Customer Reviews

Sword and the Scimitar

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is really one of the best books I ever read. Ball has succeeded in mixing the themes together brilliantly: romance and gallantry.

He captures the lives of the Maltese, Gozitans, Turks and the Knights magnificently. The people who we read about in history books, beginning from the Sultan and La Vallette and ending with the peasants, are now real.

Ball explores the different cultures and the different lives which the people lead. This makes up more than half of the book. The rest describes the Great Seige of 1565 where the futures of the large powers lay in the hands of the tiny Maltese Islands.

I recommend this book to everyone: those who like historical fiction and not, those who like to read about wars which changed the world and those who like a romantic story. Really, this fascinating read has everything a reader could wish for.

The same novel by the same author was also titled under the novel name of "Ironfire."

If you like:

the Mediterranean history, the Crusades, the Ottomans & Bernard Cornwell, then surely you will enjoy this book.

It is a story of 3 main protagonists: Nico Borg, Maria Borg & Christien deVries with a background of historical places in the Mediterranea, mainly in Malta. Circling around the romances and conflicts between these protagonists and between the Church and Islam, the author deftly manipulates the plot in a way one cannot put down the book.

The main plot evolved around the Crusaders, i.e., the Hospitalers, last stronghold in Malta with its arch-nemesis Ottoman empire in the East, i.e., in Turkey, to be precise. During the last few decades of the Crusade spirit, the last bastion of the Roman Catholic empire was challenged by the Ottomans. In the tick of this intrigued, Nicolo Borg was stuck between his European decendant-Christian belief and his newly found future in the Ottomans.

Barbarossa was even discussed in quite some details by the writer, since during many European-Ottoman clashes involved the Mediterranean sea battles, piratings, hijackings and kidnappings. Many parts of the plot involved locations situated on or nearby the sea.

There was also a steel-hearted girl-lady, Maria Borg. She endured a lot since childhood all the way to her adult years, even during the Malta besiege and war between two entities she hated the most, the Crusaders/the Church and the Ottomans.

The historical representation is amazingly acute, for I am an avid history buff myself. Do not judge this book by its cover or title, read it by yourself! Leaking more plots in this book I cannot do, for reading it is a must. I hope David Ball writing finesse will continue in his future endeavours. A must read book for history fanatics. Bravo!

Another reviewer included this info in their review, but I thought I'd just reiterate that "The Sword and the Scimitar" is the same book that was originally published as "Ironfire", which I discovered after I'd bought it for my husband as a Christmas present. I read and loved Ironfire, so I bought another book by the same author without looking too closely at the description. Just wanted to let everyone out there know so nobody ends up looking foolish like I did. Great book, though!

I loved this book. Considering this is Mr Ball's first published work, I for one reader felt that the polish of this extensive novel was worthy of a more established author. The book is fast paced, easy to read and to follow, and graphically brings alive the Mediterranean world of the 16th century. I am surprised that the 1565 siege of Malta where the embattled Knights of St John defended Europe against the fanatical legions of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Grand Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, has not been more extensively covered in literature as the canvas for a writer to work with has every element one could wish for - heroism, fanaticism, desperate derring do, intrigue, the stand of the few against vast hordes and the scope for some epic fighting scenes. Apart from which, this is one of the cornerstone events of world history that could have resulted in a very different outcome that would have resounded down into the modern era.

Against the background of the build-up to the great siege of Malta, there is of course another story. Maria and Nico Borg are Maltese, born into a poverty stricken peasant family who like so many others on the scorching, arid island of Malta, have bleak prospects. Faced with dirt, ignorance, hard work and indifferent parents who are worn down by their hard life and who care little about them, Maria and Nico nonetheless have spirit and intelligence well above their peers and both share a burning ambition to better themselves despite the odds. When Nico is seized by Algerian slavers, it turns out to be a blessing in disguise. Faced with the hellish prospect as life as a slave to a rich and brutal merchant in the cruel, corrupt and turbulent city of Algiers, Nico through a fortuitious friendship with a captive shipwright manages to escape. Picked up at sea by a wise and far sighted corsair captain with infuential connections (Dragut Rais, one of Suleiman's favourites), Nico is selected for higher training as a palace page at the fabulous court of Suleiman where he discovers a world of higher education, pomp, pleasure, abundance and opportunity most people in the West at that time could only ever dream of, and his pre-conceived ideas of Islam begin to change as he grows older and rises higher and higher as a "rais" - a corsair captain in Suleiman's fleet.

His sister, Maria, is left with her bitter parents on Malta, but the fiesty Maria's destiny takes an odd turn. Driven by her ambition, Maria persuades the local priest to teach her to read and write, and through a meeting with a local courtesan, Elena, she forms a close and meaningful friendship with the secret Jewish community of M'kor Hakhayim, located by the caves on Malta. Maria's dream of escaping her rocky island home to the green land of France does not diminish over the years, nor does she cease trying to find the brother she lost.

Added to the mix is Christian de Vries, an aristocratic Knight of St John who was promised to the Order at birth. By some quirk of fate, Christian is as handy with a medical text and scalpel as he is with a sword, and although as a warrior and a nobleman he is sworn to defend Malta by force, Christian's heart is dedicated to science and medicine. Despite his father's opposition, Christian qualifies as a doctor/surgeon and has no illusions about the mounting political tensions of the Middle Sea (the Meditteranean). However, his dedication to the Order is badly shaken when he arrives on Malta and by chance meets and falls in love with the striking Maria, a woman whose passion, beauty and intelligence outweigh her low birth.

Overall this is a brilliant protrayal of a world seldom touched by literature and I loved it. We are left with no illusions about the hellish slave markets of Algiers, the brutality typical of both sides in the conflict, the ignorance caused through misunderstanding and hatred, and the incredible court of Suleiman himself where everything is possible. However, some of Mr Ball's best work takes place in the latter part of the book during the actual siege. He gives a wonderfully detailed, realistic picture of the ghastly conditions faced by both sides, the incredible resilience of the human spirit and the tenacity of a handful of Maltese defenders against a massive sea-borne army that never seems to end. I was particularly taken by the mention of St Elmo's fire - a term many people will have heard of - but I did not realise it originated from the siege where the harbour fort of St Elmo bore the initial brunt of the Turkish attack, and the fire that raged around St Elmo was visible as far away as Sicily!

This book contains romance, adventure, exotic locations, epic battle scenes, intrigue, espionage and derring do. I do not recommend this one for readers who like a quick read, as it is a lengthy tome - but if the reader is like this reviewer who appreciates a solid book, sit back and enjoy!

The first 2/3 of this book is an enjoyable historical romance. Dreadful things are happening all around but I came to expect that the author would not let any of the terrible things happen to his hero & heroine - a Maltese sister & brother - Maria & Nico. I settled back and enjoyed learning about Malta and Istanbul and the Ottomans and the Knights. But then the dreadful siege of Malta started and everything went to hell. People we care about are killed or worse. Everyone suffers dreadfully for the longest time. When Maria & Nico are finally rejoined it is in circumstances so terrible as to be almost indescribable. The author's writing skills are also not up to the complexity of the siege so the book gets boring. The quick wrap-up at the end of this long book is not satisfying.

I really did enjoy the first part and I learned a good bit. But I sort of wish I'd stopped reading when the siege began.

The book I received was in pretty good condition, just a few bent pages. It took a little longer to receive than I was told, but otherwise good service.

Appears that this is the same novel as Ironfire, with a different title.

So I'm repeating what I said in a review of Ironfire, under the heading, "Some readers are easy to please."

After reading Ball's Empires of Sand, which I loved and gave 5 stars, I gave it to my mother, who also loved it. So I bought her a copy of Ironfire, which I also read. I have to say that, although I finished this book, I was shocked that it was so much worse than Empires. The book is more about love lost and found than the battle for Malta - fully three-quarters of the book passes before the battle starts. But when it does, it goes on, and on, and on. Every day the assaults are more horrible than before (or so says the author). How could the Knights Hospitaler and the people of Malta possibly last another day? But they do, and this happens day, after day, after day. It just gets tiresome after a while. And boring. This book is not in the same league as Empires of Sand.

If you haven't read Empires of Sand, and you are considering Sword/Scimitar, head for the desert.