The Wild Machines
core novel 2000 Ash: A Secret History
Record
| First published | 2000 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.88 (293 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780380811137 |
| Internal chronology | 3 |
Synopsis
The Wild Machines, published by Mary Gentle in 2000, is the third volume of the Book of Ash. Having escaped Carthaginian captivity, Ash returns to a Europe growing steadily darker, literally as well as politically, as an unnatural blight spreads across the sky and threatens to blot out the sun over the continent. Investigating the cause draws Ash and her company toward the revelation that vast, ancient, sentient machines lie beneath the sands of North Africa, entities whose will has shaped Carthage's rise and now threatens the wider world. As Burgundy braces for a decisive siege, Ash must reckon with the true nature of the voice that has guided her throughout her life and its connection to these wild machines, even as the frame narrative's modern translators uncover further evidence that their own history has been quietly altered.
Where it sits
- Universe: Ash: A Secret History
- Series: Ash: A Secret History (The Book of Ash) core; position 3 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Mary Gentle
Notes
- From the series record (Ash: A Secret History (The Book of Ash)): One continuous novel, published as a single volume in the UK (Gollancz, 2000) and split into these four US paperback volumes (Eos, 1999-2000); each volume is catalogued separately here since each was published, sold, and rated individually, the same treatment already applied to The Lord of the Rings' three volumes.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Ash: A Secret History (The Book of Ash): position 3 of 4: previous Carthage Ascendant (2000) · next Lost Burgundy (2000)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Ash: A Secret History
- Worlds Without End: Ash: A Secret History
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Gentle
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