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By defining another person's religious stories and beliefs as mythology, one implies that they are less real or true than one's own religious stories and beliefs. Joseph Campbell remarked, "Mythology is often thought of as other people's religions, and religion can be defined as mis-interpreted mythology. In sociology, however, the term myth has a non-pejorative meaning. There, myth is defined as a story that is important for the group whether or not it is objectively or provably true. But from a mythological outlook, whether or not the event actually occurred is unimportant.

Instead, the symbolism of the death of an old life and the start of a new life is what is most significant. Religious believers may or may not accept such symbolic interpretations. Religions have sacred histories , narratives , and mythologies which may be preserved in sacred scriptures , and symbols and holy places , that aim to explain the meaning of life , the origin of life , or the Universe. The practices of a religion may include rituals , sermons , commemoration or veneration of a deity , gods , or goddesses , sacrifices , festivals , feasts , trances , initiations , funerary services , matrimonial services , meditation , prayer , religious music , religious art , sacred dance , public service , or other aspects of human culture.

Religions have a societal basis, either as a living tradition which is carried by lay participants, or with an organized clergy , and a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership. A number of disciplines study the phenomenon of religion: Pals mentions eight classical theories of religion, focusing on various aspects of religion: Evans-Pritchard , and Clifford Geertz. Michael Stausberg gives an overview of contemporary theories of religion, including cognitive and biological approaches. Sociological and anthropological theories of religion generally attempt to explain the origin and function of religion.

The origin of religion is uncertain. There are a number of theories regarding the subsequent origins of religious practices. According to anthropologists John Monaghan and Peter Just, "Many of the great world religions appear to have begun as revitalization movements of some sort, as the vision of a charismatic prophet fires the imaginations of people seeking a more comprehensive answer to their problems than they feel is provided by everyday beliefs.

Charismatic individuals have emerged at many times and places in the world. It seems that the key to long-term success — and many movements come and go with little long-term effect — has relatively little to do with the prophets, who appear with surprising regularity, but more to do with the development of a group of supporters who are able to institutionalize the movement.

The development of religion has taken different forms in different cultures. Some religions place an emphasis on belief, while others emphasize practice. Some religions focus on the subjective experience of the religious individual, while others consider the activities of the religious community to be most important. Some religions claim to be universal, believing their laws and cosmology to be binding for everyone, while others are intended to be practiced only by a closely defined or localized group. In many places religion has been associated with public institutions such as education , hospitals , the family , government , and political hierarchies.

Anthropologists John Monoghan and Peter Just state that, "it seems apparent that one thing religion or belief helps us do is deal with problems of human life that are significant, persistent, and intolerable. One important way in which religious beliefs accomplish this is by providing a set of ideas about how and why the world is put together that allows people to accommodate anxieties and deal with misfortune.

While religion is difficult to define, one standard model of religion, used in religious studies courses, was proposed by Clifford Geertz , who simply called it a "cultural system". One modern academic theory of religion, social constructionism , says that religion is a modern concept that suggests all spiritual practice and worship follows a model similar to the Abrahamic religions as an orientation system that helps to interpret reality and define human beings.

The social constructionists argue that religion is a modern concept that developed from Christianity and was then applied inappropriately to non-Western cultures. Cognitive science of religion is the study of religious thought and behavior from the perspective of the cognitive and evolutionary sciences. The field employs methods and theories from a very broad range of disciplines, including: Scholars in this field seek to explain how human minds acquire, generate, and transmit religious thoughts, practices, and schemas by means of ordinary cognitive capacities.

While this number varies across cultures, this had led to theories about a number of influential religious phenomenon and possible relation to psychotic disorders. A number of prophetic experiences are consistent with psychotic symptoms, although retrospective diagnoses are practically impossible. Religious content is also common in temporal lobe epilepsy , and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the world's religions.

In general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophical concerns of religion such as ethics , metaphysics , and the nature and form of salvation. Studying such material is meant to give one a richer and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred , numinous , spiritual and divine. In the field of comparative religion, a common geographical classification [95] of the main world religions includes Middle Eastern religions including Zoroastrianism and Iranian religions , Indian religions , East Asian religions , African religions, American religions, Oceanic religions, and classical Hellenistic religions.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the academic practice of comparative religion divided religious belief into philosophically defined categories called world religions. Some academics studying the subject have divided religions into three broad categories:. Some recent scholarship has argued that not all types of religion are necessarily separated by mutually exclusive philosophies, and furthermore that the utility of ascribing a practice to a certain philosophy, or even calling a given practice religious, rather than cultural, political, or social in nature, is limited.

Some scholars classify religions as either universal religions that seek worldwide acceptance and actively look for new converts, or ethnic religions that are identified with a particular ethnic group and do not seek converts. The five largest religious groups by world population, estimated to account for 5. Abrahamic religions are monotheistic religions which believe they descend from Abraham.

Judaism is the oldest Abrahamic religion, originating in the people of ancient Israel and Judea. The Torah is its foundational text, and is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. It is supplemented by oral tradition, set down in written form in later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization.

Within Judaism there are a variety of movements, most of which emerged from Rabbinic Judaism , which holds that God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah ; historically, this assertion was challenged by various groups. Today there are about 13 million Jews, about 40 per cent living in Israel and 40 per cent in the United States.

Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth 1st century as presented in the New Testament. Most Christians can describe their faith with the Nicene Creed. As the religion of Byzantine Empire in the first millennium and of Western Europe during the time of colonization, Christianity has been propagated throughout the world. The main divisions of Christianity are, according to the number of adherents:. Islam is based on the Quran , one of the holy books considered by Muslims to be revealed by God , and on the teachings hadith of the Islamic prophet Muhammad , a major political and religious figure of the 7th century CE.

Islam is based on the unity of all religious philosophies and accepts all of the Abrahamic prophets of Judaism, Christianity and other Abrahamic religions before Muhammad. Wahhabism is the dominant Muslim schools of thought in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Smaller regional Abrahamic groups also exist, including Samaritanism primarily in Israel and the West Bank , the Rastafari movement primarily in Jamaica , and Druze primarily in Syria and Lebanon.

Indian religions are practiced or were founded in the Indian subcontinent. They are sometimes classified as the dharmic religions , as they all feature dharma , the specific law of reality and duties expected according to the religion. Indigenous religions or folk religions refers to a broad category of traditional religions that can be characterised by shamanism , animism and ancestor worship , where traditional means "indigenous, that which is aboriginal or foundational, handed down from generation to generation…".

Folk religions are often omitted as a category in surveys even in countries where they are widely practiced, e. African traditional religion encompasses the traditional religious beliefs of people in Africa. Southern African traditions include Akamba mythology , Masai mythology , Malagasy mythology , San religion , Lozi mythology , Tumbuka mythology , and Zulu mythology.

Bantu mythology is found throughout central, southeast, and southern Africa. In north Africa, these traditions include Berber and ancient Egyptian. Iranian religions are ancient religions whose roots predate the Islamization of Greater Iran. Nowadays these religions are practiced only by minorities.

Zoroastrianism is based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster in the 6th century BCE. Zoroastrians worship the creator Ahura Mazda. In Zoroastrianism good and evil have distinct sources, with evil trying to destroy the creation of Mazda, and good trying to sustain it. Mandaeism is a monotheistic religion with a strongly dualistic worldview. Mandaeans are sometime labeled as the Last Gnostics. Kurdish religions include the traditional beliefs of the Yazidi , Alevi , and Ahl-e Haqq. Sociological classifications of religious movements suggest that within any given religious group, a community can resemble various types of structures, including churches , denominations , sects , cults , and institutions.

The study of law and religion is a relatively new field, with several thousand scholars involved in law schools, and academic departments including political science, religion, and history since Exponents look at canon law, natural law, and state law, often in a comparative perspective. Studies have focused on secularization. Science acknowledges reason , empiricism , and evidence ; and religions include revelation , faith and sacredness whilst also acknowledging philosophical and metaphysical explanations with regard to the study of the universe.

Both science and religion are not monolithic, timeless, or static because both are complex social and cultural endeavors that have changed through time across languages and cultures. The concepts of science and religion are a recent invention: In general the scientific method gains knowledge by testing hypotheses to develop theories through elucidation of facts or evaluation by experiments and thus only answers cosmological questions about the universe that can be observed and measured.

It develops theories of the world which best fit physically observed evidence. All scientific knowledge is subject to later refinement, or even rejection, in the face of additional evidence. Scientific theories that have an overwhelming preponderance of favorable evidence are often treated as de facto verities in general parlance, such as the theories of general relativity and natural selection to explain respectively the mechanisms of gravity and evolution. Religion does not have a method per se partly because religions emerge through time from diverse cultures and it is an attempt to find meaning in the world, and to explain humanity's place in it and relationship to it and to any posited entities.

In terms of Christian theology and ultimate truths, people rely on reason, experience, scripture, and tradition to test and gauge what they experience and what they should believe. Furthermore, religious models, understanding, and metaphors are also revisable, as are scientific models. Regarding religion and science, Albert Einstein states Religion, on the other hand, deals only with evaluations of human thought and action; it cannot justifiably speak of facts and relationships between facts…Now, even though the realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other, nevertheless there exist between the two strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies.

Though religion may be that which determine the goals, it has, nevertheless, learned from science, in the broadest sense, what means will contribute to the attainment of the goals it has set up. Many religions have value frameworks regarding personal behavior meant to guide adherents in determining between right and wrong. Religion and morality are not synonymous. While it is "an almost automatic assumption. The study of religion and morality can be contentious due to ethnocentric views on morality, failure to distinguish between in group and out group altruism, and inconsistent definitions of religiosity.

Religion has had a significant impact on the political system in many countries. Notably, most Muslim-majority countries adopt various aspects of sharia , the Islamic law. Some countries even define themselves in religious terms, such as The Islamic Republic of Iran. However, religion also affects political decisions in many western countries. For instance, same-sex marriage and abortion were illegal in many European countries until recently, following Christian usually Catholic doctrine.

Several European leaders are atheists e. In Asia, the role of religion differs widely between countries. For instance, India is still one of the most religious countries and religion still has a strong impact on politics, given that Hindu nationalists have been targeting minorities like the Muslims and the Christians, who historically belonged to the lower castes.

Secularization is the transformation of the politics of a society from close identification with a particular religion's values and institutions toward nonreligious values and secular institutions. The purpose of this is frequently modernization or protection of the populations religious diversity. One study has found there is a negative correlation between self-defined religiosity and the wealth of nations. Sociologist and political economist Max Weber has argued that Protestant Christian countries are wealthier because of their Protestant work ethic.

According to the same study it was found that adherents under the classification Irreligion or other religions hold about Mayo Clinic researchers examined the association between religious involvement and spirituality, and physical health, mental health, health-related quality of life, and other health outcomes. The authors reported that: The authors of a subsequent study concluded that the influence of religion on health is largely beneficial, based on a review of related literature. Jones, several studies have discovered "positive correlations between religious belief and practice and mental and physical health and longevity.

Critics like Hector Avalos [] Regina Schwartz , [] Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins have argued that religions are inherently violent and harmful to society by using violence to promote their goals, in ways that are endorsed and exploited by their leaders. Anthropologist Jack David Eller asserts that religion is not inherently violent, arguing "religion and violence are clearly compatible, but they are not identical. Done by some but not all religions, animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of an animal to appease or maintain favour with a deity.

It has been banned in India. Greek and Roman pagans, who saw their relations with the gods in political and social terms, scorned the man who constantly trembled with fear at the thought of the gods deisidaimonia , as a slave might fear a cruel and capricious master. The Romans called such fear of the gods superstitio. Superstition has been described as the non rational establishment of cause and effect.

Some religions may include superstitions or make use of magical thinking. Adherents of one religion sometimes think of other religions as superstition. The Roman Catholic Church considers superstition to be sinful in the sense that it denotes a lack of trust in the divine providence of God and, as such, is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that superstition "in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion" para. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition.

The terms atheist lack of belief in any gods and agnostic belief in the unknowability of the existence of gods , though specifically contrary to theistic e. Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious teachings, do not by definition mean the opposite of religious. There are religions including Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism , in fact, that classify some of their followers as agnostic, atheistic, or nontheistic. The true opposite of religious is the word irreligious. Irreligion describes an absence of any religion; antireligion describes an active opposition or aversion toward religions in general.

Because religion continues to be recognized in Western thought as a universal impulse [ citation needed ] , many religious practitioners [ who? The first major dialogue was the Parliament of the World's Religions at the Chicago World's Fair , which affirmed universal values and recognition of the diversity of practices among different cultures. The 20th century has been especially fruitful in use of interfaith dialogue as a means of solving ethnic, political, or even religious conflict, with Christian—Jewish reconciliation representing a complete reverse in the attitudes of many Christian communities towards Jews.

Culture and religion have usually been seen as closely related.

The Religion

Paul Tillich looked at religion as the soul of culture and culture as the form or framework of religion. Religion as ultimate concern is the meaning-giving substance of culture, and culture is the totality of forms in which the basic concern of religion expresses itself. Such a consideration definitely prevents the establishment of a dualism of religion and culture.

Every religious act, not only in organized religion, but also in the most intimate movement of the soul, is culturally formed. Ernst Troeltsch , similarly, looked at culture as the soil of religion and thought that, therefore, transplanting a religion from its original culture to a foreign culture would actually kill it in the same manner that transplanting a plant from its natural soil to an alien soil would kill it.

For instance, language with its grammar is a cultural element while sacralization of language in which a particular religious scripture is written is more often a religious practice. The same applies to music and the arts. Criticism of religion is criticism of the ideas, the truth, or the practice of religion, including its political and social implications. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Baha'i One of the youngest of the world's major religions. Buddhism A way of living based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama.

Christianity The world's biggest faith, based on the teaching of Jesus Christ. Hinduism A group of faiths rooted in the religious ideas of India. Islam Revealed in its final form by the Prophet Muhammad. Jainism An ancient philosophy and ethical teaching that originated in India. Jehovah's Witnesses A Christian-based evangelistic religious movement. Judaism Based around the Jewish people's covenant relationship with God. Obviously, for me, only one of these was ever going to be attainable.

And it wasn't the Aston Martin Vantage. It was, of course, a lengthy book with pace and quality f There are a lot of rare things in this world that I would like to get my hands on. It was, of course, a lengthy book with pace and quality finish to end. Often whispered about, never actually seen. I have tried one or two, been tempted by a promise of cover to cover bounty many times.

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion (Official Music Video)

Was once wrongly directed down the Count of Monte Cristo path. A book that I felt suffered from much the same problem as many lengthy books. Too much waffle and could benefit from being a couple hundred pages shorter. Okay, so editors were less keen on cutting back then, but they should not be too scared of it now. And yet they seem to be. I will concede that The Religion could have been shorter. But a few too many pages was kind of a small price to pay for a book that did not run out of prose in the first few chapters.

On and on and on. Beefed up with excellent landscape and character creation, anchored by vivid portals into extraordinary battle scenes. I could not put it down. It was a gem as rare as any pink diamond, with as much pace at times as any V12 Aston Martin. As tight at the top as at the waist as at the back, as any Gaultier corset and with more movement than any Burberry trench. It was quite a find. A rare find that you will notice from the outset.

With passages that wash across the page in fresh, vernal literary splashes. Spring AD The yard was empty. The heavens at the rimrock's edge were reefed in vermilion cloud. From the village pillars of smoke quavered skyward and with them cries of anguish and crackles of flame. He walked across the cobbles, sick with fear. Fear of whatever vileness afflicted his mother. Of the knowledge that he couldn't save her. Of the darkness that had housed itself inside his spirit. Yet the darkness spoke with a feral power that brooked no refusal nor hesitation. Plunge in, the darkness said.

Mattias turned and looked back at the forge Like the blade in the quench. The tautness of a well trained writer carving his skill in inked words. His chest was tight, his gorge scorched.

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He felt nauseous and weak. He was too far forward. The horde shouldered each other in their frenzy to get through the choke point, their weapons constricted, one shield obstructing another. Swallow the scalding bile. Kill him, kill them, kill them all. A blow glanced off his helm and hammered into his pauldron. Spike him in the privities, stab him in the neck.

The fellow fought on from his knees, blinded by the fountain from his arteries, still scrabbling with his blade for the joints in Tannhauser's plate. Tannhauser drove the finial through his temple and stepped back. Keep them at bay. He threw an upward swordcut to the thighs and backstroke to the guts and a thrust to the chest, in deep and twist.

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Don't look in his eyes. And breathe, you fool, keep the knees loose, ignore the battle cries. But I think I have shown you enough. Don't be dissuaded from trying this for fear it is too masculine. It is masculine, without a doubt, but there is beauty too. Beauty of the heart and of the lovelorn. The author has not forgotten you. You, the reader of the heart. While I did not think there was much romance in this book, it is there.

A tugging undertow that a reader like me - who does not read with the heart but reads with the mind - can easily ignore. I hardly even noticed the female characters most of the time. They did not take up much room in my mental landscape. To me the book is perfect. Fast paced from start to finish. The story, however, had some personal taste flaws. They are not going to be flaws for everyone.

Some of what I call a flaw, will be the things you will most likely value about the story. It was, ahem, the sex. Some may say it had to be there as sex is a natural part of life. In part this is true although many live without sex in their lives and I would never claim their lives to be unnaturally led , but the sex in this book is quite often odd. Forced into the story. There isn't a lot of it and if you blink - or skim read - you may even miss it. When it does come no pun intended it is oddly placed, like an afterthought, or to please the authors own building sexual tension.

If an author wants sex in a book it needs to feel naturally placed. Not just plopped down because the author was randy or the editor told him it needed more sex.

The Religion (Tannhauser, #1) by Tim Willocks

It was a great ride while it lasted the book, not the sex and I was disappointed it came to an end. My forlorn need not last forever though, for there is a book to follow it called Twelve Children of Paris. I have bought it already and cannot wait to read it. With any luck, it will be as well done as this rare gem, The Religion. As this kind of writing skill is not something an author loses down a bottle of whiskey while he tries to outdrink his writer's block. No, he clearly has command of his writing talent. The only place I feel he can fall down will be story. Lets hope he gets that right again too.

Due to the odd sex. View all 7 comments. Svakako zavirite i u Mamanin prikaz Skoro pa trojka. View all 4 comments. Dec 23, eric rated it it was ok. I was really disappointed with this book. It's essentially a Harlequin romance with a heavy dose of graphic violence. Willocks is clearly a very bright man, but his writing is schmaltzy, to say the least. Try this on for size: She felt inadequate to the compliment and to acknowledge it seemed improper. A sense of sin clenched inside her.

Such fears and doubts had hedged her life for as long as she could remember. Yet in the I was really disappointed with this book. Yet in these few moments he'd blown through all that dust like a wind throught a long unopened room. She said, "Do you believe in magic? The protagonist, Tannhauser, is a battled-scarred, highly skilled warrior who has sworn off violence until his friends and a damsel are threatened. Yet there is darkness and emotional vulnerability lurking just underneath his hard appearancee.

How many times have we seen this? If you really like mawkish romance and violence, then you'll likely enjoy this book. Otherwise, I'd suggest reading something else. View all 5 comments. Jul 11, John Wiltshire rated it it was amazing. I came to this novel from the author's outstanding work Green River Rising , which is one of the most memorable books I've ever read.


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Haunting hardly captures the effect it had on me. So when I read that this was a book about the Knights of St John defending Malta by the same author who wrote such a powerful novel about a contemporary prison riot I was intrigued. And how timely, a novel about the defence of European civilization. Yes, this is the s, but times, apparently, don't change all tha I came to this novel from the author's outstanding work Green River Rising , which is one of the most memorable books I've ever read.

Yes, this is the s, but times, apparently, don't change all that much. Some of it is superb, but it's extremely verbose and overblown as well. Bodices and swooning and golden stallions and crimson dresses and beryl eyes and Game of Thrones on steroids, and that's pretty exhausting to read at times. But for all that I'm quite caught up in the tale and will persevere. I'll update when done. A whole heartbreaking chapter about the slaughter of the dogs on Malta before the siege. The Head of the Order of St John determined that the barbarians would not reduce them to eating dogs and rats, and so to prevent this he calls for a total cull of dogs on the island.

His own beloved hunting dogs killed by his own hand first. It's almost too painful to read, but such powerful writing too. I am seriously caught up in this story now, possibly real life mirroring fiction mirroring real life a little too much for comfort though. The brave Christian defenders of the tiny army are facing overwhelming odds My mother lived in Malta as a child; my father was stationed there for many years, and I went there in my early 20s, so I have extremely fond feelings for the island. I haven't read anything that has stirred my blood like this book has for quite a long time.

I've never read such accurate, honest, brutal descriptions of war in any other novels, and I've made a bit of a study of military books. Brutality, yes, beyond comprehension, but where this book is so astounding is the way the author also captures the transcendent bravery, the heroism, the glory of it all that has drawn men to war in every age. And to their religions, come to that. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who watched the Lord of the Rings movies or read the books and really only enjoyed the epic battles such as at Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith and wished those scenes could have gone on for longer.

This novel is thousands of pages of a siege that makes Helm's Deep read like a walk in the park. Sure, there are quieter moments with some women doing boring things with musical instruments and dresses, but if you skim those pages the Knights of St John will steal your heart or make you wish you'd never left the army and could rejoin. I'll update when fully done.

Finished, and very glad I read this amazing novel. From the sublime to the ridiculous. But I figure the sublime earns four stars, without taint from ridiculous content.

Ordure, ordure

You don't get sublime often, do you? Has a big dose of swashbuckler. He goes for broke on the writing. How else to paint for us mad hell on earth, as is his intention, other than by his wild similes? Like this, like that — as he stretches for a phantasmagorical similar. This novel, yes, has a stab at tackling religious war, I came to feel, as we saw sides and further sides to the subject. Then there are the bad bits. Badder than I can politely say is the romance.

Think of the worst of romances. With the indulgent fantasy of a guy. And hopelessly, hopelessly sexist. The other woman, Amparo, seemed unusual at first — until she hooked up with Mattias, then she sank without a trace for the rest of the book. We have a sublime scene on the horror and the pity of war. Next we have a scene torn from a trashy romance. I felt like the Moslems they hanged one a day, dropped from the castle walls.

I am torn between giving four stars and five. The language and vocabulary are exquisite. It is only the incessant warring that makes one weary in the reading. The slaying and butchery would have been more striking had it not gone on and on and on and on. The book relates the true tale of how the island of Malta the stronghold of the Christian Knights who call themselves "The Religion" was besieged by the Ottoman hordes.

The fictitious tale that runs parallel with this battle is about a man, Mat I am torn between giving four stars and five. The fictitious tale that runs parallel with this battle is about a man, Mattias Tannhauser, who has agreed to help Contessa Carla La Penautier to find her long lost bastard son. He sailed with her from Sicily to Malta at the time of war in search of the son. There is great adventure and a lot of thrills. Tim Willocks has done impeccable research and relates the story with great authority.

Tim Willocks shows us the madness of religion to incite war, where each of the two sides believe they are the hand of God and the enemy is of Satan. It is conducive to critical thought. Jan 28, Jane rated it liked it Shelves: This was most interesting as to the time period -- 16th century -- Knights of St.

Enter our protagonist, Mattias Tannhauser, the larger-than-life picaresque hero and soldier-of-fortune. As a former Janissary, Tannhauser can inflitrate the Turkish camp as necessary. The battle scenes were very good; however they were much too graphic in places -- too much mention of body parts and b This was most interesting as to the time period -- 16th century -- Knights of St.

The battle scenes were very good; however they were much too graphic in places -- too much mention of body parts and bodily functions. I learned much of the Janissaries and their way of life. I was glad to see that not every Turk was presented as a villain. The conclusion of the book was most satisfying. This is the first novel of a projected trilogy on Tannhauser. I feel that any sequels will be anticlimactic and unnecessary.


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