The Tournament

By Matthew Reilly

Book Overview

"A complete success...action fans and PBS types can share their enthusiasm" ( Booklist, starred review) when a young Queen Elizabeth I is thrust into a gripping game of deception and lust at the height of the Ottoman Empire in this edge-of-your-seat historical thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Great Zoo of China and Temple . The year is 1546, and Suleiman the Magnificent, the feared Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, issues an invitation to every king in Europe: You are invited to send your finest player to compete in a chess tournament to determine the champion of the known world. Thousands converge on Constantinople, including the English court's champion and his guide, the esteemed scholar Roger Ascham. Seeing a chance to enlighten the mind of a student, Ascham brings along Elizabeth Tudor, a brilliant young woman not yet consumed by royal duties in Henry VIII's court. Yet on the opening night of the tournament, a powerful guest of the Sultan is murdered. Soon, barbaric deaths, diplomatic corruption, and unimaginable depravity--sexual and otherwise--unfold before Elizabeth's and Ascham's eyes. The pair soon realizes that the real chess game is being played within the court itself...and its most treacherous element is that a stranger in a strange land is only as safe as her host is gracious.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 147674954X
• ISBN13: 9781476749549
• Release Date: July 2015
• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Prose flows

This is my first read of Matthew Reilly. I find that his prose flows beautifully and absorbs you into the environment of the 1500’s, a young Princess Elizabeth and an intriguing murder mystery with surprises. I now want to read more of Mr. Reilly’s books.