Anselm Audley - The Aquasilva Trilogy

[Jemima Aslana]

Anybody ever read this? It consists of Heresy, Inquisition and Crusade.

It's fairly new. Audley is a student of History at Oxford university, and the way he uses the writing of history as a major theme in these fantasy books made them very different from what I'm used to reading.

They have a 1st person narrator, so all the lies, intrigues and such becomes more obscure at times because we don't get any other view of things than what the protagonist hears, sees and thinks. I like it a lot, because it works well with the "What's true and what's not?" type of story Audley has written.

Aside from that there are major parallels to the Catholic Church, with heretics being burned at the stake, Inquistions and Crusades. The works.

I'll strongly recommend them to those who haven't read them, and to those who already have I'll ask what did you think about them? I know there are aspects of them I felt were dubious, but the overall experience was definitely great.

 

[Sell Sword]

Hey, Jemima! I read Heresy a few years ago. I don't actually remember too much about it, submarines come to mind. This is not an easy series of books to find in the USA.

 

[Jemima Aslana]

Might have something to do with it being British I get the feeling the American authors produce so much fantasy that importing it is seldom done.

But yeah, submarines is correctly remembered. Aquasilva is a world almos completely covered in water. There are a few continents and many minor islands - but most is ocean - and most of that, deeper than 13 miles.

They have an interesting mix of technology and magic on Aquasilva - submarines called mantas powered by reactors and propelled by beating wings - exactly like the mantas we know from our Biology.

Technology plays a major part in the whole religious war that's going on in them. After all, science is dangerous to religion - it might prove the dogmas faulty.

I bought Heresy at a sale in my local Book Pusher's. The 1st volume of a trilogy I'd never heard of, but it was cheap so I picked it up and I absolutely loved it - so there I was promptly ordering the next two from Amazon You should really read the remaining books, if you liked Heresy you'll definitely like the others as well.

I might warn you though. The ending of Crusade is one of those I am very fond of, namely an ending that isn't an ending. This world has a history of its own, and the end of book three is merely the point where we stop reading about it. we hear the main characters talk about what they might want to do next, and how they're gonna deal with the new strategy their adversaries have taken to, and within the last chapter a revelation is made that changes the way we look at everything that's happened so far and shifts our expectations for the future. A future that isn't described. To some it'll be a very inconclusive and unfulfilling ending, to me it seemed more real because just because a quest is solved it doesn't mean the history of that world gets boring for the rest of eternity, but it's a matter of taste. Consider yourself warned

 

[Debz3414]

I have all three of these books bought them three years ago but I want to find ebooks for it.