My two last reads
Relics by Pip Vaughan-Hughes
Both these novels epitomise the type of book I enjoy reading for pleasure: richly-detailed, literary historic fiction - particularly those with a medieval setting. 'Relics'
has a broad canvas, beginning in Devon and concluding in Greece, but it has the feel of a small book; the geographic setting is largely incidental to the characters' progression. At the centre of the book's clutch of well-realised misfits and rogues is Petroc, a monk whose life is upturned by a fateful encounter with Sir Hugh de Kervezey - a Templar and villain in the classic mould. The plot revolves around the latter's pursuit of the former, and the hunt for a unique and priceless relic. Descriptions of the English countryside, and of medieval life, are richly evocative. Yet while the narrative is pacy and varied, there is a certain flatness and lack of spirit at the novel's core.
The Religion by Tim Willocks
'The Religion'
however is almost too spirited; the book starts at hysteria level and gets more fevered throughout. Again, the novel is based around a small core of characters but, unlike 'Relics' this book has an epic sweep. It charts the siege of Malta by Ottoman Turks in 1565, when the defending Hospitaller Knights were outnumbered ten to one. Tannhauser is a freebooter who becomes embroiled in this 'Maltese Iliad'; his upbringing (born a Christian but raised as a Muslim) means that he can move between both armies with relative ease - a nice conceit that provides a window into two contrasting worldviews. The novel is extremely well written, in an almost antiquated prose style, and pulls no punches in describing the brutality and privations of medieval warfare. So full of gore and and apocalyptic imagery is it that the book often reads like a literary Warhammer novel. Frequently these war-ravaged descriptions verge on the poetic: 'turbid drifts of powder smoke roiled the contested brim'. I must admit that I was gripped throughout. The characters are essentially caricatures, yet they are so completely realised that it is impossible not to admire their resolve amongst the blood and carnage. And the book is underpinned by a great plot arc that maintains momentum til the last page. Get hold of a copy and savour its dark delights.
Posted by monoman at 04:29 PM on October 22, 2006
