The Stronghold
A young boy, in an act of showing off, strikes the spark that places himself, his father and the entire countryside in danger. For his father is William Tell – or Thell, in this tale – and his punishment for his son’s ‘crime’ is to shoot an apple from the boy’s head. This act takes place in the newly built castle of Altdorf by the governor, Guessler. Thell had drawn two bolts and when asked by Guessler the reason why, Tell replies that, had he killed his son with the first, the second was for Guessler. This angers the governor who immediately imprisons Thell and takes his daughter as a hostage.
Thell escapes, determined to rescue his little girl, but the farmers are drawn to him and he finds himself the reluctant leader of a growing revolutionary army, reinforced by a band of Italian mercenaries.
Albrecht Behmel has written a fast paced and easily believable novel about a man whose name is known the world over. The action comes thick and fast as Thell is thwarted in his attempts to rescue his daughter and Guessler continues to evade Thell’s revenge.
There are, unfortunately, one or two typographical errors – including the misspelling of Guessler’s name on the back cover synopsis. The title of the novel gives no clues as to the subject of the book perhaps something a little more appropriate might be considered? The cover, however, is good, simple and effective showing a crossbow on a marbled background, yet the casual browser could be forgiven for thinking that, with the title offering no clues, it might fall into a different genre always something for Indie authors to keep in mind especially given that most covers are thumbnail-size on Amazon etc.
Other than those few niggles, I thoroughly enjoyed the tale of this legendary hero.
