This book takes place in 1565, when "The Grand Turk" , also known as Suleiman The Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire, had decided that to ensure the spread of Islam, the Knights of St. John, also known as The Knights Hospitaller, must be dislodged from the Mediterranean Island of Malta. As this historically true event played out, the fictitious Captain Mattias Tannhauser, a European-born former Janissary soldier in the army of the Sultan, is convinced to bring a high-born Maltese Contessa, Lady Carla, to the island, despite the siege, to find her 12 year old bastard son... a son sired by one Brother Luvodico, a highly-placed Priest of the Inquisition.
What Tannhauser doesn't realize is that his reputation as a military commander has proceeded him, and he has been duped into going to the island so that he can give good military advice to the Grandmaster of the Knights of St. John, Jean De La Valette, to help them withstand the siege.
Predictably, Tannhauser is able to spirit Lady Carla, and her son, Orlandu, off of Malta, but not before falling in love with Carla, and killing Luvodico.
The plot of the book isn't exceptionally intricate, which is appropriate, since this book is and adventure, not a mystery. There are several factors here that make this book and exceptionally good one: The first (for me) is that the subject matter, the religious-military orders of the era, between the 12th and 17th centuries, is an area of particular interest to me. The second is that the author has really done his homework here, in that he not only was able to place this important battle in the right time and place, but he was able to describe that motives and actions of the characters in proper cultural terms. The third important thing for me was the description of 16th century combat and siege warfare. Willocks doesn't gloss over the unholy brutality of personal combat, and the gruesome wounds caused by the weapons of the day.
If you have an interest in history, you will enjoy this book. If you have an interest in grand adventure, you will enjoy this book. If you have an interest in some of the skulduggery of the 16th century Church you'll really like this book.
This book has it all: Violence, history, intrigue, and sex... and it's well-written!
What's not to like?
If you read it, please tell me what you think.
GF
8 comments:
Grrrr, I so don't need another book to read! :) But I want to read this one.
If you've read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet you'll be pleased to know he has finally written a follow-up book. Another book I want to read but I'll have to go back and read Pillars again. If you haven't read Pillars of the Earth you might enjoy it.
Thanks for sharing! I will add it to my ever-growing list of must-reads!
If I add one more book to my TBR shelf, it is going to collapse. But this does sound very interesting. I think I'll have to add it to my list of books to read after I've read everything on my shelf.
My friend would probably love this book! She's very interested in religious etymology. I'll have to suggest it to her. Thanks for the recommendation!
I just finished a book and was in need of something new... thanks for the recommendation it sounds like a good read.
The violence part just doesn't do it for me so I'll have to pass. I am a big fan of Umberto Ecco's Name of the Rose (which I read before the movie came out). It was just fascinating to read how people lived before the notion of clocks (e.g. the days were broken up by the prayers).
The Religion jumped off a store shelf and into my hand, held a dagger to my throat and demanded to be read.
Outstanding. I loved the sensuality of the language, the barbaric splendor of it all... I have forced this book upon all my male relatives and friends and they, too, love it.
This is exactly my kind of book! Wooohoo! I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love and various novels by friends right now, though.
Sounds good. I like to read but usually take a week or two to get through a book. John averages a book a day, mostly in the shower (so we don't loan our bloated paperback collection out). So see - yet another reason I think you two would be great friends.
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