Book Review: The Religion - A Swashbuckling Epic Set Adventure!

The Religion (2007) by Tim Willocks is a swashbuckling epic set adventure that plunges readers into another world and time, a compelling tale of romance, courage and religious conflict on the island of Malta during the 16^th century. The epic story details the medieval exploits of Capt. Matthias Tannhauser, a Saxon soldier of fortune with carnal appetite and a droll irreverence, and his unlikely journey to help French countess Carla La Penautier rescue her illegitimate son now trapped in a fundamentalist bloodbath between Christian and Muslim on Malta, an island under one of the most bloody and spectacular sieges in military history.

 Mattias, Carla and their companions must not only confront the invading Ottoman empire but a rogue Roman Inquisitor who happens to be the father of Carla’s lost child. Mattias and Carla do not even know the name of the boy, taken from her at his birth twelve years ago.

 The Religion is an epic novel and the first book in an epic trilogy. It is like a panel in a Renaissance triptych and is a vivid depiction of a world on the cusp of modernity. But like all great tales the characters are richly drawn, even flawed, and this imparts a gripping quality to the epic that even transcends the plot.

by Peter Chritchley, Reference Librarian at the Vernon Branch