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Belongs on the bookshelf of every Catholic man,
should be read by every Catholic boy (11 or older).
--Latin Mass Magazine
Compellingly written and surprisingly difficult to put down....A
fascinating read for adults and teens.
--The St. Linus Review
Prata brings this fascinating tale to life by giving the characters
real personalities....The book is a real page-turner.
--Favorite Resources for
Catholic Homeschoolers
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Despite all the glowing reviews, I just couldn't get behind this one...
**
I love historical fiction, and after reading the
glowing reviews for "Angels in Iron", I knew I had to check it out.
Reading the reviews again, I have to wonder if I read the same book as the
other reviewers. Nothing about this book blew me away or kept me glued to
the page. Indeed, I found it marginal at best, and ultimately put it aside
after a little over a hundred pages.
The characters struck me as two-dimensional and rife with cliche. La
Vallette may as well have been a cardboard cutout. There is nothing to him
but a dogged determination to hold Malta at all costs. The lesser knights
exhibit similar emotional depths.
The battle scenes were better, but in my opinion pedestrian. After the
first they quickly became repetitive, and I've seen much better and more
visceral descriptions in dozens of other books.
The last straw for me, though, was the superhuman prowess of the
Hospitalers versus the Turks. Probably because we never get any sense of
this prowess being earned, whether through training, discipline, better
equipment, etc. It just is, and it takes a lot of the tension and fun out
of the story.
The siege of Malta is a harrowing tale...but this novel just did not do it
for me.
otro lector mas
(from amazon.com)
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Unbearable tension *****
The funny
thing is that I knew what the outcome of the battle was before I read this
book as probably did most other readers. Yet I don't think I've read a
book so quickly in my life. I couldn't stop turning page after page with
my heart in my throat to see if yet another Turkish charge could be
repelled by the battered defenders near the end of their rope, or whether
the unrelenting Turkish bombardment would stop, or whether the Spanish
relief force would arrive. The vivid battle descriptions were beyond
gripping. Picture Saruman's attack on Helm's Deep or Sauron's army at
Gondor and you may get an idea, only this really did happen between
humans, and went on for months on end. I got to really care about the main
characters and to wish they all could survive to the end (unfortunately
most didn't). I could go on and on. This book is an absolute narrative
jewel.
On a sideline, it is regrettable how this glorious clash remains obscure
in our American culture since most of us probably would not have been
interested in picking up this book without prior knowledge. But unlike the
Crusades, there are no PC issues in this struggle: The Christians were
unquestionably the "good guys" and the Muslims were unquestionably the
"bad guys". The Christians were attacked in their own homeland and they
only sought to defend themselves from Muslim expansionism. Having said
that, though he clearly is partial to the Chrsitians, the author gives a
very evenhanded portrayal of the Turks.
This battle must be the greatest testament to what sheer willpower and
determination can accomplish. It is also a great lesson as to how the
ultimate result of a battle can completely depend on the very earliest
dispositions.
JUST GET THIS BOOK!
otro lector mas
(from amazon.com)
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A Must Read for 16th [Century] Enthusiasts
*****
As the
author of a similar genre book, The Spear of Lepanto (2005), I
congratulate Nicholas Prata's Angels in Iron. His riveting account of the
crucial 1565 Siege of Malta between the Ottoman Turks and the Knights of
St. John is a testimony to unyielding faith in the face of staggering
odds.
From early childhood, I was always impressed by the courage of King
Leonidas of the Spartans. The story of the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC)
has lived in the annals of history as a shining symbol of heroism, bravery
and gritty determination.
Just as Leonidas stood in defiance before an overwhelming Persian host
with his valiant 300, so did Jean Parisot de la Valette stand some 2,000
years later. As grand master of the legendary Knights of St. John, la
Valette, with 592 knights and several thousand Maltese and European
volunteers defied for four months the 40,000 plus forces and heavy guns of
Suleyman the Magnificent on the tiny island of Malta.
Author Nicholas Prata has given us a new insight and appreciation of this
important confrontation that may indeed have saved Christian Europe from
the onslaught of Moslem steel. Had it not been for la Valette's stubborn
resistance, it is quite apparent that the Italian peninsula would be the
next target for Turkish armies from a fortified base at Malta.
Prata gives us chapter after chapter of men refusing surrender in the face
of certain death, men who drew strength and a sense of invincibility from
their faith. I commend the author for his authentic page turning account
of the great siege. Certainly la Valette stands equally with Leonidas when
it comes to devotion to duty and dogged determination in the face of
incredible odds.
Leon J. Radomile "old warrior"
(from amazon.com) |
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