Matthew Reilly is somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine; his novels are hi-octane adventures that are often as ludicrous as they are sublime. ‘The Tournament’ is a departure from his action packed Scarecrow and Jack West thrillers; instead creating an alternative history for our own Queen Elizabeth I. Why was she such a formidable leader whose reluctance to marry and dislike of the Catholics were only part of her make-up? Reilly poses a hypothetical tale about a 13 year old Bess going to Constantinople to watch a tournament of the world’s greatest chess players. Here she will be embroiled in a murder mystery alongside her tutor Roger Ascham.
| The Tournament by Matthew Reilly | |
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| Category: Crime (Historical) | |
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Reviewer: Sam Tyler
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| Summary: When the plague returns to 16th Century England it is thought best to send the young Princess Elizabeth to Constantinople to watch the upcoming chess championship. Crikey! If that was not dangerous enough, a murderer is loose on the streets and Bess, along with her tutor, must solve the crime. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Maybe |
| Pages: 432 | Date: January 2014 |
| Publisher: Orion | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781409134220 | |
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Having read the synopsis for ‘The Tournament’, I was worried that Reilly had for some reason altered his writing style and decided to reinvent himself as the new Umberto Eco. However, after reading the first 5 pages, my fears were allayed. Reilly is as controversial and fun as ever! There is no doubt that ‘The Tournament’ is his most serious novel to date and in many ways his best. Creating a duel story of murder and chess in the 16th century is a very intriguing one and it works. There are certainly echoes of ‘In The Name of the Rose’ here, but only if you look at this as the Ladybird version of that great novel.
For all Reilly’s attempts at creating something more mature, he undermines himself with some odd decisions. The use of Elizabeth for one thing. She is removed from England to avoid the plague, but plunging her into the centre of the Sultan’s hostile capital is like taking her from the melting pot and dropping her into The Spanish Armada. It is almost impossible to take ‘The Tournament’ seriously, but if you are able to treat it as a light alternative history, there is fun to be had. Fans of real history will grind their teeth to dust, choking over every abuse of reliable fact.
It cannot be easy to make chess exciting on the written page, but Reilly achieves this. It is less about the game and more about the players, what are their motives? The murder mystery is also well played; the number of suspects is legion as Ascham and Bess sit in a city of spies and killers. There is one final element that makes up the mix of this novel and it does not sit as well as the chess or the mystery; it is the sex.
At the start of the book Reilly tells the reader that this is a novel for mature minds. It is a balance whether the orgy scenes are mature or puerile, but they are at least abundant. At the conclusion of this edition of ‘The Tournament’, Reilly provides a Q&A session that discusses some of the themes in the novel, one of them being sex. He is correct in saying that the parts of the book that should be left to a more mature reader as those that look at child abuse – not for the faint hearted. I for one found the scenes of titillation sat uncomfortably close those of abuse. Perhaps a more serious take on the history of Constantinople was required before delving into this dark territory.
Despite my misgivings, I enjoyed ‘The Tournament’. It would be a hard book to recommend as the adult nature of some scenes may reflect on you! However, I enjoyed seeing how Reilly would create situations that explained Elizabeth’s style of rule; her hatred of some minorities, her unwillingness to marry, and her network of spies. All supposedly learnt on this forgotten journey, that we the reader knows never happened. An odd historic novel, but as fun as any other book that Reilly has produced.
If this book appeals, have a look at:
The Navigator (Numa Files) by Clive Cussler
The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Tournament by Matthew Reilly at Amazon.com.
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