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Orthe #1-2
Orthe
The distant world of Orthe is littered with spectacular remnants of the Golden Empire, an ancient and technologically advanced civilisation extinct for two thousand years. Now their Orthean descendants have turned away from the technology which nearly destroyed them, and from their ancestors, the Golden Witchbreed. Then Earth envoy Lynne de Lisle Christie arrives and, all too quickly, finds herself the victim of intrigue and conspiracy, embroiled in a conflict that threatens to explode into war - and which puts her own life in deadly peril ...
992 pages, Paperback
First published April 11, 2002
4 people are currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Mary Gentle
44 books204 followersThis author also writes under the pseudonym of Roxanne Morgan
Excerpted from Wikipedia:
Mary Gentle's first published novel was Hawk in Silver (1977), a young-adult fantasy. She came to prominence with the Orthe duology, which consists of Golden Witchbreed (1983) and Ancient Light (1987).
The novels Rats and Gargoyles (1990), The Architecture of Desire (1991), and Left to His Own Devices (1994), together with several short stories, form a loosely linked series (collected in White Crow in 2003). As with Michael Moorcock's series about his anti-heroic Jerry Cornelius, Gentle's sequence retains some basic facts about her two protagonists Valentine (also known as the White Crow) and Casaubon while changing much else about them, including what world they inhabit. Several take place in an alternate-history version of 17th century and later England, where a form of Renaissance Hermetic magic has taken over the role of science. Another, Left To His Own Devices, takes place in a cyberpunk-tinged version of our own near future. The sequence is informed by historically existing ideas about esotericism and alchemy and is rife with obscure allusions to real history and literature.
Grunts! (1992) is a grand guignol parody of mass-market high fantasy novels, with orcs as heroes, murderous halflings, and racist elves.
Excerpted from Wikipedia:
Mary Gentle's first published novel was Hawk in Silver (1977), a young-adult fantasy. She came to prominence with the Orthe duology, which consists of Golden Witchbreed (1983) and Ancient Light (1987).
The novels Rats and Gargoyles (1990), The Architecture of Desire (1991), and Left to His Own Devices (1994), together with several short stories, form a loosely linked series (collected in White Crow in 2003). As with Michael Moorcock's series about his anti-heroic Jerry Cornelius, Gentle's sequence retains some basic facts about her two protagonists Valentine (also known as the White Crow) and Casaubon while changing much else about them, including what world they inhabit. Several take place in an alternate-history version of 17th century and later England, where a form of Renaissance Hermetic magic has taken over the role of science. Another, Left To His Own Devices, takes place in a cyberpunk-tinged version of our own near future. The sequence is informed by historically existing ideas about esotericism and alchemy and is rife with obscure allusions to real history and literature.
Grunts! (1992) is a grand guignol parody of mass-market high fantasy novels, with orcs as heroes, murderous halflings, and racist elves.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
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October 20, 2020I've had Orthe on my bookshelf for years and somehow never got around to reading it. I really don't know why. Now I am glad I have been able to read it having grown older and wiser and better equipped to understand its complexities.
I have no hesitation saying Orthe (Golden Witchbreed and Ancient Light) is the one of the best, if not the best, books of its kind I have ever read. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Orthe and have already started to read it a second time, something I only very, VERY rarely do. It's not an easy book to read and I was initially "unhappy" with the somewhat inconclusive end. I was hoping there might be another book, but it seems likely there isn't going to be. The Crystal Sunlight, the Bright Air didn't add much to help my understanding of why Mary Gentle elected to end the story the way she did.
I would have liked to see Chrtistie become the new Hexenmeister and even expected that development quite early on in her first visit to the Brown Tower. As a character, I find her extremely likable and even believable, despite her repeated "failures". More particularly, the origins of her deep emotional connection with Ruric was something that ultimately remained a little nebulous.
I wonder if the destruction left by the Ancient Light might have been avoided and allowed Christie to in fact become the Hexenmeister and seal her unspoken decision never to leave Orthe again. That would have, or could have, left room for a third chapter in the story of Orthe.
I have no hesitation saying Orthe (Golden Witchbreed and Ancient Light) is the one of the best, if not the best, books of its kind I have ever read. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Orthe and have already started to read it a second time, something I only very, VERY rarely do. It's not an easy book to read and I was initially "unhappy" with the somewhat inconclusive end. I was hoping there might be another book, but it seems likely there isn't going to be. The Crystal Sunlight, the Bright Air didn't add much to help my understanding of why Mary Gentle elected to end the story the way she did.
I would have liked to see Chrtistie become the new Hexenmeister and even expected that development quite early on in her first visit to the Brown Tower. As a character, I find her extremely likable and even believable, despite her repeated "failures". More particularly, the origins of her deep emotional connection with Ruric was something that ultimately remained a little nebulous.
I wonder if the destruction left by the Ancient Light might have been avoided and allowed Christie to in fact become the Hexenmeister and seal her unspoken decision never to leave Orthe again. That would have, or could have, left room for a third chapter in the story of Orthe.
April 12, 2011
I'll be straight. This book won't be for everyone. The story, spanning two novels is long, slow-moving, textured and convoluted. Mary Gentle is the master of panoramic socio-political drama. Orthe is savage, its natives close enough to human to make it easy for humans to over-identify with them. On eye level, this is a cautionary tale of the circumstances that occur when cultures collide. I can say with all honesty that for those chosen few, for whom this novel will speak on a deeper level, you won't put this volume down without being changed.
November 2, 2012
This omnibus edition contains the novels Golden Witchbreed, Ancient Light, and the related short story The Crystal Sunlight, the Bright Air.
The setting is the planet Carrick V, called Orthe by its natives, who are humanoid with some small differences: 6 fingers and toes per hand/foot, reptiloid skin, and hair in a mane that grows down to the small of their backs. They live in the ruins of an ancient, highly technological civilisation that used to enslave them until they overthrew it. Or rather, they live in the few spaces not marked by these ancient, called the Golden Witchbreed. Only a quarter of the nothern, and a narrow coastal strip of the southern continent remain inhabitable.
Lynne De Lisle Christie is sent as envoy of Earth to Orthe to contact the natives and get the permission for scientists to examine the planet ans its inhabitants. After receiving a positive reception from the ruler of the northern continent, she starts travelling around, visiting the telestres (something between clan and village), and things quickly start going pear-shaped, as some arch-conservatives decide that she must be Witchbreed, and thus should be killed. While escaping, wandering sick and tired through more and more barren landscapes, she nevertheless finds allies, and starts going native a bit.
Ancient Light is set 10 years later, when Lynne returns to Orthe, this time as advisor to a commercial multinational (things have gone pear-shaped at home on Earth too, which is now ruled by multinational companies, it seems), looking for Witchbreed artifacts in order to trade them against humanitarian aid. However, they are not welcome in Kel Harantish, the last stronghold of the descendants of the Witchbreed, and travel north along the Desert Coast, hoping to find support with the natives. In the course of which, they unfortunately unleash a planet-wide civil war, as they tip the power balance between the abjectly poor and oppressed desert people and the northern telestres. And then there's the insane child-Empress-in-exile, who doesn't really help things at all. In the midst of this, Lynne finds her old acquaintance Blaize, with whom she has a kind of unresolved sexual tension / hatred relationship. She also finds out that another old friend/foe is not quite as dead as she's supposed to be.
While the first novel is already pretty dark in places, and drags Lynne through all kinds of physical and mental abysses, the second one manages to make the first one look cheerful...
Spoilers!
In the end, we (and unfortunately the Empress too) find out that the Brown Tower has the technology that can hold back the ancient light and keep it from spreading and turning the whole world into dead silver dust, because once unleashed, it cannot be stopped, only held. A consquence of this is that all kinds of communications are complicated and very staticky on Orthe. After Ruric, the master of the Tower, and Lynne's old friend and betrayer, died in the attack on the city of Tathcaer, and she rushes to bring her body home so her memories can be saved in the Tower's memory banks, the communication clears, and the Tower is just a huge crater...doesn't bode well for the future of the planet. At least Blaize made it through, but Ortheans are so linked to their planet that they can't survive for long off-world...*sniff*
/ end of Spoilers
I really liked these books. The worldbuilding is imaginative, and incredibly complex, containing a couple of social structures and cultures, several languages, flora and fauna...it feels like a complete, viable world. Another interesting aspect is that the ancient civilisation is seen as evil, so much so that their descendants willingly live in quasi-medieval circumstances, because they cannot bear that the bad old times should come again, even of the hi-tech would make their lives easier. Kind of like Williams' Sithi gone bad...
The Ortheans are quite interesting too: they are revealed to have genetic memory, used to be marsupial millenia ago, and their children are born neutrally-sexed. When they hit the age of about 12 to 15, they go through a painful process at the end of which they emerge as male or female. I wonder if they have a lot of people who are unhappy with their gender. Although gender roles in society are very equal, you'd still grow up wishing to be one or the other, I'd guess.
Nitpicks: Gentle's sometimes overboarding descriptive style...we get told the same things over and over again...what somebody looks like, how the Orthean's mane grown down their spines, what their hands and feet look like, etc...in an over 900p book, it can get a bit old.
Also: Gentle's tendency to have very random strangers meeting on the road, and becoming the best of friends. Although it's kinda both justified (mercenaries are considered to be very true to their word, so from the moment that she held Blaize's contract, she was relatively safe with him), and undermined here (a good friend turns out to be a traitor).
Something that disappointed me in book 2: Lynne never asked about Maric, or about Rodion's children. And even their father doesn't mention them...
In conclusion: a great exploration of both human and alien nature, with great worldbuilding and an engaging plot. 8/10
The setting is the planet Carrick V, called Orthe by its natives, who are humanoid with some small differences: 6 fingers and toes per hand/foot, reptiloid skin, and hair in a mane that grows down to the small of their backs. They live in the ruins of an ancient, highly technological civilisation that used to enslave them until they overthrew it. Or rather, they live in the few spaces not marked by these ancient, called the Golden Witchbreed. Only a quarter of the nothern, and a narrow coastal strip of the southern continent remain inhabitable.
Lynne De Lisle Christie is sent as envoy of Earth to Orthe to contact the natives and get the permission for scientists to examine the planet ans its inhabitants. After receiving a positive reception from the ruler of the northern continent, she starts travelling around, visiting the telestres (something between clan and village), and things quickly start going pear-shaped, as some arch-conservatives decide that she must be Witchbreed, and thus should be killed. While escaping, wandering sick and tired through more and more barren landscapes, she nevertheless finds allies, and starts going native a bit.
Ancient Light is set 10 years later, when Lynne returns to Orthe, this time as advisor to a commercial multinational (things have gone pear-shaped at home on Earth too, which is now ruled by multinational companies, it seems), looking for Witchbreed artifacts in order to trade them against humanitarian aid. However, they are not welcome in Kel Harantish, the last stronghold of the descendants of the Witchbreed, and travel north along the Desert Coast, hoping to find support with the natives. In the course of which, they unfortunately unleash a planet-wide civil war, as they tip the power balance between the abjectly poor and oppressed desert people and the northern telestres. And then there's the insane child-Empress-in-exile, who doesn't really help things at all. In the midst of this, Lynne finds her old acquaintance Blaize, with whom she has a kind of unresolved sexual tension / hatred relationship. She also finds out that another old friend/foe is not quite as dead as she's supposed to be.
While the first novel is already pretty dark in places, and drags Lynne through all kinds of physical and mental abysses, the second one manages to make the first one look cheerful...
Spoilers!
In the end, we (and unfortunately the Empress too) find out that the Brown Tower has the technology that can hold back the ancient light and keep it from spreading and turning the whole world into dead silver dust, because once unleashed, it cannot be stopped, only held. A consquence of this is that all kinds of communications are complicated and very staticky on Orthe. After Ruric, the master of the Tower, and Lynne's old friend and betrayer, died in the attack on the city of Tathcaer, and she rushes to bring her body home so her memories can be saved in the Tower's memory banks, the communication clears, and the Tower is just a huge crater...doesn't bode well for the future of the planet. At least Blaize made it through, but Ortheans are so linked to their planet that they can't survive for long off-world...*sniff*
/ end of Spoilers
I really liked these books. The worldbuilding is imaginative, and incredibly complex, containing a couple of social structures and cultures, several languages, flora and fauna...it feels like a complete, viable world. Another interesting aspect is that the ancient civilisation is seen as evil, so much so that their descendants willingly live in quasi-medieval circumstances, because they cannot bear that the bad old times should come again, even of the hi-tech would make their lives easier. Kind of like Williams' Sithi gone bad...
The Ortheans are quite interesting too: they are revealed to have genetic memory, used to be marsupial millenia ago, and their children are born neutrally-sexed. When they hit the age of about 12 to 15, they go through a painful process at the end of which they emerge as male or female. I wonder if they have a lot of people who are unhappy with their gender. Although gender roles in society are very equal, you'd still grow up wishing to be one or the other, I'd guess.
Nitpicks: Gentle's sometimes overboarding descriptive style...we get told the same things over and over again...what somebody looks like, how the Orthean's mane grown down their spines, what their hands and feet look like, etc...in an over 900p book, it can get a bit old.
Also: Gentle's tendency to have very random strangers meeting on the road, and becoming the best of friends. Although it's kinda both justified (mercenaries are considered to be very true to their word, so from the moment that she held Blaize's contract, she was relatively safe with him), and undermined here (a good friend turns out to be a traitor).
Something that disappointed me in book 2: Lynne never asked about Maric, or about Rodion's children. And even their father doesn't mention them...
In conclusion: a great exploration of both human and alien nature, with great worldbuilding and an engaging plot. 8/10
August 24, 2022
Fairly clearly imitating Ursula le Guin, but does an OK job of it. First half is better than the second half. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...
January 18, 2020
Orthe will stay with me for a long time, and it is one of the great created worlds of SF
April 9, 2023
This series of books is my all-time favourite of this genre!
Read
April 11, 2010Orthe (Gollancz) by Mary Gentle (2002)
February 11, 2016
4 for worldbuilding. 3 for character building.
July 10, 2008
Interesting fantasy book.
July 26, 2011
Stylish, clever, and not afraid to pull any punches.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews