I think we need just a bit of swashbuckling historical fiction on our blog, so I'm going back in my archives to this past summer and a book I couldn't put down. A hefty treat for history lovers, The Religion is an epic account of the 1565 Turkish siege of Malta, stronghold of the Knights Hospitallers and a seething cauldron of fanaticism, faith and political intrigue. It introduces Saxon sword-for-hire Mattias Tannhauser, a former Janissary who has made a fortune in trade with his two partners, a Jewish merchant, and Bors, a seasoned Christian soldier. Mattias and Bors agree to accompany young widow Contessa Carla La Penautier to Malta to search for a 12-year-old son taken from her at birth, and they arrive just in time for the Turkish siege. Willocks writes riveting action sequences, explicit and disturbing battlefield scenes, and nearly assaults the reader with LOTS of sensory detail -- one review wrote, "[The Religion] is intermittently salacious, frequently overwrought, and utterly bloody-handed. It is, in short, a ripping good yarn." This one is expansive in scope, an addictive read, but not for the squeamish or prim. It is the first in a planned trilogy.
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