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The Latter Annals of Lystra #1
Nicole of Prie Mer
One hundred years after the Great Surchatain Roman of Lystra . . . The beautiful Chataine Ren?e meets Nicole, 17-year-old daughter of a humble tailor, at the fair and insists she come for a visit to the palace at Westford. Raised in a peasant village on the coast, Nicole is unprepared for the sophistication and treachery of palace life-but her father has decreed that she shall not come home without a rich or noble husband. Nicole's prospects include Counselor Carmine, handsome but disinterested; Commander Ares, who carries the pain of his past, and possibly even Surchatain Cedric himself. But these are dark times for the little province of Lystra, and Nicole discovers that in the presence of danger, even good men may veil the truth.
284 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2003
6 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Robin Hardy
56 books47 followersI've written a new series! It's a distant sequel to The Annals of Lystra (begun in Chataine's Guardian) and The Latter Annals (begun in Nicole of Prie Mer). This is where it begins:
Thirty-five years after the assassination of Henry, Surchatain of Lystra, the province is no more and its capital Westford a shadow of its medieval greatness. With the fever now ravaging the palace, the army, and the town, a new Surchatain has ascended the throne of Westford, requiring a loyalty oath for all his subjects and soldiers.
Efran, Captain of the Red Regiment of the Army of Westford, is Polonti—a member of the brown-skinned, black-haired race generally regarded with contempt by Southerners on the Continent, including many in Westford. Knowing of the loyalty oath required on pain of death, Efran lays plans to leave once he has recovered from the fever himself.
But Efran is hindered by entanglements with the Surchatain’s two daughters—one who despises him and one who adores him.
He is appointed guardian of one Chataine. When the palace begins crumbling on its foundations, Efran takes his charge and a street urchin to an abandoned fortress south of Westford in the midst of wolf territory. While he gathers more homeless children at the fortress, the other Chataine prepares to lead an army against him for the legendary treasure hidden in the desolate Abbey of St. Benedict on the Sea.
The Stories of the Abbey of St. Benedict on the Sea comprise 36 novellas, each around 50,000 words, that make for one continuous story from the beginning to a definite end. To introduce this series, I'm offering free pdf and epub downloads of all the stories. Each pdf includes links, pronunciations, maps, and an illustration with notes. (The epubs contain all of the above except maps.)
Thirty-five years after the assassination of Henry, Surchatain of Lystra, the province is no more and its capital Westford a shadow of its medieval greatness. With the fever now ravaging the palace, the army, and the town, a new Surchatain has ascended the throne of Westford, requiring a loyalty oath for all his subjects and soldiers.
Efran, Captain of the Red Regiment of the Army of Westford, is Polonti—a member of the brown-skinned, black-haired race generally regarded with contempt by Southerners on the Continent, including many in Westford. Knowing of the loyalty oath required on pain of death, Efran lays plans to leave once he has recovered from the fever himself.
But Efran is hindered by entanglements with the Surchatain’s two daughters—one who despises him and one who adores him.
He is appointed guardian of one Chataine. When the palace begins crumbling on its foundations, Efran takes his charge and a street urchin to an abandoned fortress south of Westford in the midst of wolf territory. While he gathers more homeless children at the fortress, the other Chataine prepares to lead an army against him for the legendary treasure hidden in the desolate Abbey of St. Benedict on the Sea.
The Stories of the Abbey of St. Benedict on the Sea comprise 36 novellas, each around 50,000 words, that make for one continuous story from the beginning to a definite end. To introduce this series, I'm offering free pdf and epub downloads of all the stories. Each pdf includes links, pronunciations, maps, and an illustration with notes. (The epubs contain all of the above except maps.)
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 25, 2008
This is the first book of the Latter Annals. Six of the nine are out. These books are amazing in so many ways, and as the story deepens, they get better and better. Among other things, I love the relationship presented between Nicole and Ares--it's been a help to me in my marriage. The author explains the "sex" scene on her website (but IMO it's really, really mild and not explicit at all--at least compared to the real thing LOL). HIGHLY recommended series.
October 21, 2017
This series was fantastic. Highly recommend to fans of fantasy.
July 29, 2015
This the first title in the much-hyped ‘Latter Annals of Lystra’ series sets the tone for the following two novels.
Basically it begins with a peasant called Nicole who is invited to the palace at the behest of slutty princess Renee, by very unconvincingly passing her off as a noblewoman.
Within a few days she is married to Ares, the Commander of the army, but the course of love does not run smooth as Surchatain (King) Cedric has designs upon her, and Chatain (Prince) Tancred of Scylla also becomes infatuated with her.
When all these difficulties for Nicole are overcome Ares faces difficulties of his own as Cedric becomes increasingly hostile to him because of his rival claim to the throne, and fears Ares will father a child with Nicole, so thinks up every nefarious scheme he can to be rid of Ares.
As the brief synopsis suggests Hardy throws everything she can at Ares and Nicole in this novel, to the point it almost becomes unbelievable. Most of the ‘action’ of the novel consists of various relationship fiascos worthy of something from an episode of Jerry Springer or Oprah, with people jumping into each other’s beds, trying to steal other people’s spouses or lovers, boasting about how many people they have slept with, and lots of angry partners, tears and tantrums.
The most ludicrous character has to be Renee, who spends most of the novel throwing tantrums, whining about how horrible her parents are, or breaking up with her latest husband/fiancée when she is not trying to get Ares into bed with her, that is. When not doing this she is bragging about how many people she has slept with, telling rude jokes and stories or tormenting people.
Yet for all her shameless public conduct Renee still maintains a public facade and personal delusion that she is an ‘honourable’ ‘virtuous’ and ‘respectable’ Lady. So when her husband Magnus divorces her after only a few days of marriage because she was not a virgin Renee throws a tantrum to trump them all, taking out her anger on her ‘wicked’ father, and vowing revenge on the ‘wicked’ ex-husband who dared to tell the truth about her behaviour and supposedly damaged her ‘good’ reputation.
Yet is spite of the Renee’s well-known sexual promiscuity, which she makes no secret of, the audience is supposed to believe that Cedric Renee’s father is cruel and wicked for not allowing her to have men in her bedroom, and becoming suspicious and her suggestive and flirtatious behaviour.
Thus Cedric is demonized for the entire duration of the novel, mostly unfairly, as many of the actions for which he is demonized are justified and quite legitimate. Apparently he is ‘evil’ for ‘forcing’ his daughter into an arranged marriage, contrary to her wishes, despite the fact that this was the norm for aristocrats of both sexes in the Medieval period.
Most absurdly, we are supposed to believe that Cedric was to partially blame for his wife committing adultery, and when she is bought before him to answer charges she is presented as the innocent yet brave victim, and he as a maniacal ranting insanely jealous tyrant who is evil for wanting to punish her.
This highlights an important aspect of the morality in this series. It is implied throughout that it is quite acceptable for women to be sexually promiscuous, and commit adultery, but never for men.
Thus men who visit prostitutes, sleep around or cheat on their wives are depicted as lecherous, lustful and immoral. Yet women who behave this way are claimed to be ‘in love’, or their conduct is blamed on somebody else, or is regarded as morally and socially acceptable.
Not only is this a moral double standard, it is also historically and socially nonsensical, but then in the entire series the values and attitudes of the characters are almost entirely modern and do not reflect those of the period
For all the claims by the author that this novel promotes Christian sexual morality, and ‘God honouring sexuality’ I see little of either in it. So the first installment in this rather sorry series is arguably one of the worst of the lot, and certainly not worthy of the hyped-up praise that is heaped upon it.
Basically it begins with a peasant called Nicole who is invited to the palace at the behest of slutty princess Renee, by very unconvincingly passing her off as a noblewoman.
Within a few days she is married to Ares, the Commander of the army, but the course of love does not run smooth as Surchatain (King) Cedric has designs upon her, and Chatain (Prince) Tancred of Scylla also becomes infatuated with her.
When all these difficulties for Nicole are overcome Ares faces difficulties of his own as Cedric becomes increasingly hostile to him because of his rival claim to the throne, and fears Ares will father a child with Nicole, so thinks up every nefarious scheme he can to be rid of Ares.
As the brief synopsis suggests Hardy throws everything she can at Ares and Nicole in this novel, to the point it almost becomes unbelievable. Most of the ‘action’ of the novel consists of various relationship fiascos worthy of something from an episode of Jerry Springer or Oprah, with people jumping into each other’s beds, trying to steal other people’s spouses or lovers, boasting about how many people they have slept with, and lots of angry partners, tears and tantrums.
The most ludicrous character has to be Renee, who spends most of the novel throwing tantrums, whining about how horrible her parents are, or breaking up with her latest husband/fiancée when she is not trying to get Ares into bed with her, that is. When not doing this she is bragging about how many people she has slept with, telling rude jokes and stories or tormenting people.
Yet for all her shameless public conduct Renee still maintains a public facade and personal delusion that she is an ‘honourable’ ‘virtuous’ and ‘respectable’ Lady. So when her husband Magnus divorces her after only a few days of marriage because she was not a virgin Renee throws a tantrum to trump them all, taking out her anger on her ‘wicked’ father, and vowing revenge on the ‘wicked’ ex-husband who dared to tell the truth about her behaviour and supposedly damaged her ‘good’ reputation.
Yet is spite of the Renee’s well-known sexual promiscuity, which she makes no secret of, the audience is supposed to believe that Cedric Renee’s father is cruel and wicked for not allowing her to have men in her bedroom, and becoming suspicious and her suggestive and flirtatious behaviour.
Thus Cedric is demonized for the entire duration of the novel, mostly unfairly, as many of the actions for which he is demonized are justified and quite legitimate. Apparently he is ‘evil’ for ‘forcing’ his daughter into an arranged marriage, contrary to her wishes, despite the fact that this was the norm for aristocrats of both sexes in the Medieval period.
Most absurdly, we are supposed to believe that Cedric was to partially blame for his wife committing adultery, and when she is bought before him to answer charges she is presented as the innocent yet brave victim, and he as a maniacal ranting insanely jealous tyrant who is evil for wanting to punish her.
This highlights an important aspect of the morality in this series. It is implied throughout that it is quite acceptable for women to be sexually promiscuous, and commit adultery, but never for men.
Thus men who visit prostitutes, sleep around or cheat on their wives are depicted as lecherous, lustful and immoral. Yet women who behave this way are claimed to be ‘in love’, or their conduct is blamed on somebody else, or is regarded as morally and socially acceptable.
Not only is this a moral double standard, it is also historically and socially nonsensical, but then in the entire series the values and attitudes of the characters are almost entirely modern and do not reflect those of the period
For all the claims by the author that this novel promotes Christian sexual morality, and ‘God honouring sexuality’ I see little of either in it. So the first installment in this rather sorry series is arguably one of the worst of the lot, and certainly not worthy of the hyped-up praise that is heaped upon it.
February 22, 2014
Although the book started slowly for me, I did come to like Nicole, Ares, and Henry, especially as the story evolved. The growing love between Ares and his bride was touching.
This was the first of the Lystra books I read, so part of the slow start may have been my unfamiliarity with the world.
My rating is based on the fact that although the book wasn't one of my all-time favorites, the ending does make me wonder what will happen in the next volume in the series.
This was the first of the Lystra books I read, so part of the slow start may have been my unfamiliarity with the world.
My rating is based on the fact that although the book wasn't one of my all-time favorites, the ending does make me wonder what will happen in the next volume in the series.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews