The Englishwoman Mary Gentle, known mainly as an author of fantasy, incredibly surprised her fans with the duology “The Golden Witches” (1983) and “The Ancient Light” (1987). A completely “Jack Vance” saga about a remote planet, which the inhabitants themselves call Orte, and the earthlings call Carris V, at first puzzled readers, but then truly captivated them with the scale of the plan, detailed description and intense, fascinating intrigue.... Welcome to the feudal world , where on the ruins of the legendary Golden Empire dozens of kingdoms and city-states that hated each other were formed. To a world where for some reason the interests of interstellar powers clash, one of which is the Earth Dominion...