The Tournament by Matthew Reilly | book review

【 THE TOURNAMENT 】

Genre: Historical Fiction [1500s]
Audience: Adult
Author: Matthew Reilly
Published: July 2014
Publisher: Orion
Pages: 432 (hardback)

I really shouldn’t be at all surprised that yet another Matthew Reilly has crept onto my favourites list. I adored this, sordid moments and all. This is an atmospheric delight as we romp through history in the midst of a thrilling mystery.

I think we can all agree that Matthew Reilly is the master of a relentless pace and a thoroughly addictive and immersive plot. This was no different to anything else I’ve read by him, in that regard. Though not terribly long, this felt like stepping in Constantinople of the 1500s and as though you were walking the streets of the city alongside the main character.

I find so many aspects of this plot unusual and unexpected. The era is not often picked for this brand of commercial historical fiction, and the fact that the main character is an adolescent Elizabeth I is so cool. And doubly so because of the fact that this piece of historical fiction is encased in a thoroughly intense mystery – oh, and the fact that the plot revolves around a chess tournament. None of these things you would expect to be thrown together and yet, voila, a match made in heaven.

Plus there’s something wonderfully Sherlockian in the whole thing. As we follow this English delegation (Elizabeth; Mr Ascham, her teacher; her companion, Elsie; and Mr Giles, the chess competitor) through Europe and into the exotic unknown of Turkey, we become immersed in a mystery that transforms Mr Ascham into something akin to Mr Holmes himself. Plus, their prim and proper ways are so painfully at odds with the new surrounds they finds themselves in, but in a way that is sure to delight the reader.

I also really enjoyed exploring Reilly’s rendering of Elizabeth’s psyche, and imagining how this ‘formative’ journey (fictionalised) would have shaped her character. I loved that so much of this tournament drew in real historical characters to lend that serious degree of believability, too. This is a very, very fun reimagining of history.

Though, it must be said that this is very much so adult content, with sex scenes bordering on a pornographic level of description. They offered a strange and intriguing balance to the seriousness of the chess tournament going on. Elizabeth spends her days pondering the mastery of chess, and her nights listening to Elsie’s lurid tales. And yet, I think they did play their part and were not entirely gratuitous. Their purpose doubles down on the angle that Reilly is going for, in shaping up this episode in Elizabeth’s life to be one so shocking and confronting, that it suggests these events contributed to her never marrying.

But nonetheless, please don’t let your young readers at this. Adults only, for sure.

The unlikely premise of a chess tournament is surprisingly thrilling, too. For a game that we all know and love, yet certainly not a game one would describe as riveting, it held a surprising amount of tension throughout as we quietly barrack for the success of the English representative at this tournament.

I suppose the presence of murder does spice things up a little, though, and do some heavy lifting to create that tension, too. And it is this gruesome and baffling mystery that pervades through the plot that ramps up the atmosphere of the book. There’s a sense of a ticking time bomb and a real threat to lives hanging over our crew of Englishmen.

Ahh, I could gush about this on and on. But all I’ll say, is that if you’re up for a good mystery, some great British pluck, a lot of sex, and some gruesome murder, this is the book for you.