Heirs of Alexandria Books In Order

Publication Order of Heirs of Alexandria Books

The Heirs of Alexandria series is a series of historical fantasy and alternate history novels written by the famous American author Eric Flint in collaboration with Mercedes Lackey and Dave Freer. There is a total of 5 books released under the series which were published between the years 2002 and 2013. All the novels of the series are primarily set in the Republic of Venice during the time period of the 1530s. Each of the books in the series combines the elements of the writing styles of all the 3 authors. The readers can especially come across the approach of author Mercedes lackey towards tolerance and author Eric Flints’s sense of the alteration of history, which add more colors to the plots of the novels of the series. The series is set in a divergence point in the history of Venice and shows the main highlight in the form of the conversion of the Hypatia of Alexandria into Christianity. Due to this, a mob which was headed towards destroying the reputed Library of Alexandria was stopped by her. The stopping of the mob also resulted Hypatia being able to preserve her own life. Later, Hypatia continues her correspondence along with another character named John Chrysostom, who was the same person who helped her to convert to Christianity. She was also helped by St. Augustine of Hippo and eventually went on to become a saint of the Christian religion herself.

Throughout the 1530s, it is seen that the western Christianity gets subdivided into the Pauline and Petrine branches due to the influence of John Chrysostom and Hypatia. A Gaelic branch is also formed with the League of the Armagh. The plots of the novels of the series employ a great deal of parallelism than what is expected from a work which is set around 1000 years after the POD. Most of the political entities mentioned in the novels of the series are either continuations of the states that were not present till the 16th century or the analogs of the states that were present in the 16th century. There was an exception with the Norse or Celtic League of the Armagh. Unlike the happenings in our universe, where Hypatia was killed because of the non-Christian views that she nurtured, just after the destruction of the Alexandrian Library at the hands of the angry mob, the universe described in this series shows that she gets converted to Christianity with the help of St. Augustine and John Chrysostom and stops the angry mob from destroying the Library. Due to her interference, along with those of John Chrysostom’s and St. Augustine’s, the modern divisions of the Church happen during the 1530s.

The first novel of the series was published under the title ‘The Shadow of the Lion’. It was published by the Baen Books publishing house in the year 2002. The plot of this novel is set in Rome, Italy; Mainz, Germany; Ferrara, Italy; and Vilna; and features the main characters in the form of Erik Hakkensen, Prince Manfred, Benito Valdosta, Katerina Montesque, Charles Fredrik, Jagiellon, Emeric, Enrico Dell’este, Diego, Marco Valdosta, Baron Trolliger, Eneko Lopez, Pierre, Chernobog, Antimo Bartelozzi, Petro Dorma, and Lodovico Montesque. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, it is shown that Venice is thrived by magic during the time of the year 1537 and is stared by the great winged Lion. The rich and prosperous Republic of Venice serves as a bastion of tolerance and independence. Many people believe that it is also rotten with corruption and intrigue for the very same reason. Later, the two young brothers Benito and Marco Valdosta are introduced in the plot of the novel, who are described as thieves and Vagabond. They consider Venice as simply their home for carrying out the thefts. But, they seem to be unaware of the fact that they are standing at the center of coming struggle of the city of Venice for its own existence. They also have no idea about the powerful forces that seem to be moving in the background of the city. The two brothers seem to have hardly heard about the demon-lord of the North named Chernobog, who is preparing his army to attack the city of Venice. He wishes to cut into the Roman Empire. All that the two brothers are aware that they are in dangerous company and are very hungry. Their dangerous company comprises of the smuggler Katerina, the sell-sword Caesare, the Montagnard assassins, the militant Knights, the inquisitors of the church, the Strega mage Dottore Marina, and Maria. They find Maria to be an honest woman, but she has the hottest temper that is hardly seen in anyone. However, Marco and Benito Valdosta seem to be in far worse dangers in the dark waters of the city of Venice. Soon, it is discovered that a monster has been set loose for wreaking havoc in Venice by Chernobog. It appears that murder, magic and evil are all working together to bring down the city of Venice. The Fanatical monks of the city try to root out the witchcrafts with their sword and fire. Also, the wealthy traders, steel-clad knights, great Prince, and the church dignitaries fight among themselves to take control of the city. Somehow, all of them gather around the Valdosta brothers under the shadow of the winged lion of the city of Venice.

The second novel of the series was published in the year 2003 by the Baen Books publishing house. It was titled ‘This Rough Magic’ and continued to depict the struggling period of the city of Venice during the 1530s. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, it is shown that the city of Venice was able to save itself from getting captured by Chernobog, but he was not defeated and was trying to conquer it again. Chernobog had wreaked a lot of havoc in the city with his absolute power, but was foiled by the guardian winged lions of the city. However, he comes to know that the power of the lions does not take effect outside the city of Venice. Hence, he joins the King of Hungary as an ally and tries to seize the hold of the Adriatic from the city of Venice. The band of heroes who helped to awake the lion and block the powers of Chernobog were trapped on an island. The Lion cannot help as they are far away from him. But soon, Maria discovers that the island is gaining back its magical powers. She is required to form an alliance with them in order to stop the invaders from attacking the city of Venice. However, she has to pay a heavy price for the alliance to take place.

One Response to “Heirs of Alexandria”

1. Karen: 2 years ago

   I just started reading this series & find it strangely similar to Merovingen Nights by Cherryh. They both: 1)take place in a city of canals with a marsh; 2) have young women canalers that fall in love with an upper class, curly haired blond, great swordsman that almost dies of fever if not cared for by the following; 3) 2 young brothers, one that wants to be a doctor & learned a lot of doctoring from the marshes & the other travels by roof top. And I’m only 200 pages into the Heirs series. Just curious but I wondered what you thought.

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