Book Review: The Religion by Tim Willocks

The Religion, by author Tim Willocks, is set upon the island of Malta in 1565 and follows the exploits of Mathias Tannhauser, an adventurer and mercenary who embarks on a mission to locate a Maltese Noblewoman's estranged son. This quest is set during the time and true events of the great siege of Malta, which pitched the Knight's Hospitaller and people of Malta against the combined forces of the Ottoman Empire and its allies, one of the last great crusader battles.

The Religion is an extremely well-researched and equally well-written novel but whilst large parts of the book are devoted to battle scenes, the prose does not adopt a descriptive, repetitive or hackneyed style; in fact the descriptions of combat are brutal, gory, poetic and written in a gripping style full of suspense with larger than life heroes and villains as the combatants.

Book Review: The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

It is interesting to note that Victor Hugo never wrote a novel called "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", this is an English translation of the original title which would better be named "Notre Dame of Paris". This title far better introduces the reader to the content of the book which focuses on a narrative around the cathedral rather than Quasimodo, the hunchback; in essence the book is driven by the location, not by the characters.

This, then, highlights the main drawback, for me, of this famous work of fiction, in that it dwells far too long upon creating the atmosphere of the cathedral and its surroundings in neglect of the plot of the book. It will have been said that this is a masterpiece of literature in the way it paints a portrait of life in this part of Paris at that point in its history but in my opinion the author takes far, far too long to get to the point and becomes very boring, a chore to read rather than a pleasure, a literary battle to even get to the point at which the Hunchback is introduced.

Book Review: Married Lovers by Jackie Collins

Cameron Paradise escapes a violent marriage, but not a cliched name, and heads to Los Angeles where she finds a job in an exclusive fitness club and rubs shoulders with rich, powerful and attractive people. Falling for a rich, married movie mogul there ensues lust, sex and adultery leading to murder.

As with all of Jackie Collins's books one should not expect the literary style of the classics but she makes up for this with a high level of readability, and Married Lovers turns out to be something of a page-turner, perhaps not of plot-driven enthusiasm but for pages packed with smut. In fact it is well known that this author prides herself in giving her readers huge mounds of sex with knobs on, and whilst the story is rather predictable and not particularly memorable, she certainly provides well for her fan base.

Book Review: The Great Gatzby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is widely recognized as one the of the finest pieces of American literature. It is a narrative about high-living people in the "Roaring Twenties" and in particular it is the tale of a rich man, Jay Gatsby, obsessed with another man's wife and his pursuit of her just because he is able to and has more money than he knows what to do with.

The way this novel is written is similar to "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad in that it is one man's narrative about another man, one who is mysterious and draws others towards him and one who has a rather dark aspect to his personality. Gatsby and all the other characters are rather wasteful, idle people who continually gather for meaningless parties and other social meetings, none of whom, it turns out, are real friends.