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bunrab's review against another edition
4.0
This is not my usual sort of thing, but Larry recommended it highly, and loaned it to me. Not a historical period I'm familiar with. But it's really well written, and I like the characters. I will admit to skimming some of the goriest of the battle scenes. Besides the individual people, the main "characters" are the Knights of St. John (Knights Hospitallers), the Ottoman Empire, and the Inquisition. You know it's gotta have a nice complicated plot there!
virginiedolleans's review against another edition
4.0
Le siège de Malte par les Turcs au XVIème siècle est le prétexte pour un formidable roman d’aventures.
shane_tiernan's review against another edition
5.0
WOW! I'm on disk 5 and this book is on it's way to being one of my favorites. A little graphic and violent but very engrossing.
And at the end (disk 21) it did turn out to be one of my favorites. A gritty tale beautifully told. His use of words is amazing. I just kept saying, "YES! That's exactly the word that describes it." His metaphors were serious and relevant rather than confusing, lame or overly decorative.
Bernard Cornwell and Stephen Pressfield should be very worried. Willocks combines Cornwell's characterization and drama with Pressfield's gritty, blood and entrails battle scenes.
If I had one complaint it would be some of the hero's luck was a bit too heavily daubed upon the scenes. A few too many serendipitous meetings in the middle of giant chaotic battle scenes.
And at the end (disk 21) it did turn out to be one of my favorites. A gritty tale beautifully told. His use of words is amazing. I just kept saying, "YES! That's exactly the word that describes it." His metaphors were serious and relevant rather than confusing, lame or overly decorative.
Bernard Cornwell and Stephen Pressfield should be very worried. Willocks combines Cornwell's characterization and drama with Pressfield's gritty, blood and entrails battle scenes.
If I had one complaint it would be some of the hero's luck was a bit too heavily daubed upon the scenes. A few too many serendipitous meetings in the middle of giant chaotic battle scenes.
wwatts1734's review against another edition
2.0
When I picked up this book, I had high hopes that this novel would be a great story of the 16th Century Ottoman siege of Malta, an epic moment in history that is largely ignored both by historians and by novelists. After reading this book, I have to say that I am disappointed. On the positive side, this novel is a well researched work, and I was impressed by the author's description of the Knights of St. John, the warrior religious order which was stationed at Malta and who were the objective of the Ottoman invasion. The author's description of the Ottoman janissaries was well done and unique in western novels. He does a good job with the culture of Malta, the background is quite good. This novel really could have been an epic historical novel on the level of Ben Hur or Gone with the Wind. But it fails on three counts.
The first count is the author's rabid anti-Catholic axe that he insists on grinding throughout the novel. The great villain of this novel is a blood-thirsty, lust-driven Inquistor priest whose only service to God seems to be his desire to dispatch as many of God's creatures to the next world as possible. This priest chooses an assistant purely on the basis of the man's sociopathic bloodlust. The author drags back all of the same old tired anti-Catholic arguements that one reads in a Jack Chick tract; the "millions" killed by priests in the Inquisition, the Church's lust for blood in the Crusades and other wars, the insistance that priestly virtues of celibacy and poverty are really smokescreens for the priests' true desire to rape, pillage and kill. It is sad when a novelist uses his work to trash those with whom he objects, and the author of this novel wastes no opportunity to trash Catholicism. It happens quite often in novels these days, but that doesn't make it right.
The second count is the author's interesting view on warfare. In this book, it seems that the characters, and especially the hero Tannenburg, do not fight for any objective whatsoever. They change sides often, today fighting for the Knights against the Turks, tomorrow fighting for the Turks against the Knights. It seems that, in the author's view, warfare is not a struggle of good against evil. Rather it is a kind of 16th century game of "Halo" in which the goal is to kill as many people as possible, without regard to what they are fighting for or against. To this author, killing is the great virtue of this novel. War is not a struggle but an excuse to butcher one's fellow man. This, of course, is not why anyone in history have taken up arms, other than perhaps the most callous barbarians of old, or video gamers of today. It would be interesting to find out what value system the author uses to justify this view.
The third count is the embarrassing love scenes in this novel. When the characters in this novel engage in sex, they do not make love to each other. In fact, feelings are not even discussed. The love scenes in this novel are embarrassing descriptions of the physical act of sex, sort of like a verbal pornography. It is almost as though the author's only experience of intimacy is viewing pornography on the Internet, so this is the only perspective that he can bring to the act of lovemaking. Seriously, I was so embarrassed by these passages that I ended up skipping forward a few pages when I saw one coming on. Skipping these passages detracted nothing from the plot, and perhaps in future editions the editors could consider simply cutting them out.
It is a shame that this novel has seen print with these problems in it. "The Religion" does no service to the era of the siege of Malta, and that's a shame. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer for a good novel about this period of history.
The first count is the author's rabid anti-Catholic axe that he insists on grinding throughout the novel. The great villain of this novel is a blood-thirsty, lust-driven Inquistor priest whose only service to God seems to be his desire to dispatch as many of God's creatures to the next world as possible. This priest chooses an assistant purely on the basis of the man's sociopathic bloodlust. The author drags back all of the same old tired anti-Catholic arguements that one reads in a Jack Chick tract; the "millions" killed by priests in the Inquisition, the Church's lust for blood in the Crusades and other wars, the insistance that priestly virtues of celibacy and poverty are really smokescreens for the priests' true desire to rape, pillage and kill. It is sad when a novelist uses his work to trash those with whom he objects, and the author of this novel wastes no opportunity to trash Catholicism. It happens quite often in novels these days, but that doesn't make it right.
The second count is the author's interesting view on warfare. In this book, it seems that the characters, and especially the hero Tannenburg, do not fight for any objective whatsoever. They change sides often, today fighting for the Knights against the Turks, tomorrow fighting for the Turks against the Knights. It seems that, in the author's view, warfare is not a struggle of good against evil. Rather it is a kind of 16th century game of "Halo" in which the goal is to kill as many people as possible, without regard to what they are fighting for or against. To this author, killing is the great virtue of this novel. War is not a struggle but an excuse to butcher one's fellow man. This, of course, is not why anyone in history have taken up arms, other than perhaps the most callous barbarians of old, or video gamers of today. It would be interesting to find out what value system the author uses to justify this view.
The third count is the embarrassing love scenes in this novel. When the characters in this novel engage in sex, they do not make love to each other. In fact, feelings are not even discussed. The love scenes in this novel are embarrassing descriptions of the physical act of sex, sort of like a verbal pornography. It is almost as though the author's only experience of intimacy is viewing pornography on the Internet, so this is the only perspective that he can bring to the act of lovemaking. Seriously, I was so embarrassed by these passages that I ended up skipping forward a few pages when I saw one coming on. Skipping these passages detracted nothing from the plot, and perhaps in future editions the editors could consider simply cutting them out.
It is a shame that this novel has seen print with these problems in it. "The Religion" does no service to the era of the siege of Malta, and that's a shame. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer for a good novel about this period of history.
jmatkinson1's review against another edition
3.0
Mattias Tannhauser is a soldier of fortune, joining the elite Janissary of the Ottomans as a boy he rose through their ranks before leaving. He makes his way through life buying and selling but reserves a hatred for the Inquisition who killed his mentor. Carla is a noblewomen, rich and beautiful, who wants to return to her homeland of Malta to find her illegitimate son. Malta is an island about to be besieged by the full might of the Turkish forces and the Knights of Malta, the Religion, need all the help they can get and Matthias is the man they want. Set during the Siege of Malta in 1565, this book explores religion, loyalty and love.
I actually really enjoyed this book but found it a little too long. There are many sections devoted to battle and these are florid and gruesome but after a while they become repetitious - there is only so much 'gore' or descriptions of 'gobbets of flesh' that one can take. Having said that it is an exciting story and Tannhauser is a likeable anti-hero. In the same way the anti-villain has clear motives for his actions and the lesser cast of characters are quite well-drawn.
I actually really enjoyed this book but found it a little too long. There are many sections devoted to battle and these are florid and gruesome but after a while they become repetitious - there is only so much 'gore' or descriptions of 'gobbets of flesh' that one can take. Having said that it is an exciting story and Tannhauser is a likeable anti-hero. In the same way the anti-villain has clear motives for his actions and the lesser cast of characters are quite well-drawn.
melamela's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
gbaty's review
I can't focus on it's overly descriptive sentences, the main character is unnecessarily graphic towards women, and it's just. Too. Long.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual harassment
carolynf's review against another edition
4.0
Lots of sensory detail and interesting historical drama. That's the good side. But also lots and lots of sex and violence. Also a little predictable. I was only a quarter of the way through this enormous book when I figured out who would live and die in the final climax of the book.
lizjane's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting, but long. I had no idea what had happened with the Knights Hospitallers on Malta in 1565, and now I have a kernel of a clue. A sometimes tedious novel; I found it rewarding but wouldn't recommend it to many.
kylielace's review against another edition
4.0
If my boyfriend never suggested it, I would probably never have read this book. I’m very glad he did because I enjoyed way more than I thought I would.
Historical fiction isn’t something I usually enjoy reading, but The Religion was good. Very gory, graphic, and gross. The descriptions about the siege of Malta sometimes were a bit drawn out and could have been shorter, but overall I enjoyed Willocks attention to detail.
I also really liked most of the characters. My favorite is Abbas; he’s not in a lot of the book, but when he is, it’s the best. I do feel the female characters could have been written better. Carla and Amparo upon first meeting were strong and independent, but when they meet Mattias both change and not for the better. They of course both instantly fall in love with him.
Speaking of, the sex scenes were done SO bad. I’ve read better fanfic smut. I laughed and rolled my eyes at each one.
Also I know the book is called The Religion, but all the religious talk was a bit boring.
Overall, I’m very glad I read this. I will be reading the sequel even though I don’t think it needs one.
3.5 stars rounded up
Historical fiction isn’t something I usually enjoy reading, but The Religion was good. Very gory, graphic, and gross. The descriptions about the siege of Malta sometimes were a bit drawn out and could have been shorter, but overall I enjoyed Willocks attention to detail.
I also really liked most of the characters. My favorite is Abbas; he’s not in a lot of the book, but when he is, it’s the best. I do feel the female characters could have been written better. Carla and Amparo upon first meeting were strong and independent, but when they meet Mattias both change and not for the better. They of course both instantly fall in love with him.
Speaking of, the sex scenes were done SO bad. I’ve read better fanfic smut. I laughed and rolled my eyes at each one.
Also I know the book is called The Religion, but all the religious talk was a bit boring.
Overall, I’m very glad I read this. I will be reading the sequel even though I don’t think it needs one.
3.5 stars rounded up