Ash: A Secret History
#5883.77 of 692 ranked universes · full ranking
Books 4 books Status Complete 1999–2000 Reading commitment Medium Mary Gentle Last reviewed 2026-09-13
Overview
Ash: A Secret History follows Ash, a mercenary captain leading a free company through an alternate 15th-century Europe, who has heard a commanding voice in her head since childhood — a voice she gradually realises comes from the Wild Machines, a buried bronze artificial intelligence built by a lost North African empire, Carthage (here called Visigoth Carthage), whose unnatural fog-and-cold "Eternal Twilight" is smothering Europe and rewriting history around it. A modern frame story, told through a translator's footnotes and correspondence with his publisher, presents the whole narrative as a genuine medieval manuscript whose translation keeps forcing the translator to revise his own understanding of real history as he works.
Historical fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (4 works) counts toward ranking
Ash: A Secret History (The Book of Ash) Mary Gentle
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | A Secret History | 1999 | 1 | core | 3.63 (795 ratings) |
 | Carthage Ascendant | 2000 | 2 | core | 3.86 (332 ratings) |
 | The Wild Machines | 2000 | 3 | core | 3.88 (293 ratings) |
 | Lost Burgundy | 2000 | 4 | core | 3.92 (276 ratings) |
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.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Ash: A Secret History? Ash: A Secret History's Core Canon is 4 books.
- What is the reading order for Ash: A Secret History? Publication order, starting with A Secret History. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Ash: A Secret History finished? Complete (1999–2000).
- How much reading does Ash: A Secret History take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 4 Core Canon books).
- How is Ash: A Secret History ranked? #588 of 692 ranked universes on this site, based on 1,696 reader ratings across 4 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #588?
Ranked #588 of 692 ranked universes.
- Average reader rating of 3.77 across 4 core books.
- A smaller readership (1,696 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #587, Chronicles of the Wolf Queen (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 4 books · Complete · 2k ratings · Ranks #588 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length historical fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (4 Core Canon books)
- A Secret History (1999)
- Carthage Ascendant (2000)
- Lost Burgundy (2000)
- The Wild Machines (2000)
Documented internal/story order
- A Secret History (1999)
- Carthage Ascendant (2000)
- The Wild Machines (2000)
- Lost Burgundy (2000)
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.77 across 1,696 ratings on 4 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: Ash: A Secret History (Mary Gentle) accepted 2026-09-13
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-09-13
Rule: Core Canon = all four volumes. Originally published as a single novel in the UK (Gollancz, 2000); catalogued here as the four US paperback volumes it was also published as (Eos, 1999-2000) — A Secret History, Carthage Ascendant, The Wild Machines, Lost Burgundy — the same one-novel-in-several-volumes treatment already applied to The Lord of the Rings. There is no companion or expanded material.