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The Book of Ash #3
The Wild Machines
In an unremembered past of savagery, magic, and miracles, one figure blazed like a fiery comet across the blood-soaked fields of Europe and North Africa -- a fierce combatant and brilliant strategist named Ash, unequalled in battle, who vanished into the mists of a history long forgotten, until now.
The armies of the Visigoth Empire have smashed the might of Europe, plunging the conquered lands into unnatural night. Only Burgundy fights on, battered but unbeaten, still warm in the embrace of the sun. It is the heart of the continent, supreme in culture and force of arms. But the beleaguered Duchy's ultimate fate lies in the hands of its rightful ruler, Duke Charles, trapped behind the walls of Dijon -- a city under siege by the brutal soldiers of the Faris, Ash's dark twin. Like Ash, the Faris hears the words of the dread machinery that seeks the extermination of all humankind. Unlike Ash, she heeds them.
Fresh from the horrors of Carthage -- and the apocalyptic seductions of the Wild Machines -- Ash must decide whether to lead an army to near-certain doom, in an attempt to lift the siege of Dijon. For if the great city falls, and Charles dies, the sun will rise on the world no more...and humanity will descend into a darkness without end.
The armies of the Visigoth Empire have smashed the might of Europe, plunging the conquered lands into unnatural night. Only Burgundy fights on, battered but unbeaten, still warm in the embrace of the sun. It is the heart of the continent, supreme in culture and force of arms. But the beleaguered Duchy's ultimate fate lies in the hands of its rightful ruler, Duke Charles, trapped behind the walls of Dijon -- a city under siege by the brutal soldiers of the Faris, Ash's dark twin. Like Ash, the Faris hears the words of the dread machinery that seeks the extermination of all humankind. Unlike Ash, she heeds them.
Fresh from the horrors of Carthage -- and the apocalyptic seductions of the Wild Machines -- Ash must decide whether to lead an army to near-certain doom, in an attempt to lift the siege of Dijon. For if the great city falls, and Charles dies, the sun will rise on the world no more...and humanity will descend into a darkness without end.
391 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 2000
2 people are currently reading
202 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
June 5, 2018
4,25 stars English hard cover - I have dyslexia - Carla I want to Thank you for the lent of this series. It brought me many hours of fine reading. 🦋🌹🌷🦋
September 25, 2024
merita qualcosa più di 3 stelle
ma ho letto la versione omnibus e dopo 2.200 pagine credo di essermi spazientita
TRAMA:
biografia della mercenaria Ash
ma ho letto la versione omnibus e dopo 2.200 pagine credo di essermi spazientita
TRAMA:
biografia della mercenaria Ash
March 19, 2009
Ah la vache !
Heureuseent que les tomes précédents m'ont préparé au style de l'auteur, sinon, quelle fichue claque j'aurais pris !
Dans ce tome, on suit Cendres dans une Dijon assiégée, et qui tente de se sortir du piège dans le piège dans lequel elle s'est fourrée.
Et c'est vachement bien. Vachement mieux même que les tomes précédents, sans doute parce que c'est la première fois que je lis ce tome. Les raisons qui en font un très bon roman sont évidement multiples.
Je citerais avant tout la puissance de l'immersion dans la vie de cette mercenaire.
On est avec elle quand elle se perd dans les bois, dans un chapitre tout à fait onirique. Voyage dans cette forêt mythique qui contraste d'ailleurs violement avec toutes les scènes de ce roman, dont la force n'a d'égal que la différence. On pourrait d'ailleurs dire que ce roman se décompose en tableaux du genre "Cendres face à ..." avec : Cendres face au combat (dans une terrible scène de siège, qui dépasse largement en violence ressentie tout ce que j'ai pu connaître auparavant, sauf peut-être la bataille contre les germains dans le film Gladiator), Cendres face à la maladie, Cendres face à son double. Et tout ça est terriblement génial.
Mais ça ne suffit pas. Il y a aussi la qualité de cette enquête parallèle de Pierce JeNeSaisPlusQuoi, qui après de multiples désillusions, voit le sol s'ouvrir sous ses pieds pour lui offrir une nouvelle assise.
Il y a enfin la description minutieuse, voire même collosale du moyen-âge. En fait, ses descriptions de la vie médiévale, mis à part évidement les passages de pure science-fiction, ne me donnent que l'envie de donner ce livre à mes enfants quand ils étudieront cette période de l'histoire. Parce qu'avec ça, question background, ils seront sans doute plus calés que leurs profs, enfin, je crois.
Bref, c'est un bouquin génial, qui continue magnifiquement un ensemble de romans qui promettent d'être un de mes cycles préférés.
Heureuseent que les tomes précédents m'ont préparé au style de l'auteur, sinon, quelle fichue claque j'aurais pris !
Dans ce tome, on suit Cendres dans une Dijon assiégée, et qui tente de se sortir du piège dans le piège dans lequel elle s'est fourrée.
Et c'est vachement bien. Vachement mieux même que les tomes précédents, sans doute parce que c'est la première fois que je lis ce tome. Les raisons qui en font un très bon roman sont évidement multiples.
Je citerais avant tout la puissance de l'immersion dans la vie de cette mercenaire.
On est avec elle quand elle se perd dans les bois, dans un chapitre tout à fait onirique. Voyage dans cette forêt mythique qui contraste d'ailleurs violement avec toutes les scènes de ce roman, dont la force n'a d'égal que la différence. On pourrait d'ailleurs dire que ce roman se décompose en tableaux du genre "Cendres face à ..." avec : Cendres face au combat (dans une terrible scène de siège, qui dépasse largement en violence ressentie tout ce que j'ai pu connaître auparavant, sauf peut-être la bataille contre les germains dans le film Gladiator), Cendres face à la maladie, Cendres face à son double. Et tout ça est terriblement génial.
Mais ça ne suffit pas. Il y a aussi la qualité de cette enquête parallèle de Pierce JeNeSaisPlusQuoi, qui après de multiples désillusions, voit le sol s'ouvrir sous ses pieds pour lui offrir une nouvelle assise.
Il y a enfin la description minutieuse, voire même collosale du moyen-âge. En fait, ses descriptions de la vie médiévale, mis à part évidement les passages de pure science-fiction, ne me donnent que l'envie de donner ce livre à mes enfants quand ils étudieront cette période de l'histoire. Parce qu'avec ça, question background, ils seront sans doute plus calés que leurs profs, enfin, je crois.
Bref, c'est un bouquin génial, qui continue magnifiquement un ensemble de romans qui promettent d'être un de mes cycles préférés.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2017
Title in German:
Die Legende von Ash 3. Der Steinerne Golem
In this third part Ash returns with her company through a dark and cold Europe to Burgundy. They make their way through the Visigoth´s army into the besieged Dijon where the other half of her troop helps to defend the city. She even meets with her sister the carthagian general and asks her if she also is able to hear the voices of the "Wild Machines".
Most of the book is about military discussions and meetings, detailed descriptions of armors and not really much action. It certainly shows the author´s great knowledge and wasn´t exactly uninteresting but exaggerated meticulousness about armours wasn´t my main interest I admit. Ratcliff finally seems to have found Ash´ Carthage lost in the ocean and it also seems what happened in the Middle Ages has serious effects on our present time..
I´m really curious about the solution of the mystery in the fourth and last installment "Lost Burgundy".
Die Legende von Ash 3. Der Steinerne Golem
In this third part Ash returns with her company through a dark and cold Europe to Burgundy. They make their way through the Visigoth´s army into the besieged Dijon where the other half of her troop helps to defend the city. She even meets with her sister the carthagian general and asks her if she also is able to hear the voices of the "Wild Machines".
Most of the book is about military discussions and meetings, detailed descriptions of armors and not really much action. It certainly shows the author´s great knowledge and wasn´t exactly uninteresting but exaggerated meticulousness about armours wasn´t my main interest I admit. Ratcliff finally seems to have found Ash´ Carthage lost in the ocean and it also seems what happened in the Middle Ages has serious effects on our present time..
I´m really curious about the solution of the mystery in the fourth and last installment "Lost Burgundy".
August 1, 2023
Mêmes qualités et mêmes défauts que le précédent
La montée en puissance des personnages féminins est amusante.
La montée en puissance des personnages féminins est amusante.
February 25, 2017
A 3.5 maybe. Ash goes into siege, essentially, and we slowly get to puzzle out more what the Wild Machines are all about, and also Burgundy. In fact that last is the climactic moment in the book, and it's a doozy. Like the second installation there's a certain amount of to-ing and fro-ing in this novel which will be distracting for readers who prefer a more straightforward narrative. But some of the diversions and asides are quite enjoyable as they build on, or in one notable case, reappear characters. Oh and - the "contemporary" storyline gets some fun action and new twists in this installation. Those parts ultimately make you wonder just when it's all going to fall apart again.
There are definitely still a bunch of unanswered questions going into the final novel! Gentle has built the stakes pretty darn high and sustained the mystery so that stopping at this point doesn't even feel like an option.
There are definitely still a bunch of unanswered questions going into the final novel! Gentle has built the stakes pretty darn high and sustained the mystery so that stopping at this point doesn't even feel like an option.
August 8, 2013
You know the ancient adage: don't judge a book by its cover. This especially applies to The Wild Machines. Its attractive cover depicts the bold and beautiful warrior-woman, Ash, silvery tresses streaming as she drives a chariot across the pyramid-studded Egyptian sands.
While the Ferae Natura Machinae, "the Wild Machines," wield their influence across Europe from this exotic locale, Ash never travels there in this book. Her mercenary company would have been forced to eat the horses long before leaving France. For the armies of the Visigoth Empire have smashed Europe's resistance, plunging the conquered lands into unnatural night. Famine, pestilence and despair abound.
Only Burgundy, cultural and military diadem of Europe, struggles to stand fast, battered but unbeaten, still basking in the sun's warmth. The beleaguered duchy's fate lies in the hands of its ruler, Duke Charles, critically wounded and trapped behind the walls of Dijon while the Visigoth legions blight the surrounding countryside under the leadership of the Faris, Ash's twin sister. Like Ash, the Faris hears the Ferae Natura Machinae, the mysterious and dreaded machinery that seeks the extermination of humankind. Unlike Ash, she heeds them.
Fresh from the horrors of Carthage, and the apocalyptic seductions of the Wild Machines, Ash must decide whether to lead her men to near-certain doom in an attempt to lift Dijon's siege. For if the great city falls, and Duke Charles dies, humanity will descend into eternal darkness.
Don't judge this book by its grandiose back-cover synopsis, either. The cover, front and back, functions as a tapestry thrown over the filth. And I'm not just referring to the profanity, which averages one word in every hundred. War's gruesome details explode across almost every page.
But never let it be said that I don't give credit where it's due. The constant bloody barrage makes Gentle's work unique in the fantasy genre. Usually, the hero's quest can be described as a series of conversations, punctuated at two or three critical junctures by a battle. The Wild Machines presents the exact opposite: a couple of key conversations interspersed among the battles as Ash quests for the answer to why Burgundy remains the only region still blessed by the sun. In my opinion, this inverted structure weakens the plot.
"Why Burgundy?" Ash repeatedly asks. "Who cares?" I respond, my mind's eye glazed from the imagined carnage. But if endless blood and guts and vulgarity float your literary boat, then my opinion won't stop you from reading this installment -- and I'd be too battle-fatigued to argue with you, anyway.
(Originally published in Crescent Blues. Reprinted with permission.)
While the Ferae Natura Machinae, "the Wild Machines," wield their influence across Europe from this exotic locale, Ash never travels there in this book. Her mercenary company would have been forced to eat the horses long before leaving France. For the armies of the Visigoth Empire have smashed Europe's resistance, plunging the conquered lands into unnatural night. Famine, pestilence and despair abound.
Only Burgundy, cultural and military diadem of Europe, struggles to stand fast, battered but unbeaten, still basking in the sun's warmth. The beleaguered duchy's fate lies in the hands of its ruler, Duke Charles, critically wounded and trapped behind the walls of Dijon while the Visigoth legions blight the surrounding countryside under the leadership of the Faris, Ash's twin sister. Like Ash, the Faris hears the Ferae Natura Machinae, the mysterious and dreaded machinery that seeks the extermination of humankind. Unlike Ash, she heeds them.
Fresh from the horrors of Carthage, and the apocalyptic seductions of the Wild Machines, Ash must decide whether to lead her men to near-certain doom in an attempt to lift Dijon's siege. For if the great city falls, and Duke Charles dies, humanity will descend into eternal darkness.
Don't judge this book by its grandiose back-cover synopsis, either. The cover, front and back, functions as a tapestry thrown over the filth. And I'm not just referring to the profanity, which averages one word in every hundred. War's gruesome details explode across almost every page.
But never let it be said that I don't give credit where it's due. The constant bloody barrage makes Gentle's work unique in the fantasy genre. Usually, the hero's quest can be described as a series of conversations, punctuated at two or three critical junctures by a battle. The Wild Machines presents the exact opposite: a couple of key conversations interspersed among the battles as Ash quests for the answer to why Burgundy remains the only region still blessed by the sun. In my opinion, this inverted structure weakens the plot.
"Why Burgundy?" Ash repeatedly asks. "Who cares?" I respond, my mind's eye glazed from the imagined carnage. But if endless blood and guts and vulgarity float your literary boat, then my opinion won't stop you from reading this installment -- and I'd be too battle-fatigued to argue with you, anyway.
(Originally published in Crescent Blues. Reprinted with permission.)
January 2, 2014
Ucronia, donde Cartago Visigoda invade Europa y la mercenaria Ash( especie de Juana Arco)y su compañía debe sobrevivir a la caída de imperios y reinos.
El tercer libro de la seria, es también el mas flojo hasta el momento.
Como todos lso anteriores, el libro se divide en dos hilos narrativos:
La historia contemporánea, donde se encuentran los manuscritos con la historia, las conspiraciones para mantenerlo en secreto, francamente aburre.
Sobre la Historia principal, la acción no avanza, solo la vuelta a Europa desde Crtago y la muerte del duque de Borgoña, con la sorpresiva elección de una nueva duquesa.
Si bien voy a leer el próximo para completar la historia, creo que ser en un buen tiempo mas.
El tercer libro de la seria, es también el mas flojo hasta el momento.
Como todos lso anteriores, el libro se divide en dos hilos narrativos:
La historia contemporánea, donde se encuentran los manuscritos con la historia, las conspiraciones para mantenerlo en secreto, francamente aburre.
Sobre la Historia principal, la acción no avanza, solo la vuelta a Europa desde Crtago y la muerte del duque de Borgoña, con la sorpresiva elección de una nueva duquesa.
Si bien voy a leer el próximo para completar la historia, creo que ser en un buen tiempo mas.
July 29, 2011
Voir commentaire Tome un.
November 11, 2012
Good start, gets a little odd when the book goes from medieval fantasy to Sci-Fi but still an interesting story with an empowering heroine.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews