Blood Rock

by James H. Jackson Book 1 in the Christian Hardy series.

First published 2007

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3.7(82)

Malta, 1565. The Knights Hospitaller prepare to resist the vast Ottoman force sent by Suleiman the Magnificent to destroy their island stronghold. Christian Hardy, an English soldier serving among the defenders, wins the attention of Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette through courage and military skill, but the Order faces danger from betrayal within as well as bombardment and assault from without.

Christian fights beside the inventor known as the Moor, the aspiring warrior-priest Hubert, the orphan Luqa and the noblewoman Maria. As forts fall and casualties mount, the companions must identify the traitor and help hold the remaining defences against an apparently overwhelming enemy. The novel places their personal loyalties within the decisive struggle remembered as the Great Siege of Malta.