Ironfire

Ball's historical saga is set in the 1500s during the last Crusade. After Muslim pirates carry off a Maltese youth, his sister and he begin perilous adventures, the one a helpless maiden in Christendom, the other a slave among the Ottomans. The adventure, danger, and scrupulously researched period minutiae are served up by the ever-reliable George Guidall. His occasional spurts of brilliance are missing here, for he relies throughout on his overflowing bag of tricks. But like fine, old brandy served at peak maturity, he goes down smoothly, providing ample savories and leaving behind a pleasant buzz. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

November 24, 2003
The Ottoman Empire's vicious 1565 assault on the island fortresses of Malta, and the vigorous defense of the island by the Knights of St. John, a military religious order dedicated to preserving Christendom from the Muslims, serves as the backdrop for Ball's second historical epic (his first novel, Empires of Sand,
chronicled France's efforts to expand its North African empire in the 1870s). Amid bloody land and sea battles, four protagonists struggle to survive in a world of disease, brutality and religious persecution. Nico, a young Maltese boy, is captured by Algerian corsairs in a pirate raid and taken to North Africa, where he serves as a slave to a shipbuilder. To save his life, he converts to Islam and becomes captain of one of the sultan's war galleys. Maria, Nico's sister, vows to find and rescue her brother, but priests, knights and her own desire for revenge thwart her plans. Christien Luc de Vries is an unwilling Knight of St. John who prefers studying medicine and surgery to butchering Muslims. Father Giulio Salvago is an Inquisitor determined to stamp out heresy through torture and fear, but whose own guilt over past sins torments him. All four characters confront lies, broken vows and unexpected twists in their efforts to vanquish their enemies and save themselves during the massive Turkish siege of Malta. Ball's bold, gruesome descriptions convincingly evoke the savagery of this 16th-century religious war and the treachery and zealotry of Muslim and Christian authorities alike.