Ash

Ash: A Secret History was a surprise to me, and a very good one! As an alternate history story set in 15th century continental Europe, It exists on the crossroads between science fiction and fantasy (though further on the science fiction side from my perspective). Gentle seems very knowledgeable about 15th century war, history and life, through the details she includes of the life of Ash's mercenary company. The framing story, which involves the historian translating the "Ash" manuscripts, allows an easy way to include explanatory notes when necessary, without bogging down the story. Many characters, including the three primary female characters, had their own character arcs, and I loved how they were slowly built up through the course of the story. Finally, this was a tale with many unexpected twists and turns, and I loved that I could rarely tell exactly where it was going next.

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