The Religion

A Novel

By: Tim Willocks

Narrated by: Simon Vance

May 1565. Suleiman the Magnificent, emperor of the Ottomans, has declared a jihad against the Knights of Saint John the Baptist. The largest armada of all time approaches the Knights' Christian stronghold on the island of Malta. The Turks know the Knights as the "The Hounds of Hell." The Knights call themselves "The Religion."

In Messina, Sicily, a French countess, Carla la Penautier, seeks a passage to Malta in a quest to find the son taken from her at his birth twelve years ago. The only man with the expertise and daring to help her is a Rabelaisian soldier of fortune, arms dealer, former janissary, and strapping Saxon adventurer by the name of Mattias Tannhauser. He agrees to accompany the lady to Malta, where, amidst the most spectacular siege in military history, they must try to find the boy— whose name they do not know and whose face they have never seen—and pluck him from the jaws of Holy War.

The Religion is Book One of The Tannhauser Triology, and from the start of epic account of the last great medieval conflict between East and West, it is clear we are in the hands of a master. Not since James Clavell has a novelist so powerfully and assuredly plunged listeners headlong into another place and time. Anne Rice transformed the vampire novel. Stephen King reinvented horror. Now, in a spectacular tale of heroism, tragedy, and passion, Tim Willocks revivifies historical fiction.

©2006 Tim Willocks (P)2006 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC

Critic reviews

“The ideal man to do justice to the conflict...gripping...a classic of its kind.” —The Mail on Sunday

"A novel of high adventure, blood, guts and romantic love...as master craftsman, [Willocks] tells his story with extraordinary pace.” —Literary Review

“An epic in which we can see the seeds of our all our modern woes.” —The Times (of London)

Boring

This book starts out pretty well - action filled first scene. Then there's about an hour of waiting for something to happen. Another scene. More waiting. I stopped before I got through the first third.

incredible

Tim Willocks is exquisite in his style and prose. This is a story of love, bravery, and beauty juxtaposed against a backdrop of the unimaginable horrors of midevil war.

The reader is more a performer than a narrator and is exceptional.

Painfully Ignorant of Islam

With all the research that went into this book, one would think the author could at least try to get the Islam and the Arabic right. Otherwise, a very engaging read. I purchased the book in hard copy.

Rich Tapestry

Rich tapestry is a much used phrase, maybe overused; however The Religion is definitely a rich tapestry. The characters are alive. I cared about them. They wove themselves and their situations into my waking hours -- and some of my dreams. Vivid! Alive! The story was whole, a tale, a spoken ballad to be sung again and again. Unlike many books who tell a story to get to the end - the climax; this book lives, has a past, present, and future. It allows for a full range of emotions to be experienced and treasured. Thank you, Tim.

Your vote appreciated

This is one of the most descriptive books I have purchased. Tim Willocks is a master of language, and the artful way he draws you in to the story. For myself, there was to much description of sex, and its frequency. I wish we had been allowed more imagination on our parts. The narrator is outstanding. He delivers, with his tone and timbre an excellent voice to the characters, better than I could have imagined myself.
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The Religion

It is interesting to read individual perspectives on books. This is book where one of its themes is concerning two religious groups who were at war with each other. Some folks just do not want to understand that when you have one group trying to wipe another group of people off the face of the earth, violence will be front and center. This is a long book, but it really gives the writer an opportunity to develop the characters, setting, plot and the themes beyond war that are occuring in their lives; particularly that of the main character. This is not about about a war; this is a book about a man who was snared between two cultures and peoples, who was trained as a warrior in a time period of incredible transition for a huge segment of the European and Ottaman population. This is a book about this one man's life and his trainsitions. A good solid read.

Couldn't finish

I wanted to like this. It might actually turn out great but I quit in the first downloaded section when they started killing off the dogs on Malta-it was graphic. (I am really crazy about my dogs!) Unlike some reviewers, I found the character development adequate to identify with them (as far as I listened to). But as someone else stated, the author does use 3 words when one would do. I would advise any listener to be warned that many scenes are extremely graphic and not for the faint of heart.

not for the squeamish

I love historical fiction and I found this to be artfully written, brilliantly performed and extremely entertaining. It is quite violent and certainly not for the faint of heart. Warning: it's the first book of a trilogy and I have not been able to locate the second book on audio and the third book is supposedly being written now (2015).

Unbelievable!!

I've listen to the story three times over the last several years. The characters are so awesome and Simon Vance is the best narrator ever!

enthralling history, lyrical prose

the majesty of the conflict between faiths is ably and lyrically presented in love, in hate, in bloody conflict. historically accurate, this book explores the heights and depths of human experience of faith, war, love and despair.