The Religion is the nickname for The Knights of St. John the Baptist, a religious order too independent and wealthy to suit the Pope and certain factions within the church of Rome. These factions in the Church would be willing to lose Malta to the Turks if it would bring the Knights of St. John the Baptist under their control. The spectacularly outnumbered knights and townspeople of Malta defend their island against the largest armada of all time until the Church is shamed into sending reinforcements months later than they had promised.

A romance is woven around this historical event that brings the protaganists into the heart of the siege. The main character, Mattias Tannhauser, goes to Malta with the intention of finding a boy for a noblewoman who has commissioned and accompanies him. Then he intends to get safely back to Sicily within a few days, before the hostilities even begin. Instead, he gets caught up in the siege and makes repeated attempts to secretly get away with the ones he loves and hopes to protect.

I found the characters a little too stereotypical: the swashbuckling, invincible hero with a tragic past; the comical best-friend, the beautiful, mysterious heroine with a tragic past who feels an immediate sexual attraction to the hero but must repress it through the rest of the book. If there is a villain, it would be the evil inquisitor but even he has a core of nobility.

The repetitive descriptions of battle scenes--exploding heads, erupting bowels, severed limbs, vomit, filth, putrescence, gobs of gore, blood soaked ground, etc.--loses its impact after the first few times.

The repetitious descriptions detract more than enhance the horror of the battlefield and with constant repeating become fatuous. Perhaps that was the author's intent. Aside from the brutality and gore-laden horror, the author makes another point about war through his character Tannhauser: "Sultan,Vatican, Religion, Islam or Rome. All these cults sought only power and the submission of peoples...La Vallette, Ludovico, the Pope, Mustafa, Suleiman-what scum they were, one and all. Swathed in pomp and orchestrating carnage to coddle their unreckonable vanity."

Because of the repetetive battle descriptions and the equally repetitive, but less likely scenes of lust remeniscent of the cliché soft porn of womens' romance, this is a trying read. For information about the seige of Malta, even Wikipedia is an adequate source.

The book's merit lies in its consistent theme that the "good" guys and "bad" guys do not lie on either side of the fighting forces, but within the power structures of both. ( )

This story line unfolds within the setting of the 16th century Turkish seige of Malta. I normally enjoy this type of book but I struggled a bit to get through this one. After 600 pages of continuous battle, the descriptions of horror and gore became tedious to me. Although this author has a beautiful way with words, there are still only so many ways you can describe a soldiers guts being blown from his body. In between the war scenes, there were sex scenes and I began to feel the same way about them as I did about the war scenes.(Not a good sign I think). Aside from the war itself, I thought the story line was a bit slow. In my opinion, this author is a beautiful writer, but perhaps not a great story teller and although I appreciate both talents, I found the exquisite writing did not compensate for the lack of story development in this novel. I certainly don't regret investing my time in this book but I am also quiet happy to move on from it. ( )

The title is a nickname given to the Knights of St.John, in this account, they fought alongside The Templar Knights at the battle of Malta. Vastly outnumbered by the Muslim warriors, they won, but the important thing was the knowledge that they were misled by their leaders to think their enemies were godless heathens when in fact they were seriously religious people that were only following orders, if you ever wanted a serious insight into the people that our leaders say are our enemies, then this is your chance to learn.

Brimming with action, adventure, history and passion “The Religion” by Tim Willocks is an excellent example of a fine story done in by Hollywood scriptwriting. With the kernel of a great adventure about the life of a Saxon boy taken into the Turkish Janissaries now all grown up and having to fight those same Turks during the siege of Malta one would think that Mr. Willocks had struck historical fiction gold. However, the novel is filled with an overabundance of Hollywood histrionics and self-indulgent pathos. Sadly, underneath all this extemporaneous effluence, is an excellent story desperately trying to surface. That the novel lacks a historical notation from the author was also disappointing. ( )

Gah. How can you tell that someone has well cut ankles under a dress? How you can tell that their irises have a slender ring of black around them from several yards? How can you read past experiences and current thoughts from someone's facial expressions having never met them before? Why is this book populated by automatons who only behave as the plot dictates they should? How can anyone enjoy 700 pages of this overwrought prose and cliched nonsense? ( )

This was a fantastic journey. The experience reminded me so much of the count of Monte Cristo. ( )

I was reluctant to pick this up from the library because it was so long but now that I'm finished I'm really glad I did. It's turned out to be one of my favorite historical novels. 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.

While searching for the book to review I saw the word "trilogy" attached to it and I couldn't have been happier. ( )

Take the Iliad, add some Conan and move the setting to the 16th century Turkish siege of Malta and you maybe have something of the flavour of this book. Tannhauser is an over the top hero, combining bravery with loyalty, shaky morals, love of money and beautiful women.
Like his "Green River Rising" this is another unforgettable book (film script?). ( )

A long novel, more than 600 pages, about the Turkish siege of Malta in 1565. The hero, Mattias Tannhauser, is somewhat improbable; in the prologue he is enlisted as a Janissari after the murder of his family, is somehow discharged early, sets up a trading house with a Jew and an Englishman, and spent time with a Galileo-like wise man in Italy, so is also educated and a philosopher. He is enlisted to find the son of a sexy noblewoman, whose companion is also sexy, and links up with him for some graphic sex scenes. There are, also, multiple battles, richly described, richly described details of the Ottoman army and the siege, and a complex plot, including an evil monk, in love as well with Carla, the noblewoman, and finally a happy ending. I found it a little tedious, but finished it with some enjoyment. ( )

THOROUGHLY enjoyed The Religion: I enjoyed everything about it from the delicate cover drawing to the plot, and I particularly enjoyed being introduced to an episode in history I had never encountered before. The book is far from perfect, but nothing is except for God's love. However, for many reviewers, The Religion is little short of the literary equivalent of mortal sin.

English journalists bombarded this novel with so much ridicule and criticism I was forced to reconsider my initial reaction to this tale of the siege of Malta, in which a few thousand Christians held out against the mighty forces of the Ottoman Empire.

Tim Willocks, a doctor who had an unexpected hit with his first novel Green River, worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood for years, and critics have derided The Religion as being the stuff of which action-packed blockbusters are made.

The story of unscrupulous hero Tannhauser; the beautiful and disgraced noblewoman Carla; and fanatical, haunted Inquisitor Ludovico is a tad formulaic and plot-driven the only Booker Prize nomination it is likely to receive is for the list of the Ten Books Least Likely to be Nominated.

The descriptions of Rome, the Papacy and even the Catholic Church are as colourful and sordidly scandalous as anything Hollywood could devise — and as unlikely and unconvincing.

“In a city that could not boast a single great guild or profession … the only industry that flourished was prostitution, and with it the French disease and anal warts, and every doe-eyed girl, every smooth-skinned boy, seemed destined for a semen-soaked mattress." And that's one of the more sedate descriptions: even Fellini might blanch and concede that Willocks had gone too far. But what the hell, it’s great entertainment!

Soldier of fortune Tannhauser accompanies the widowed Lady Carla to Malta on the eve of its invasion by the might of Islam. His mission: to help her find her illegitimate son who was snatched from her at birth. His reward: her hand in marriage and his immediate ascension to the ranks of the nobility.

The Knights of St John, rulers of the island, accept Carla's unwelcome presence only because she is accompanied by Tannhauser, who is not only a renowned warrior but also has the unique advantage of knowing the foe, since for many years he was a Janissary.

Although born a Christian, when only 12 he saw the murder of his sister and mother by Ottoman mercenaries before he was rescued by a Turkish nobleman. Tannhauser converted to Islam and, when old enough, joined the ranks of the Janissaries, a ferocious regiment of non-Turkish Muslim converts, renowned for their courage and savagery.

Carla is unable to find her son, and they are trapped on Malta when the forces of Suleiman attack. What followed was unpleasant and Willocks spares no pains in bringing the scenes to vivid life.

Battles, deployments, fortifications, armaments, weapons of all descriptions, are described in tedious detail: but that is the dry stuff of history books. Willocks lends immediacy to the scene with his sensational accounts of sounds, sights and smells.

It seems that fighting is not only fatal, but excessively faecal, and that many movements are not merely of the military kind.

“The prelude to all battles included … a mighty swill of faeces, and faeces of a uniquely malodorous character at that." The book runs with descriptions and synonyms for “number two” and all the other fluids and gore exuded by the human body.

Willocks has been accused not only of being scatologically obsessed but also of bigotry, sexism and racism, but the novel is presented largely from the point of view of 16th-century white males, and any hint of today's political correctness would surely be anachronistic?

The known world witnessed a clash between Muslim and Christian 500 years ago, just as it is — superficially — today.

The Religion reminds us that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The Christian soldiers in the book, the Knights of St John, are deeply religious holy men: the Muslims are cultured, civilised and courteous, fond of bright colours, soft silks, and the finer things in life.

The conflict may have remained the same, but the form has changed beyond recognition, and it is likely that those 16th-century knights would feel more kinship with the dedicated and ascetic Muslim fundamentalists of the 21st century than with the nominally Christian west.

The Religion is well worth reading: the characters may contain a whiff of cardboard; and the heroism and high jinks might be Hollywoodesque and a big screen extravaganza-in-waiting, but it is nonetheless an epic and exuberant tale.

And thoroughly enjoyable. ( )

A promising start to a possible trilogy... An interesting story of the stand of the Hospitallers at Malta. ( )

Fantastic! If Willocks's other books are as good as The Religion ... ( )