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The Ottoman Cycle #3
The Assassin's Tale
Italy, 1493. Returning from the new world to the old, Skiouros is confronted with lands ruled by a strict and unyielding religion, and which yet still contrive to be corrupt and debased, as the inquisition takes hold in Spain and the Vatican seethes under the rule of the Borgia family.
Through this world of intolerance, greed and wickedness, the former thief-turned-explorer finally sets his mind to that mission that has underlain his every move since leaving the great city of Istanbul some two years earlier: the death of the usurper sultan, Cem.
Gathering old friends and new, Skiouros travels the length of Italy in his quest for vengeance and the quieting of his brother's restless soul. But on his dreadful quest he will face more than mere physical danger, for beneath all his strength and will, does Skiouros have a heart black enough to commit murder in the name of revenge?
Through this world of intolerance, greed and wickedness, the former thief-turned-explorer finally sets his mind to that mission that has underlain his every move since leaving the great city of Istanbul some two years earlier: the death of the usurper sultan, Cem.
Gathering old friends and new, Skiouros travels the length of Italy in his quest for vengeance and the quieting of his brother's restless soul. But on his dreadful quest he will face more than mere physical danger, for beneath all his strength and will, does Skiouros have a heart black enough to commit murder in the name of revenge?
260 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 27, 2014
52 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
S.J.A. Turney
93 books498 followersSimon lives with his wife and children and a menagerie of animals in rural North Yorkshire, where he sits in an office, wired on coffee and digestive biscuits, and attempts to spin engrossing tales out of strands of imagination while his children drive toys across his desk and two dogs howl as they try to share a brain cell.
A born and bred Yorkshireman with a love of country, history and architecture, Simon spends most of his rare free time travelling around ancient sites, writing, researching the ancient world and reading voraciously.
Following an arcane and eclectic career path that wound through everything from sheep to Microsoft networks and from paint to car sales, Simon wrote Marius’ Mules and, with help and support, made a success of it. Now, with in excess of 20 novels under his belt, Simon writes full time and is represented by MMB Creative literary agents.
Simon writes Roman military novels in the form of the bestselling Marius’ Mules series based on Julius Caesar’s campaigns, Roman thrillers in the Praetorian series, set during the troubled reign of Commodus, medieval adventures in the Ottoman Cycle, following a young Greek thief around the 15th century world, and a series of Historical Fantasy novels with a Roman flavour, called the Tales of the Empire.
Simon can be found on Twitter as @SJATurney and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SJATurney/ as well as on his website http://www.sjaturney.co.uk
A born and bred Yorkshireman with a love of country, history and architecture, Simon spends most of his rare free time travelling around ancient sites, writing, researching the ancient world and reading voraciously.
Following an arcane and eclectic career path that wound through everything from sheep to Microsoft networks and from paint to car sales, Simon wrote Marius’ Mules and, with help and support, made a success of it. Now, with in excess of 20 novels under his belt, Simon writes full time and is represented by MMB Creative literary agents.
Simon writes Roman military novels in the form of the bestselling Marius’ Mules series based on Julius Caesar’s campaigns, Roman thrillers in the Praetorian series, set during the troubled reign of Commodus, medieval adventures in the Ottoman Cycle, following a young Greek thief around the 15th century world, and a series of Historical Fantasy novels with a Roman flavour, called the Tales of the Empire.
Simon can be found on Twitter as @SJATurney and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SJATurney/ as well as on his website http://www.sjaturney.co.uk
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 11, 2020
Not good.....
Unending descriptions, ridiculous plots, the reader is taken into moral justifications at each corner, pages and pages of unnecessary details, not the best of Turney’s books..... honestly I finished it just because I had nothing else to read these days and I paid for it.... - the need of the writer to justify the intents or the actions of the characters is really overwhelming.... the book is set up in a period of history when human life was regarded completely different from today, different cultures were to clash in horrific wars and terrible human tragedies for religious, social, financial and power struggle reasons, and the author takes a XXI century moral standing.... really, not a good book...
Unending descriptions, ridiculous plots, the reader is taken into moral justifications at each corner, pages and pages of unnecessary details, not the best of Turney’s books..... honestly I finished it just because I had nothing else to read these days and I paid for it.... - the need of the writer to justify the intents or the actions of the characters is really overwhelming.... the book is set up in a period of history when human life was regarded completely different from today, different cultures were to clash in horrific wars and terrible human tragedies for religious, social, financial and power struggle reasons, and the author takes a XXI century moral standing.... really, not a good book...
April 13, 2019
Another fast paced and well crafted story to complete this trilogy. A fantastic story moving across exotic locations all described in meticulous detail. The pace of the story is relentless....There is an urgency and inevitability to Skiouros’ quest....and yet the twists and turns in the narrative lead to continued tension and surprises. Skiouros (unlike his fellow adventurers) is portrayed as someone who is uncertain of his abilities at times and who questions his own motivation at times. A complex and intriguing story against a fascinating historical background
January 13, 2018
Exciting Story
Once again, Turney has created a well-written story that deals with an historical era. The characters are interesting, the descriptions are good, the plot is smoothly presented, and the dialogue fits. Tourney has an excellent vocabulary.
Once again, Turney has created a well-written story that deals with an historical era. The characters are interesting, the descriptions are good, the plot is smoothly presented, and the dialogue fits. Tourney has an excellent vocabulary.
November 4, 2024
This book is fast paced full of twists, turns, danger, and surprises.
October 2, 2015
After taking us from Istanbul to Crete and from there, by land and by sea along the North Coast of Africa to Spain and from there even to the inconceivable beyond, Skiouros' adventures take him to Italy for this third book, where his ultimate foe is alleged to be.
This is of course an opportunity for Simon to talk at large about Italy at the end of the 15th century, and the portrait painted is - not unexpectedly - not entirely complimentary.
By this time our hero, Skiouros the Greek, has formed a solid posse of friends strongly bonded by their former adventures, albeit not by common interest. And if I were to raise an objection to the plot, it would be this: I'm not sure the motivation of the supporting cast is strong enough to take them all along the long and dangerous road they travel over the course of the book.
Parmenio and Nicolo, to whom we've been introduced at the end of the first book, and Cesare Orsini, who we've met in the second book, are joined by a group of other colorful characters of which I wish we could have seen more of. Hopefully this will not spoil the book for you but I will point out that whereas there is a reasonable expectation that not everyone in the cast will make it through their dangerous adventures, the body count in this Assasin's Tale is brutally high, even by Simon's standards.
By the whims of Fortuna, complimented with a drop of his own will this time, Skiouros gets dragged into the highest echelons of the Italian politics of the time and he becomes acquainted with some of the most powerful men in the country. Because the political power and the clerical one are so strongly intertwined this book more than the others not only gives Simon the opportunity, but rather force him to talk at longer length than he's probably comfortable with about religion, divinity, how they are approached and how they should be approached. It's a beneficial venture, as the inquiries into the spiritual do a good job at spicing up what is still a full-on action novel, always exploring siege tactics, fighting techniques and the high end of medieval warfare.
Because of this the book has less of a cinematic feeling, though this does not in any way deny its merits as a fast paced historical adventure novel.
The memorable episode of Skiouros meeting Charles VIII of France is the cherry on the cake of the book, as it epitomises the main purpose of a historical novel: breathing life into characters who'd otherwise only be a picture in a book.
As for the destination of our Greek hero's adventure... talking about it would reveal a great deal of how the action pans out; so instead of doing that, I'll just encourage everyone to discover how exactly Cem Sultan ended his mortal existence. And Simon reveals it in a much more spectacular fashion than Wikipedia will ever be able to.
This is of course an opportunity for Simon to talk at large about Italy at the end of the 15th century, and the portrait painted is - not unexpectedly - not entirely complimentary.
By this time our hero, Skiouros the Greek, has formed a solid posse of friends strongly bonded by their former adventures, albeit not by common interest. And if I were to raise an objection to the plot, it would be this: I'm not sure the motivation of the supporting cast is strong enough to take them all along the long and dangerous road they travel over the course of the book.
Parmenio and Nicolo, to whom we've been introduced at the end of the first book, and Cesare Orsini, who we've met in the second book, are joined by a group of other colorful characters of which I wish we could have seen more of. Hopefully this will not spoil the book for you but I will point out that whereas there is a reasonable expectation that not everyone in the cast will make it through their dangerous adventures, the body count in this Assasin's Tale is brutally high, even by Simon's standards.
By the whims of Fortuna, complimented with a drop of his own will this time, Skiouros gets dragged into the highest echelons of the Italian politics of the time and he becomes acquainted with some of the most powerful men in the country. Because the political power and the clerical one are so strongly intertwined this book more than the others not only gives Simon the opportunity, but rather force him to talk at longer length than he's probably comfortable with about religion, divinity, how they are approached and how they should be approached. It's a beneficial venture, as the inquiries into the spiritual do a good job at spicing up what is still a full-on action novel, always exploring siege tactics, fighting techniques and the high end of medieval warfare.
Because of this the book has less of a cinematic feeling, though this does not in any way deny its merits as a fast paced historical adventure novel.
The memorable episode of Skiouros meeting Charles VIII of France is the cherry on the cake of the book, as it epitomises the main purpose of a historical novel: breathing life into characters who'd otherwise only be a picture in a book.
As for the destination of our Greek hero's adventure... talking about it would reveal a great deal of how the action pans out; so instead of doing that, I'll just encourage everyone to discover how exactly Cem Sultan ended his mortal existence. And Simon reveals it in a much more spectacular fashion than Wikipedia will ever be able to.
June 12, 2014
It's a simple arrangement really, Mr. Turney writes and then I revel in the reading. This is the third book in The Ottoman Cycle which takes place in the late 15th century and has taken the protagonist from his home of Istanbul in his quest to avenge the death of his brother. At the end of book two, Skiouros in a mad dash from certain death finds himself aboard The Pinta and winds up in The New World. His time there, though brief, has imbued him with a strengthened resolve and a new sense of patience. This is the main plot, can Skiouros see the deed through to completion, does he have the will and fortitude to assassinate the man responsible for his brother's death? Finding his enemy is the easy part as Cem has been the guest/hostage of The Pope, well that is until he becomes the guest/hostage of King Charles of France. Getting to him is the challenge and proves to be an arduous one for Skiouros and his friends. Through the expediency of forming a mercenary outfit, they gradually make their way into the Vatican only to have Cem traded away in peace negotiations and is now being guarded by the French army. A daunting task filled with adventures and danger and death. The author has never been shy about killing off strong/major characters but those deaths are part of the fabric of the story and as such can be forgiven despite the pain inflicted upon the poor reader when another favorite bites the dust. A truly exceptional tale that was well researched and well developed. 5-stars
January 5, 2016
Marvelous and sad
I have hugely enjoyed everything SJA Turney has written and I hope he keeps on writing. I don't always like what happens, but with the Roman army or vengeful Greeks,people are going to die. The storylines are always remarkable enough to do as this one has, and keep me up past my bedtime. One thing I particularly like is that characters are rarely cardboard cutouts-they seem real,and often as conflicted as they ought to be in their circumstances.
I have hugely enjoyed everything SJA Turney has written and I hope he keeps on writing. I don't always like what happens, but with the Roman army or vengeful Greeks,people are going to die. The storylines are always remarkable enough to do as this one has, and keep me up past my bedtime. One thing I particularly like is that characters are rarely cardboard cutouts-they seem real,and often as conflicted as they ought to be in their circumstances.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews