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- Verified Buyer
Militant Islam sets its sights on Europe and decides to unleash jihad. Not a headline from today's news, but a brief summation of the central theme of Angels in Iron, Nicholas Prata's competently told drama about the sadly forgotten but pivotal battle known as "The Great Siege of Malta." While I have always heard about this epic standoff between the rampaging armies of the Ottoman Empire and a handful of elite Knights Hospitallers, I never had a complete understand of just what transpired in that fateful summer of 1565. Well, thanks to Prada, I now do. In short: it was an epic fight that seems very reminiscent of Tolkien's Battle of Helms Deep (Coincidence? Knowing Tolkien, I doubt it).Prata is particularly adept at capturing the violence of the battles - and let me assure you, if military action is your game, you will love this book! Here is a brief example:"Di Corso joined his brethren and found the Janissaries already upon him. He could easily make out the gleaming hatred in Turkish eyes. "Lord, I surrender my spirit!' Di Corso sighed. The Knights went to work and, battered as they were, settled into a groove of martial precision. Side by side, they held the ridge and hacked, stabbed, and chopped until Elmo's limestone grew sticky with fresh blood. Harried and exhausted, they nevertheless intended to demonstrate why 'Hospitaller' was synonymous with military achievement."Great stuff!Prata truly conveyed the unimaginable and unending brutality of the siege. In fact, he did it so well that I felt just as exhausted and emotionally spent as the knights when the siege finally came to a close!Unfortunately, Prata isn't so adept when it comes to characterizations or scene-setting. It was here that I thought the book was very weak. With the exception of the Knights Vischer, Del Corso, and Grand Master Valette, I never got a sense of just who these knights were, and what drove them to become members of this prestigious and demanding military holy order (and even in the case of those three knights, I still felt they were woefully under-developed). It is really unfortunate that Prata didn't devote more time to character development, particularly their Catholic faith that so motivated these incredible warriors. Likewise, I never felt like got a sense of the place of Malta generally, and specifically the forts Elmo, Angelo or Michael.I don't want to be overly critical of this book. I found it thoroughly entertaining despite its flaws. It is just that I think, ultimately, Angels in Iron reads better as a screenplay than a novel (and what a movie it would make! If only Hollywood wasn't so emasculated by political correctness and addiction to comic book profits). But as a novel, I think the Great Siege of Malta is still awaiting its definitive telling. To do this story justice, we need a wordsmith who is as talented with verse as he is with prose. In short, only a latter-day Homer, Morris, Tolkien or Eliot will do.Lastly, the Kindle version of this book did contain a handful of typos but nothing too annoying.
