalitarian regime. Most of the soldiers belong to the Commonwealth’s (his own country) army but there are a few Ascians as well. Severian is asked by a woman to be the judge of a storytelling competition, the winner will get the woman’s hand in marriage. Two local soldiers, an Ascian soldier and the woman herself all get to tell their stories, in the end Severian doesn’t actually choose any. While he is with the Pellerines he confesses to have their sacred Claw, nonetheless the sisters assure him to have never lost their relic. Regardless of what they say he leaves what he believes to be the The Claw on their prayer altar. Once he is feeling better and with enough energy one of the top sisters asks him for a favor. He is asked to go to the house of a friend of the congregation and bring him back to protect him from the war. Severian goes to the man’s house, who turns out to be a time traveler, and attempts to take him with the Pellerines but upon leaving his house the time traveler disappears. Severian goes back to the camp to inform the sisters but finds that it has been completely destroyed, further along he finds the remaining people, all heavily injured. He leaves them and encounters the cavalry, he is initiated and becomes part of the army. They all go into battle where the Ascians seem to all be half starved and forced to serve in inhuman conditions. Severian is hurt and some time later is picked up by the Autarch on an elephant. The Autarch is an androgynous man who is at the top of the government ladder of the Commonwealth. He takes the injured protagonist and after some rest they both take a flight to see over the enemy lines. The aircraft is taken down but before the Ascian men can take Severian and the Autarch they are taken by Vodalus’ people. Vodalus is a counter force to the Autarch, he aims to take over the Commonwealth to change the country. He has been informed by a spy, who happens to be the Autarch, that the Autarch was in the aircraft. Vodalus thinks that Severian is the Autarch and they are both incarcerated. Severian is interrogated multiple times but doesn’t reveal the Autarch’s real identity. Vodalus decides to get on the move and takes both the prisoners. While walking among the Ascian army, for Vodalus is supporting them in the war, Severian and the Autarch are taken. They are now imprisoned in an Ascian camp where the Autarch is dying from his wounds. He asks Severian to perform a special rite in which he eats from his flesh so as to absorb him and the hundreds of persons the Autarch has within. In doing so Severian becomes the next Autarch. He is saved by a woman who wants to kill him and a green alien man whom he previously saved. From there he travels to the ruins of the town where he was born and then to the headquarters of the Torturer’s Guild, who instructed him. He visits various people from his past, including a man who is implied to be his father. He is also told that one day he will go through a judging that will dictate whether humanity will progress again or keep on being stagnant. In the end he is walking around the underground of the citadel following the steps of his old dog.

World view: The world portrayed in the story is an hypothetical society which seems to be worse than the one the author lives in.
Future projections: Sees the future as potential to reform a reality that once seemed unchangeable.
Ideology:  It’s either the polarization of an ideology or an absurdist exaggeration of unfortunate or odd circumstances
Characters, plot and writing style: The story features a rebellion against the adverse circumstances (revolutionaries may exploit newer technologies for these ends).
Classification: Non-dystopia