The Lion of St. Mark

The Venetians #1

by Thomas Quinn

The first book in an adventurous trilogy
 
The House of Ziani and the House of Soranzo had been enemies ever since their grandfathers' joint business venture had collapsed more than forty years before. Then, they had chosen not to resolve their differences in the courts. Instead, they each sought to prevail in their rivalry by investing, trading, and manipulating as each battled to dominate and ultimately ruin the other. The fathers passed this legacy on to their sons....
 
A sleek Venetian fleet plows through stormy November seas, bearing reinforcements to help defend the fabled city of Constantinople against an impending siege by Ottoman Turks. Rescue plans are jeopardized, however, when an age-old bitter conflict flares between two Venetian nobles The brave naval Captain Giovanni Soranzo thirsts for revenge against the proud marine officer, Antonio Ziani. These two men will survive the sacking of Constantinople and will find their lives bound together in a heroic struggle to save their beloved city.
The year is 1452, and while Italy glories in the Renaissance, Venice is on the verge of an epic war of survival against the powerful Turks, who are intent on conquering Venetian lands, possessing her riches, and utterly destroying the city forever. Now these two patricians, both patriots, must temper their hostility toward each other with loyalty to their beloved republic. Fighting each other when they can, fighting together when they must, Ziani and Soranzo risk their lives to defend Venice---and their honor.
Much more than a war story, this is a tale of Venice, when she was the greatest city on earth and the world's only republic. It is a tale, too, of her people, whose fortunes and very lives were dependent on her success. Admired, envied, hated, and feared, but with her vast wealth and vaunted navy, always respected, she is La Serenissima---the Serene Republic of Venice---and this is her story.
Thomas Quinn combines his expertise on Venice with explosive, page-turning action to give readers an epic novel of struggle and survival. 

Genres: Historical Fiction, Italy

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Reviews

[Πάνος Τουρλής]

Εξαιρετική γραφή που κόβει την ανάσα. Κωνσταντινούπολη, Βενετία, Κόρινθος, Χαλκίδα ζωνταντεύουν στα μάτια του αναγνώστη και τον ταξιδεύουν αιώνες παλιότερα. Η αλήθεια είναι ότι ίσως να κουράσουν οι περιγραφές και η ιστορία της Βενετίας, όμως εγώ τις λάτρεψα γιατί το διάβασα μια μέρα μόλις γύρισα από Βενετία και περπατούσα μαζί με το συγγραφέα στα υπέροχα δρομάκια και στο κίλμα της πόλης. Κουραστικές σίγουρα αλλά συναρπαστικές οι σκηνές των μαχών και των ναυμαχιών και κυρίαρχο το ηθικό μήνυμα ότι η πατρίδα και η αγάπη για τη ζωή υπερισχύει της εμπάθειας και του εγωισμού και του μίσους. Καταπληκτικό βιβλίο.

[Luis Eduardo Suarez]

Que buena novela historica. A traves de la revalidad entre dos familias de la nobleza veneciana el autor en sus paginas revive la gloria del Imperio Veneciano. Este libro relata los hechos desde la intervencion fallida de Venecia para tratar de salvar a Constantinopla de ser conquistada por el imperio Otomano hasta la primera victoria que Venecia le impuso a los turcos, esto relatando la caida de corinto y el negroponte, que en aquella epoca eran bastiones del imperio de venecia. Me encanto el orgullo con que los venecianos defendian su historia y a traves de estas paginas he podido apreciar el Modelo de Republica mas acertado que he podido conocer hasta ahora en donde lo que importa es la Republica y todos los ciudadades en conjunto la defienden tanto ideologicamente como mediante de las armas.

Los personajes me encantaron, estan muy bien hechos, en particular Soranzo: un griego salvando la vida de uno de nuestros personajes principales demostro lo que es la lealtad. Los escenaros mejor narrados no pudieron estar tanto Constantinopla como Venecia, no hacia falta mapa para que el lector deambulara por sus calles y el libro motiva a visitarlas algun dia. La trama marcada por la venganza entre dos familias nobles de Venecia es muy buena, denotando las intrigas politicas y comerciales en que cada uno de los bandos llega a limites para conseguir sus fines.

Una novela historica que recomiendo con los ojos cerrados.

[Mark Luongo]

Love the historical period and the story itself goes a long way in describing it and the animosity between East & West. Those battles between Turk & Christian must've been really bloody affairs.
It also gives you the scope & vastness of the Venetian Empire and their determination to hold to it as long as they could. This despite enemies from within the Christian world and without.
The characters are interesting, the "vendetta" is about as Italian (Venetian?) as it can get and you can feel the breeze coming off the lagoon and rustling the crimson & gold banner of St. Mark!

[Patricio Cornejo Ibacache]

Una entretenida historia basada en la participación de Venecia en la toma de Constantinopla y los sucesos posteriores ante los turcos, tanto derrotas como victoria final. Nos muestra desde la mirada de un odio entre familias venecianas cómo sembraron lo necesario para la formación de la República. Me gusta mucho el tema de Constantinopla, la conquista y nunca había leído sobre sucesos inmediatamente posteriores, es por ello que esta obra me sumergió y agradó mucho.

[Scott Schulze]

I enjoyed reading The Lion of St. Mark by Thomas Quinn. The story is fast moving and the action represents the Venetian culture during a defining point in their legacy. The concepts of the republic and senate, naval action, land battles, family histories and rivals truly present a remarkable story line. This book is a way to view the unique period of European History!

[Megan]

Meh. It felt like a book written by a historian -- the characters weren't interesting and served mainly as vehicles for exposition. Some of the action sequences were good, and I enjoyed learning about how Venice dealt with the fall of Constantinople, since many stories end with that.

[Kelly]

1st, I'm a fan of historical fiction, but I don't like to read lectures. While the action portions of this one were exciting and kept moving, the parts between got to be too much history. 2nd, I adore Venice, but the history lessons of the state got in the way of the city. Even a gondola ride to view the city was more about what caused this or that ediface to be built and less about the buildings themselves.