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Title: Lost Burgundy : Book of Ash by Mary Gentle ISBN: 0-380-81114-6 Publisher: Eos (HarperCollins) Pub. Date: 01 December, 2000 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.14 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Last quarter of a terrific fantasy creation
Comment: Lost Burgundy is the fourth book in the "The Book of Ash." This isn't a series, as the books were all published simultaneously, and in the UK it was one 1100 page novel (the largest single-volume fantasy ever). I guess the publisher figured in the US we have short attention spans.
The whole sequence of four books is difficult to categorize. While labeled Fantasy, it includes science fiction, alternative history, and postmodern deconstruction. That, perhaps, is why several reviewers got annoyed with these books. They don't stay in one category. This is not a failure but a success; this work is a tour de force.
In Book IV, Ash and her mercenary company are stuck in Dijon, awaiting a battle with both soldiers and bizarre physical forces. Elsewhere, the sun has ceased to shine. Ash's twin (or clone) is somehow responsible, and Ash alternates between feelings of revenge and humiliation. The wraparound story, correspondence between a modern author researching Ash, and his editor, is also changing in tone; the editor suggests the author has gone quietly insane, but the reader senses he hasn't despite his reality disappearing. There are elements of Phillip K. Dick in their tale, and it has slowly seeped into Ash's story as well.
While the denouement works, the epilogue feels out of place, almost as if it were written by someone less talented. Other than needing a stronger ending, this is a terrific series that deserves your attention, all four books of it.
Rating: 5
Summary: Ash
Comment: I read the British omnibus edition, which I recommend over buying the four installments separately (Amazon UK has it.)
This is a top-class work of alternative history -- not the kind of alternative history that postulates a simple "what if", but an entire parallel universe.
Its strengths include excellent character development -- of secondary as well as primary characters -- and viscerally realistic battle scenes. Despite occasional anachronisms in the area of mentality, which I suspect are deliberate, Gentle clearly knows her medieval history. The plot moves fast and rarely falters; the final battle scene is unputdownable. Stark, brutal realism is one of the book's greatest strengths, but there are wonderful moments of humor as well. The medieval mercenaries are so appealing that, when the reader gets the casualty list at the end of the final battle, the sense of loss is genuine. And yet these individuals could scarcely exist in any other milieu.
I didn't find the framing device, the writer communicating with his agent, as gripping as the main story, but the postulate of subjective reality was interesting and seemed fresh in the context of alternative history.
The one thing that didn't work for me was the final scene, in which the historical characters are translated into the modern day -- this didn't make a lot of sense to me, and it didn't work for me on a characterization or aesthetic level. That, though, is only a few pages out of hundreds.
Rating: 3
Summary: I was ultimately disappointed.
Comment: This series turned out to be a disappointment to me. This could be due to the fact that I was going into the series with a certain set of expectations and the books turned out to be focused in a different direction. I was expecting epic medieval fantasy: lots of battles, strong characters, and fast paced action. These are the reasons that I read more fantasy than I do sci-fi. A lot of sci-fi tends to lean on heavy character development and fleshing out ideas and concepts. In essence, this series of books could be classified as "medieval sci-fi." The last half of the series was mostly excruciatingly slow with nothing really happening for hundreds of pages. There were a couple of action scenes in there, especially at the ends of the books, but the rest of the time, the characters didn't seem to be accomplishing anything. This lack of action is what ultimately lessened my enjoyment of the books.
As in the previous three books, however, Gentle gives us strong, vivid characters and realistic surroundings. I actually felt as if I was trapped within the frozen city. Her descriptions are subtle, but effective and her characters interact with one another and react to their surroundings just as you or I would. The only thing that kept me turning the pages was a desire to see what the characters would do next (hoping all the while that they would actually DO something).
The ending of this final book in the series seemed strange to me as well. It is sort of an epilogue to both the story of Ash and the story of the historians of the wrapper story. The last twenty or so pages seemed kind of tacky. They seemed to weaken the overall story and I could definitely have done without them. I will say, though, that the ideas espoused in the wrapper story are some of the most unique story ideas that I've seen in a long time.
If what I've described sounds like something you'd enjoy, then you probably will. It's hard not to like the characters and Gentle's handling of them. You want to see them succeed and you feel for them when they don't. However, if you're looking for a fantasy book about mercenaries that's heavy on action, I'd have to recommend either Elizabeth Moon's DEED OF PAKSENARRION trilogy or Mercedes Lackey's BY THE SWORD. Though not as sophisticated as this series, the action is a lot more rousing and there are fewer slow places.
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Title: Carthage Ascendant : The Book of Ash 2 by Mary Gentle ISBN: 0380805502 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: A Secret History: The Book of Ash 1 by Mary Gentle ISBN: 0380788691 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 05 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Stardoc II: Beyond Varallan by S. L. Viehl ISBN: 0451457935 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 10 July, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title:Firefly - The Complete Series ASIN: B0000AQS0F Publisher: Twentieth Century Fox Home Video Pub. Date: 09 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $49.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $34.99 |
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Title:Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl ASIN: B00005JM5E Publisher: Walt Disney Home Video Pub. Date: 02 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $19.49 |
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