The Quicksilver Trilogy

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The Quicksilver Trilogy (literally: The Mercury Trilogy ; in the USA: The Dreamtime Trilogy ) is a three-part fantasy novel series by the British writer Stan Nicholls .

Publication history

The trilogy opened in the UK in 2003 with the release of Quicksilver Rising and continued in the following years with Quicksilver Zenith and Quicksilver Twilight . The original editions were all published by Voyager, a British imprint published by HarperCollins . The US publisher Eos, also an imprint of HarperCollins, changed the titles of the overseas editions when they were published in January 2005 to The Convenant Rising , The Righteous Blade and The Diamond Isle , the name of the entire series in The Dreamtime Trilogy , at the same time Nicholls´ trilogy of the novel Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson was published in the USA.

In Germany, the individual volumes were published in a translation by Jürgen Langowski under the titles Der magische Bund (2004), Das magischezeichen (2005) and Die magische Insel (2006) by Heyne Verlag . The series was published on the French book market between 2004 and 2007 under the title Vif-Argent (in German: Mercury ) by the Bragelonne publishing house. In Russia, the first two novels since 2005 are available as Магия цвета ртути (literally: The magic of the color of mercury ) and Магия цвета крови (literally: The magic of the color of blood ) by Eksmo.

action

In the land of Bhealfa, the social structure is defined and controlled by magic. The most expensive and strongest spells can only be cast by the higher class and thus the entire population can be controlled. The known world is ruled by two competing empires. These are taking ever tougher measures against unrest and rebellions and not only the poor citizens are longing for a restructuring of society and politics.

Reeth Caldason is one of the last survivors of a warrior race that was brutally destroyed a few years ago. Stricken with periods of blindness and uncontrollable anger, he is willing to wander the world in search of revenge for his people and healing for their apparently magical suffering.

On his journey he meets unequal companions who all join a mysterious alliance, the resistance . This consists of the Brotherhood of the Righteous Blade , a patriotic movement, the Bund , an association of free magicians, and many other "rebels" who have decided to take action against the injustices of the government due to personal or general oppression.

Meanwhile, there are reports of a warlord who is said to have made great conquests in the northern wastelands. The rich are not particularly worried about this at first, but still try to get information about this so-called "tear".

The resistance pursues the plan to buy an island that is administered independently by the two kingdoms from the private owner and to establish a new, independent state. During implementation, attacks and assaults on government agencies continue in parallel, which in turn leads to tougher crackdowns on your part. The situation comes to a head and at the worst possible moment, the resistance falls victim to grave betrayal. Only a fraction of the originally planned amount reaches the so-called Diamond Island.

In the face of this direct rebellion, the two empires are forced to carry out a massive counterstrike, as they do not want to show any weakness in front of the other. When the two fleets unite to remedy the common problem, the island's defenses are poor and the days of resistance seem numbered. Only Reeth Caldason, who went in search of the legendary "source" because he hoped for healing through it, can prevent the downfall at the last moment. With the help of the "source" he has managed to recognize his innate powers and can hinder the onslaught. Exactly at this moment Zerreiss' fleet reaches the island and the army of empires surrender.

Through the “source” the resistance now also learns the truth about the rulers of both empires, as this has to do with Reeth's origins. It turns out that the rulers are the last survivors of the legendary "founders" who are said to have inhabited the world thousands of years ago. With his appearance, Zerreiss ends the previously known world order, as he has the innate gift of removing magic and thus removing the illusions about the founders and revealing their true self. The new world is now to be built by the only righteous, well-organized force: the resistance.

Book editions

Original English-language editions

German-language editions

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.stannicholls.com - under Quicksilver Trilogy (US: Dreamtime) (as of October 19, 2008)