The subject of the siege by this great army is the fortress of George Castrioni, Christian rebel against the Ottoman yoke, and in occasional interspersions along the text we here from inside, the other side of the wall from the main story, as the defenders hold against the great horde.
But it is the voices of the Ottoman’s army that are most brought to life, in characters that are seldom attractive yet who somehow seduce you into caring about their fate, from the commanding pasha himself, right down to the master caster of the great guns.
You can read this tragic tale told from an usual perspective as simply a great story, or you could read it, as with Carthage, as a reminder of the great human failure that is war itself. The value of these novels is the depths in which they dwell, the heights they reach, and the world views across which they range - and they both conclude that war is stupid, war is hell, and war consumes humanity.
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