A Secret History The Book Of Ash 1 Deals on Mary Gentle

A Secret History: The Book Of Ash, #1

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Editorial Reviews

There is more than one history of the world . . .

In the mid-fifteenth century there was Burgundy, the jewel of Europe-opulent and powerful, the undisputed center of an uncivilized world.

In an epoch of war and madness there was Ash. A girl born in mud and dung, she slew her first men while only eight. Scarred and ravaged, but still beautiful, she rose up to lead a great mercenary army before the age of twenty--and followed a sacred voice wise in the bloody ways of battle to a pinnacle unattainable to even the most potent of legends.

In a time when empires and alliances shifted like sand--when Mithras the bull was worshipped freely alongside the Christ--a great cloud arose out of Africa to darken the sun. The Visigoths came with their terrible machines-powered by magic or a science unknown to this day--and aimed their irresistible might toward the rich Burgundian prize, wrenching the wheel of civilization in an unknown and unexpected direction. And with their coming, one incomparable warrior raised on Destiny's ash heap became more that anyone thought one woman could ever be.

Mary Gentle first came to prominence with the lovingly conceived and beautifully written SF novel Golden Witchbreed. Its sequel, Ancient Light, then took the world and premise built into the first novel and deconstructed it thoroughly. Gentle's latest plays some of the same tricks with reader expectations.

In a typical fantasy milieu, the mud and blood of a military camp in 15th-century Europe, a scarred and beautiful 8-year-old girl kills her two adult rapists. She is Ash. In unflinching prose, Gentle describes the child's treatment in a men's camp, then the teenager's hard lessons in the art and craft of war, and finally the young woman's rise to command a mercenary army. Ash, it seems, is not only strong and fast but has the advantage of hearing a voice that instructs her on troop deployment. To the well-versed SF reader, the voice begins to sound suspiciously like a tactical computer.

Just as the reader gets ready to reassign the book to time travel SF, Gentle inserts--in what are purported to be excerpts from a 21st-century scholar's e-mail conversation with his publisher--hints that perhaps the novel belongs in the alternate history category. By now Ash and her army are embroiled in war and politics up to their fluted breastplates (armor, like all the historical detail, is minutely and accurately described), and if swords and poleaxes were not enough, she now faces golems and the Carthaginian army. Amazingly, Gentle makes this impossible mix believable, and by the end of the novel it is apparent that this is the beginning of a most interesting series. --Luc Duplessis

Customer Reviews

Read the whole series before you judge it.

Reviewed by A. Falis, 2010-02-15

The first time I read this series I got bogged down a bit on this first novel. I knew nothing about the story going into it beyond a recommendation from my father (an avid reader) that it was something special, and that the realism of the fight scenes and descriptions of 15th century life were superb. I too was a little frustrated by the lack of conclusion in the first book, and even the second, however I stuck with it, and I'm very glad I did. It has to be taken into account (as has been said in other reviews) that this was originally published as one book, so the loose ends between the segments are rather understandable.

It would not be fair to call these novels page turners, however the overarching story is pure genius and the best work of genre-defying fiction I've ever read. While the comments between the "author" and his publisher are indeed jarring and perhaps not the best method for telling their part of the story they ARE important and help to bring some understanding regarding the strange events that take place as the plot progresses.

Ash is fascinating, probably the most well developed and believable character I've ever encountered in a novel. That may sound odd in reference to a 19ish year old woman commanding a company of a thousand mercenaries in the 1400s but it's true. She never falls prey to any of the classic fantasy cliches of strong female characters. She is by necessity as brutal and ruthless as any man in a time marked for it's brutality, yet retains her femininity and emotional core which helps us to understand a character whose behavior can be so far outside modern norms. This contrast defines her, and is a refreshing change from the many one dimensional characters (especially female characters) prevalent in popular fiction.

Overall this series shows us the brutality of medieval warfare in a way no conventional fantasy novel can equal (sorry George R. R. Martin), while introducing original sci-fi/fantasy concepts which put most genre bound novels to shame. By the end of this series you'll be left wondering if this truly is 'alternate' history. Stick with it to the end, and you will not be disappointed.

One Hell of a Start

Reviewed by Armando Ramirez, 2010-01-06

Wow. Having just finished it a few minutes ago, I am immensly satisified with this novel. This book is split into two: one being told in modern times between several people via email. Its a new dimension to story telling as opposed to a straightforward novel. The second is about the History of Ash, a mercenary captain in the mid 1400's.

The book starts off with a young Ash realizing that she is destined for greatness and "hears" voices in her head that helps her in battle. Think of it like a Joan of Arc esque basis. As time progress, and it does rather quickly, she becomes the captain of a mercenary group called The Lion Azure. She leads with determination (along with help from her inner voices) for the greater good. For money and land !

Her employer, Emperor Frederick, gives her a gift that is unfitting for her. A gift she frowns upon but accepts for the greater good. Soon a mass army from Carthage ( North Africa ) makes themselves known and begin their invasion. These Visigoth's are blitzkrieg' their way to all the doorsteps of Christendom. The leading general is none other but a woman as well ! There are many similairites between Ash and this Visigoth general named Faris. Hence begins not only a war of kingdoms, but also a personal inner war for Ash.

This novel is by far no childs play. This book is graphic both in language and in adult themes. I found myself re reading what i read. I was in awe about alot of the things Mary Gentle decided to put into her book. Its great though. It shows how real hard men "talk and act" when surrounded by there peers. Ash is no pushover either, she bites back when nipped by all. She is a teen with the heart of a man, but she doesn't deny or forsake her sexuality either.

This novel sure was a great surprise for me. I will continue with the other three novels, and I admit, I'm anxious to see what takes place for our young heroine as she plans to get straight to the heart of The Visigoths. Carthage.

A vast and engrossing cross-genre epic

Reviewed by A. Whitehead, 2009-05-24

In the year 2000, an academic named Pierce Ratcliff is putting together a fresh history of Ash, a 15th Century female mercenary captain whom mainstream history has largely ignored, but whose exploits have been of interest to a small number of historians. In preparing this new history, Radcliffe undertakes a fresh translation of the original historical texts. As he translates each chapter and sends it to his editor, they discuss the intriguing historical oddities within each chapter: references to the 'Green Christ', the 'Visigoth Empire' and 'Carthage', which of course had been destroyed many centuries before that time. But as the translations continue, very strange things start happening in the real world as well...

In 1476 the Lion Azure are one of the most famed and sought-after mercenary companies in Europe. Led by the female warrior Ash, they have become an elite force famed for getting out of tight spots and pulling off improbable victories. Contracted by the Holy Roman Empire to fight a war against Burgundy, Ash's leadership is threatened by a political attempt to marry her off to a high-ranking German nobleman, but this is put aside when a great threat arises: the armies of Carthage have swept into southern Europe in an invasion twenty years in the planning, crushing everything in their path.

Ash: A Secret History is an enormous book, both literally in its shelf-destroying size and in terms of its scope, which takes in two separate narratives unfolding in completely different styles and formats in two different time-periods. Ratcliff's story unfolds purely in reproduced emails between him, his editor and a couple of other correspondents, whilst Ash's story (allegedly the manuscript Ratcliff is translating) is in a more traditional prose style. As Ash's story unfolds, it starts off as an apparently purely historical account and then diverges from history as we know it. However, it cannot be dismissed merely as an alternate history, as Ratcliff and his editor share the reader's befuddlement as the differences between real history and the one described in the text become apparent, accompanied by some unusual archaeological discoveries in the present. This storytelling device is well-used throughout the book, and helps break up its gigantic length into much more manageable chunks.

Ash's story is very well-told. Rather than adopt an authentic-sounding 15th Century voice, Gentle instead tells the story if it had been translated into a modern style, complete with vast reams of modern swearing and the usage of modern military terminology. This seems to upset some readers, who find it jarring, but I found it enjoyable and it certainly adds to the readability of a complex and at times heavy-going novel. Whilst Gentle skimps on the language, the attitudes and mores of 15th Century Europe appear to be more authentic, with Ash having to prove her worthiness to every king, duke or general she meets. Gentle definitely doesn't hold back on the violence, though. Injuries are painfully described and Ash's childhood filled with abuse and pain is related matter-of-factly. Characterisation is strong throughout the novel, with Ash and her band of soldiers (Erikson could learn a bit from these books about how to distinguish soldiers from one another) and the various secondary characters very well-realised.

Mary Gentle handles all of these factors well, and manages to get across her story in convincing detail. This isn't strictly a historical novel, or an alternate history, or a fantasy, but it combines elements of all of these with hard science fiction to create something quite unusual. In fact, it's borderline genius, genre-bending and mixing elements in a manner that hasn't been pulled off so successfully before (John Grant tried to do something similar with his early 1990s duology of Albion and The World, but that was small-fry compared to Gentle's ambition here).

There are some issues which prevent me from giving this 'classic' status. It is too long. There are way too many staffing/strategy meetings with the characters sitting around talking about the plot rather than moving things on and this becomes especially notable in the last third of the novel. The first two sections moved quickly and with a good sense of pace, taking in dozens of different locations and characters. The latter third is mostly set in a single city under siege and the story becomes interminably dull at times, so much so that when the climax comes it's something of a surprise. I suspect some readers may feel sold a little short on the end of the 15th Century storyline, which is a bit perfunctory and obvious-in-hindsight. However, the 20th Century story, told in much less detail and with the reader only getting to know the characters through their emails and correspondence, is more interestingly done and its conclusion is very effective, a good example of how less can sometimes be more.

Ash: A Secret History ( ****-and-a-half ) is an immense, epic story of science, history, love, war and family spanning centuries and realities, but without losing its essentially human heart in the well-drawn characters. A superior work of speculative fiction, I'm surprised it's not mentioned more often in modern discussions of the genre. The book is available from Gollancz in the UK in its one-volume format, but in the USA is published in four volumes: A Secret History, Carthage Ascendant, The Wild Machines and Lost Burgundy. Gentle's later Ilario duology (The Lion's Eye and The Stone Golem) is set in the same universe.

A Mercenary Lioness Romps thru Medieval Europe!

Reviewed by Maximiliano F Yofre, 2008-10-13

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 reconstructed accurately; its reality is overwhelming. The mercenary way of life, camping, battles, cities and courts are vividly described.

The tale starts firmly gripped in actual medieval facts and rapidly evolves into a great alternate history scenario.

The story is presented as a contemporary new translation of medieval manuscripts, with the addendum of new revolutionary documents recently discovered by a historian.
This is shown as a series of emails exchanged by the translator and his editor.

Ash is a very young & capable mercenary leader with eight hundred warriors under her command. At the beginning she is at German Emperor Frederick's service against Burgundy's Duke.
Soon the emergence a mysterious visigothic invasion changes the whole background and launches the story into an alternate universe.

Golems and strange unnatural occurrences spice the tale, nevertheless highly realistic description of day to day life mingle seamlessly.

Characters are well fleshed, each with its own vital problems to solve and interact: fortune-soldiers, nobles, surgeons, priests and serfs. Interesting issues about ethic, gender, love, politics & warfare are presented to the reader in a shocking cavalcade.

This book is strictly for adult readers due to its violent scenes and language; it will be fully enjoyed by alt-his lovers, fantasy fans & sci-fi buffs.

Reviewed by Max Yofre.

A Fascinating Alternative History

Reviewed by Lee Freeman, 2007-06-26

I was hooked on this series halfway through the first book. The idea of an alternate medieval timeline and history has been done before, but never with as much skill as Gentle does in this series. First off, she's thorougly acquainted with actual medieval history-a prerequisite before you fiddle with it. Gentle is knowledgeable on real-world medieval history, political, social and religious; she's also done her homework on the composition of 15th century mercenary companies, their tactics, armor and weapons.

Her alternate Europe and Visigothic Empire are extremely believable. The e-mails back and forth between the professor and his editor only served to heighten the suspense for me, as they attempt to figure out how Ash's timeline could possibly exist, since it goes against everything we know from both written history and archaeology, about actual 15th century history.

The revelation of what the "wild machines" actually are was a bit anti-climatctic for me, but not enough to keep me from seriously enjoing this series. My one real complaint would be the over-use of profanity. Yes, medieval mercenaries swore-probably a lot. But in my humble opinion Gentle didn't have to have her fictional characters swear to the level she does in the books. Readers easily offended by profanity might want to skip these books, however the plot and background were so fascinating I was able to get past that. I guess one other minor complaint would be that I wish she'd also given us more details about the hybrid Christian/Mithraic Church with its "Green Christ" which exists in Ash's Euope. What she writes is just tantalizing enough to make me really want some more background on the history and theology of the Church in her alternate Europe; we know the history of the Arians, which is the real-world heretical interpretation of Christianity practiced by the Carthaginian Empire, it would just be nice to have a bit more background on the theology of the Green Christ. Perhaps she'll returm to Ash's Europe and explore it more in a later book or books.

All-in-all, this is historical ficton at its best.