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Content snapshot
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Violence
Very heavy
Extreme historical violence; siege warfare, battle, and atrocities depicted with unflinching intensity
Language
Some
Some strong language
Sexual Content
A lot
Explicit adult sexual content
Substance Use
Barely any
Period drinking
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Themes of faith, violence, and what it means to fight for something you no longer believe in
What this book is about
Matthias Tannhauser, a former Ottoman janissary turned knight, arrives at Malta as the Ottoman fleet begins its siege — the bloodiest battle in the Great Siege of 1565. Tim Willocks's historical epic is relentlessly violent, explicitly sexual, and written with a baroque ambition that matches its subject. Among historical fiction's most visceral and unapologetically adult recent works.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Extreme graphic historical violence
Explicit sexual content
Adults only
Very long (~700 pages)
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