Traci Harding - The Ancient Future Trilogy
I'm a huge fan of Australian author Traci Harding. She's written quite a few books by now, has an online community dedicated to her work and the ideas that inspired her work, and would very easily qualify as "one of the authors who has inspired me the most".
I came across her first book, The Ancient Future, some time in 2002. It looked like an interesting and entertaining story of a modern Australian woman, Tory Alexander, who accidentally goes back in time through a stone circle while on holiday in Britain, then finds herself in Wales some 1500 years ago where she meets and marries the love of her life, Prince Maelgwn Gwynedd. She becomes Queen of Gwynedd (in modern-day Wales), enforces new child- and female-friendly laws and teaches the ancient Britons a new way of fighting and with it, a new way of thinking.
As the book unfolds, Tory learns that her coming to the 6th Century wasn't an accident but deliberate, and was orchestrated by Merlin - yes the Merlin we know from Arthurian legend (albeit with a very refreshing twist!). Tory meets many people in the past who remind her of people she knew in the present, and learns that they are all incarnations of the same soul-minds, and that she is connected to these people no matter what incarnation they are all in.
As Tory learns about the mysteries of ancient Britain, she develops her psychic powers which allow her to go on many adventures, such as an amazing adventure to Atlantis in the second book, An Echo in Time. In the third book of the series, Masters of Reality, Tory and friends - some who are re-incarnations of people she knows, others who are immortal such as Tory herself has now become and are known as the Chosen, battle it out for the future of our planet and the human race at the Gathering of Kings... Also known as Armageddon!
While the books can be read as simple fantasy and would be enjoyable as such, it is the ideas that Traci puts forth in her books that make them so inspiring to me. She talks about topics as diverse as ancient Atlantis, time travel, space travel, astral projection, reincarnation, but also love and loss and friendships that go beyond time and space.
Yes, Tory is a bit of a too-perfect character who seems to be good at everything - learnt yesterday while reading a few reviews of the books that a character like that is called a Mary Sue character - and while that was a bit annoying to read in the first half of the first book, I got used to it, accepted it, and moved on to enjoy the overall storyline and the wonderful ideas that Traci talks about.
Visit Traci Harding's website: here
I came across her first book, The Ancient Future, some time in 2002. It looked like an interesting and entertaining story of a modern Australian woman, Tory Alexander, who accidentally goes back in time through a stone circle while on holiday in Britain, then finds herself in Wales some 1500 years ago where she meets and marries the love of her life, Prince Maelgwn Gwynedd. She becomes Queen of Gwynedd (in modern-day Wales), enforces new child- and female-friendly laws and teaches the ancient Britons a new way of fighting and with it, a new way of thinking.
As the book unfolds, Tory learns that her coming to the 6th Century wasn't an accident but deliberate, and was orchestrated by Merlin - yes the Merlin we know from Arthurian legend (albeit with a very refreshing twist!). Tory meets many people in the past who remind her of people she knew in the present, and learns that they are all incarnations of the same soul-minds, and that she is connected to these people no matter what incarnation they are all in.
As Tory learns about the mysteries of ancient Britain, she develops her psychic powers which allow her to go on many adventures, such as an amazing adventure to Atlantis in the second book, An Echo in Time. In the third book of the series, Masters of Reality, Tory and friends - some who are re-incarnations of people she knows, others who are immortal such as Tory herself has now become and are known as the Chosen, battle it out for the future of our planet and the human race at the Gathering of Kings... Also known as Armageddon!
While the books can be read as simple fantasy and would be enjoyable as such, it is the ideas that Traci puts forth in her books that make them so inspiring to me. She talks about topics as diverse as ancient Atlantis, time travel, space travel, astral projection, reincarnation, but also love and loss and friendships that go beyond time and space.
Yes, Tory is a bit of a too-perfect character who seems to be good at everything - learnt yesterday while reading a few reviews of the books that a character like that is called a Mary Sue character - and while that was a bit annoying to read in the first half of the first book, I got used to it, accepted it, and moved on to enjoy the overall storyline and the wonderful ideas that Traci talks about.
Visit Traci Harding's website: here
