Spoilers obviously.

I was wholly impressed by the momentum maintained from Shadow of the Torturer. Claw has some absolutely breathtaking moments, and I get chills nearly every chapter.

A standout of Claw was Jonas. He was introduced at the very end of Shadow telling the story of the seeds. But what we find out about him in Claw - he's some sort of cyborg/machine, he knows deep history and tales of "contemporary" Earth, his travels to the stars - and the way he leaves us makes me feel like I haven't seen the last of him. Or, knowing what I know of Wolfe so far, like I *hope* I haven't seen the last of him. But he spent over half the book with Severian and as of yet he's the most present companion. I also wonder how Jolentas death plays into this, as Jonas wants to come back when he is repaired to find her. The Cumaen said that nothing truly dies, so I wonder if we also haven't seen the last of Jolenta.

Speaking of Jolenta, even though I didn't like her that much under the glamour, her fate was incredibly sad. Her reveal as being the waitress from early on in Shadow made me feel like she was just a tool to be used and discarded, so it makes sense that Severian would try to show her mercy and save her.

Another moment that stood out to me was obviously the feast at which Severian consumed the alzabo essence and then Thecla's corpse. The story took an intriguingly dark turn at that point, which I adore. I now finally understand why Severian's perspective is seen as not being wholly consistent, now that he is struggling with his perfect memory clashing with the memories (and, really, presence) of Thecla.

The concept of the Claw has me thinking of endless possibilities. It seems to be a device meant to calm, heal, and guide. Severian is the perfect person to claim this artifact with his conflicting duality of being a Torturer that seeks to provide mercy. But the origins of the device and the origins of the Conciliator himself are so interesting - I want Severian to hurry and read that damn story in the brown book! I really don't want him to hand it over to the Pelerines, but I also don't know the full capabilities of the Claw. It could be a devastating artifact.

I think the parts of the book that still have me confused are exactly why Severian has been meeting exactly the same people he met in Shadow. I refuse to believe it's because Wolfe ran out of ideas for characters and simply needed to reuse them, and I want to believe there is a guiding hand at play here. The reveal that the House of Azure androgyn is the Autarch feeds into my hope.

Also... Someone else from the feast has to be in the same boat as Severian, experiencing Thecla's memories and personality as part of their own. Right?? (please don't answer) I remember Jonas saying he didn't actually swallow either the alzabo or the flesh.

Politically, the lines of who is who are exciting. What I know so far is that Vodalus is attempting to dismantle the Autarchy, yet so is the Autarch. So I'm getting the sense that Father Inire, who I'm very excited to finally meet outside of Thecla's memories, is the one pulling the strings and the Autarch is simply his figurehead working with Vodalus behind the scenes.

My favourite single moment in the book is incredibly hard to choose. The story from the book, the play, and the herdsman's house growing greenery after using the Claw all contend. I would say that the play had a great effect on me as a reader, and I loved the transition to the next chapter - how Nod's character was written to go berserk, and then Baldanders does just that.

Baldanders' character as a whole has a lot of things going on. There was talk about him being Talos' son, and it makes me think of a homunculus, but also makes me think of the seeds. It also makes me think of the extended dream Severian had with the wooden boy and puppet on the stage, and it seems in Baldanders' presence the sea titans seem to be able to track him (which is why I think he might be grown from the seeds). I'm really excited to see where his character goes.

A big "revelation" of sorts that I made while finishing the book, and referenced in my title, are the colours Yellow and Green.

- The story that Severian reads with Jonas in the antechamber tells of an army of fleshed sons who go to fight for their magician fathers. They encounter a group of women living amongst the labyrinthine Islands, all with gowns of green and hair of gold.

- Near the end of the book, Severian recalls a tale from a book he and Thecla read, I believe it was called The Wonders of Urth, where two opposing armies (potentially precursors to the Ascians and the people closer to Nessus?) whose colours were Yellow and Green, and who switch those colours hoping for peace but resulting in more war.

- The 2021 editions of Shadow & Claw and Sword & Citadel are themed Green and Yellow, respectively. I only found this out after finishing Claw and picking up my order for Sword & Citadel.

Anyway, I just did a little skim of the chapters to get a better sense of the journey in Claw as a whole, and now I'm starting Sword!

Edit: I just read the first chapter of Sword and something interesting stuck out. The chapter is bookended with a yellow and green reference; at the start of the chapter Severian is looking down at Thrax at dusk as the lights are turning on and it looks yellow like jonquil. At the end, he's observing the moon (chronologically these events are happening close to each other) and he makes specific note of its emerald green colour.

Severian dies at least twice in the book of the new Sun and is brought back. First drowning, and then off the cliff. He is the Concilliator, and we find out the claw was essentially a useless trinket, only made important as an artifact of the pellerines because he once possessed it.

He is the conduit that brings the new Sun to the dying earth. He is the New Son. He can reanimate dead matter; he brought back from the dead Triskele, Dorcas, and Jonus, and possibly more. That scene with the necromancer in Urth of the new Sun was awesome. I can't remember if the necromancer was merely a fake and if it was just Sev that brought to life that shrunken head on the end of his staff.

And I wonder if there's other versions of Sev watching over him and thwarting Hethors attempts on his life.

Definitely not breaking any new ground here on this book that was published decades ago, but I just love how subtle Wolfe can be with his story telling, dropping a clue here and there. The little atrium of time where Sev almost catches another version of himself. Like a lil homebase for his time traveler self. It just blows my mind whenever I catch something I blatantly missed on a first reading. Silk being Master Malrubius just had my jaw on the floor.