''Ilario, A Story of the First History'' is a novel by

Mary Gentle Mary Rosalyn Gentle (born 29 March 1956) is a UK science fiction and fantasy author. Literary career Mary Gentle's first published novel was ''Hawk in Silver'' (1977), a young-adult fantasy. She came to prominence with the '' Orthe'' duology, w ...

, published as two novels in the USA, set in an

alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...

where Carthage has become a powerful medieval empire.

Synopsis

Set in the same alternate medieval world as Gentle's '' Ash: A Secret History'' sequence, ''Ilario, A Story of the First History'' is more limited in scope. The protagonist, Ilario, is an intersex person seeking to serve as apprentice to a master painter, a path that takes Ilario from Iberia to Carthage, Rome, Venice and Constantinople. Described as "part picaresque, part travelogue, part prose '' chanson de geste''", the story serves to examine issues of gender, sexuality, and power.Ilario: The Lion's Eye by Mary Gentle
Strange Horizons reviews, 6 March 2007

Reception

Roz Kaveney, reviewing ''The Lion's Eye'' for ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

'' described the book as "action-packed, deeply intelligent novel a focus for intrigue, intellectual debate and a fair amount of polymorphous hot sexual action".Ilario: The Lion's Eye
Amazon.co.uk. '' Strange Horizons'' found the book "something of a disappointment", with "precious few changes of tone".

Ilario novels

*''Ilario: The Lion's Eye''. London: Gollancz, 2006. **''Ilario: The Lion's Eye''. New York: EOS, 2007. **''Ilario: The Stone Golem''. New York: EOS, 2007.

References

British fantasy novels Novels about intersex 2000s novels British LGBT novels 2006 British novels Victor Gollancz Ltd books {{2000s-LGBT-novel-stub