Mary Gentle

//Mary Gentle
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  • White Crow Sequence: Book I. In a nameless city somewhere between past and future, a mythic realm at the heart of the world, wicked Rat Lords have reduced all humankind to slaves and god-daemons make the decision to end all existence. This energises a compelling quest for survival and prompts the powerful White Crow to order an uprising against that which threatens all. Among those who respond to her call are the defiant Prince Lucas of Candover, a student at the University of Crime and no man's slave; the young Katayan woman who is destined to become the living Memory of all that follows; and others, rallying to join them in one desperate final revolt, to create a magic powerful enough to reshape the very nature of how they live. Cover art by Rob Wood.

  • 1610: Hermetic magic is about to transform into science - this is the year everything could change.  Robert Fludd, English physician and astrologer uses Jon Dee's method of foretelling the future. It appears to work but he doesn't like the centuries he's predicting. Someone will have to change the future. Rochefort, duellist, down-at-heel aristocrat and spy for the Duc de Sully, France's powerful finance minister, has troubles of his own - Dariole, a young man of his acquaintance who is lust walking on two legs and as irresponsible as an alley-cat. The last thing he needs is a mad English astrologer in his life. Continental Europe is briefly at peace - but Henry IV is planning to invade the German principalities. Five years earlier, in England, conspirators almost succeeded in blowing up King James and his Parliament. The seeds of the English Civil War and the Thirty  Years' War are being sown... For a man of no conscience, Rochefort is about to be caught between loyalty, love and blackmail - between kings, queens, politicians and Rosicrucians - and all this before he encounters the woman he has, unknowingly, crossed land and sea to meet. Robert Fludd is pulling the strings... And Rochefort does not take kindly to being someone's puppet. Cover art by Les Edwards.

  • Book I of Orthe. The distant world of Orthe is littered with the spectacular remnants of its once-great civilisation.  Now the Ortheans have deliberately turned away from the technology that nearly destroyed them.  To Orthe comes Lynne de Lisle Christie, envoy from Earth.  Her assignment: win the confidence of the planet's leaders.  But she quickly finds herself at the centre of a conflict which threatens to explode into war. Cover art by Chris Brown.
  • In the mid-fifteenth century there was Burgundy, the jewel of Europe - opulant 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 worshiped freely alongside the Christ - a great cloud arose out of Africa to darken the sun. The Visgoths 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 than anyone thought one woman could be.  Cover art by John Howe.
  • An orc is a fire plug of a fighting machine, made of muscle, hide, talon and tusk with a villainous disposition and a mean sense of humour. And of course, an orc is a poor dumb grunt - the much-abused foot soldier of the Evil Horde of Darkness.  The usual last battle of Good against Evil is about to begin. Orc Captain Ashnak and his war-band know exactly what they can expect.  The forces of Light are outnumbered, full of headstrong heroes devoid of tactics - but the Light's still going to win. Orcs - the sword fodder in the front line - will die in their tousands.  Life's a bitch. Here's sword and sorcery to the max - from the bad guy's point of view! Cover art by Romas.