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Chargement... Ash : a secret history (original 1999; édition 2001)par Mary Gentle (Auteur)
Information sur l'oeuvreAsh: A Secret History par Mary Gentle (1999)
Chargement...
Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. When people ask the dreaded 'what's your favourite book question', this is one of my stand-by answers. And it's not just a throw-away line because it honestly is. I don't usually go for historical fiction but this alternate-history/fantasy-history grabbed me and compelled me the entire way through. I'd only read one other Mary Gentle novel, Grunts, before this, and this was both so different and contained the things that made me enjoy that book. Ash is a fantastic character and not just because it's wonderful to read about a literal strong female character. Ms. Gentle's work is of high quality. This is definitely not by-the-yard trolls, dragons and Elves fantasy. It is a setting postulating that the Visigoths are still in possession of North Africa, and there is a very weird meteorological phenomenon dominating the south shore of the Mediterranean. But the changes all happened so long ago that there's very little artistic reason for any of this being on our earth. I guess it saved money on drawing a map of a made-up planet. So a curious failure in fantasy construction as far as I'm concerned. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
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In a world not unlike fiteenth century mediaeval Europe . . . For the beautiful young woman Ash, life has always been arquebuses and artillery, swords and armour and the true horrors of hand-to-hand combat. War is her job. She has fought her way to the command of a mercenary company, and on her unlikely shoulders lies the destiny of a Europe threatened by the depredations of an Infidel army more terrible than any nightmare. Ash is guided by voices. They may come from her God, or from a source infinitely stranger . . . ASH: A SECRET HISTORY marks the full-flowering of the talent of one of the world¿s most acclaimed writers of fantasy. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Furthermore, as the story progresses and more is translated and emailed to the publisher, the contemporary history begins to change and warp around the characters. There are other science fictional elements: part of Ash's success is because she hears a voice, only her voice isn't like those of Joan of Arc's as it gives her advice on military tactics and strategy. Eventually we learn that it is a 'Stone Golem' and that Ash is one of a number of children especially bred to be able to hear this telepathic communication and to carry out the Stone Golem's urgings. At one point, she meets a sister who is commander of an enemy force and is doing precisely that.
Along the way there is a lot of very in depth information on 15th century weapons, battles etc, with lots of swearing and also rather anachronistic dialogue though maybe we are meant to think that is the responsibility of the framing translator. There is also a great deal of violence to people and animals, including torture of Ash. I quite 'enjoyed' it overall but not in a must keep to re-read way. ( )