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books:

A Secret History: The Book Of Ash, #1 (Book of Ash)

34 reviews
Mary Gentle

Eos, 1999

A Mercenary Lioness Romps thru Medieval Europe!
This is an alternate history tale full of attractive ideas, images, violence and well defined characters. It was originally published as one mammoth book in the UK. In USA (and the rest of Europe) divided into four tomes. A wise option IMHO. A very well documented background reveals Ms. Gentle's researches both in medieval history and warfare. The entire late middle age world is ...

Worlds That Weren't

10 reviews
Harry Turtledove, Walter Jon Williams, ...

Roc, 2005

A well-developed alternate to traditional history settings
Science fiction fans of alternate history settings will want to place Harry Turtledove, et.al.'s Worlds That Weren't anthology high on their reading lists: it provides four novellas by Turtledove, Stirling, Gentle and Williams, each featuring a well-developed alternate world from 1452 Constantinople to a mysterious Old World figure stalking Tombstone. Each makes for a diverse, well-developed ...

Ilario: The Lion's Eye: A Story of the First History, Book One (Ilario)

5 reviews
Mary Gentle

Eos, 2007

Exquisitely decadent
Set in an alternate history with a medieval Visigothic Carthage and a Roman Empty Chair (among other things) This is the history of a true hermaphrodite and artist, Ilario, traveling a very different Middle Ages, and trying to find inspiration and love, hoping not to be killed by his many enemies, including his/her parents! Rich, sexy and exotic, a pleasure to read.

Carthage Ascendant : The Book of Ash 2

10 reviews
Mary Gentle

Eos, 2000

Swords, and now some sorcery
Carthage Ascendent is the second Book of Ash, although this isn't a series but a tremendous novel published in four parts. It's the only one that takes place away from Ash's stomping grounds of western Europe, where the other three books are set. Here, our heroine, the leader of a mercenary company, is captured and taken prisoner, then returned to her birthplace of Carthage. She didn't know ...

A Sundial in a Grave: 1610: A Novel

11 reviews
Mary Gentle

Harper Paperbacks, 2005

careful the small type!
I want to echo what Alan Naftalin says -- if this edition is only 688 pages long, the type has to be too small. The British edition is nearly 1200 pages long, and the type is a decent size, so go for that if your eyes don't want the strain. As for Gentle's other epic, Ash, I found the type in the one-volume British edition too small for comfort: in this case, one had to go for the American ...

The Wild Machines:: The Book Of Ash, #3 (Book of Ash, No 3)

6 reviews
Mary Gentle

Eos, 2000

Back to Europe where the sun don't shine
This is the third Book of Ash (the first two are A Secret History and Carthage Ascendent). But this is not a series, the entire work was conceived as one novel and published as four books in the US. In The Wild Machines, Ash, mercenary company leader and incidentally slave-born genetic experiment (as she discovers in Book 2), is on her way back to the rest of her company and away from Carthage. ...

Ilario: The Stone Golem: A Story of the First History, Book Two (Ilario)

2 reviews
Mary Gentle

Eos, 2007

Starts strong and keeps going strong.
This book opens with Ilario being suffocated by the assassin Carrasco, sent by the Chancellor of Iberia, Lord Videric. Ilario is a true hermaphrodite, formerly the Iberian "King's Freak," freed, sold into slavery in Carthage to Rekhmire' the New Alexandrian, where assassination attempts and political intrigue began with the first book. Ilario only wishes to study the New Art (using the new ...

Lost Burgundy:: The Book Of Ash, #4 (Book of Ash, No 4)

8 reviews
Mary Gentle

Eos, 2000

Final installment of the brilliant fantasy novel
This is the final part of "Ash: A Secret History" - an excellent fantasy novel by UK author Mary Gentle. The novel describes the life of Ash, a Joan of Arc-like mercenary leader. Ash is a young teenager, living in mercenary army camps at the end of the 15th century. She starts hearing voices in her head, giving her tactical advice on battlefield situations. When she becomes a successful ...

Ancient Light

5 reviews
Mary Gentle

Roc, 1990

WONDERFUL
What a terrific book! In fact, I'm sorry I read it because I can find no other works like it, and I would so enjoy repeating the discovery. Gentle's alien world is spellbinding and her prose is solid. You won't be disappointed.

ASH

3 reviews
Mary Gentle

Gollancz, 2001

Awesome gritty military fantasy.
This book was great! I read the entire 1000 (or so) page volume in several days. It is reminiscent of the popular The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, but, dare I say it, better. It's a very realistic, gritty military fantasy. Ash, a girl, grows up as an orphan in a mercenary camp. At one point, she discovers a voice in her head that gives her tactical advice during battles. With the ...

The Weerde (Roc)
Neil Gaiman, Mary Gentle

RoC, 1992

Cartomancy (Gollancz SF) (Gollancz S.F.)
Mary Gentle

Gollancz, 2004

Mary Gentle is one of Britain's most outstanding writers of imaginative fiction, able to move seamlessly from science fiction to fantasy within the same story. Following on from the success of ASH, 1610: A SUNDIAL IN A GRAVE and the omnibus volumes WHITE CROW and ORTHE, comes CARTOMANCY, the definitive collection of Mary Gentle's short fiction. CARTOMANCY includes the stories from SOLDIERS AND SCHOLARS as well as a number of tales previously ...

White Crow: "Rats and Gargoyles", "The Architecture of Desire" and "Left to His Own Devices" (Gollancz S.F.)

1 review
Mary Gentle

Gollancz, 2003

White Crow
An omnibus edition containing Rats and Gargoyles, Architecture of Desire, two very nice short stories featuring similar characters and ideas to the first two, and a not-very-successful cyberpunk novella theoretically featuring the same characters. My reviews of Rats and Architecture are on this site under those titles - I found both gorgeous, difficult and wonderfully original. One of the ...

1610 (Gollancz)

1 review
Mary Gentle

Gollancz, 2004

That's one hefty book you got there
Mary Gentle is widely known for what I like to call "historical fantasy." 1610: A Sundial in a Grave barely meets the definition of fantasy or science fiction, with the only fantastic element being the fact that mathematical precognition is a reality. She's also known as a meticulous researcher, and she shows that again in this book. 1610 is a wonderful book that just starts a little too slow. ...

Grunts!

65 reviews
Mary Gentle

Roc, 1995

Good read, Great fun.
Opinions on this book seem to fall into two camps. The first are those who "get it", and have probably reccomended this book to everyone they thought was at all interested in a related genre. The second is the camp of those who don't get it, and who mercilessly rip every fabric of the work to shreds for its every tiny defect. I'm in the first camp, and I hope you'll join me. At the very least, ...

Rats and Gargoyles

12 reviews
Mary Gentle

Roc, 1992

A Time of Momentous Change
Rats and Gargoyles is the first novel in the White Crow series. This novel takes place in a society much like Paris in the late 17th century, but wherein the Hermetic philosophy -- i.e., magic -- of that period can effect changes in the real universe, as can Masonic and Rosicrucian principles. The God-demons each represent ten degrees -- i.e., a decan -- of the circle of heavens. The ruling ...

Villains! (Roc)
Mary Gentle, Neil Gaiman

RoC, 1992

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