Even a pawn can become a queen...
The Tournament is a 2013 Historical Detective Fiction novel by Matthew Reilly. A 13-year-old Elizabeth Tudor and her tutor, Roger Ascham, get mixed up in a murder plot while attending a high profile chess tournament in Constantinople. The novel explores their attempts to solve the crime while navigating all of the usual palace intrigue and dangers, made all the more risky due to the presence of representatives from some of the most powerful kingdoms on Earth, many of whom have their own hidden agendas.
There are two free stories: The prequel "Roger Ascham and The King's Lost Girl
" and the sequel "Roger Ascham and the Dead Queen's Command".
The Tournament contains examples of:
- Badass Bookworm: Roger Ascham is a Sherlock Homage character in some regards, if not basically Sherlock Holmes a few centuries early. As per his historical counterpart, he's also a crack shot with a bow and arrow, and shown early in the novel to be surprisingly capable with his fists (although he later tells Bess that he likely would have lost that fight, and he really only gets physical as a means of incapacitating his opponent long enough to escape).
- Canon Welding: The Three Secret Cities off-handedly reveals that The Tournament is a canon historical event.
- Chekhov's Skill: Bess mentions early on that Ascham is a keen student of the bownote , and usually carries one whilst travelling. Naturally, he uses one to save Bess from the fiend towards the end of the novel.
- Early in the novel, Ascham shows Bess a simple self defence technique of poking at an opponent's eyes with one's fingers, primarily as a means of disorienting them long enough to escape. She tries to use this against the fiend in the novel's climax, and while it's initially effective, it doesn't actually stop him long enough for Bess to get away.
- Coming of Age Story: An undeniably dark example. The events of the book end up being critical in shaping Bess's subsequent worldview, particularly her unwillingness to marry.
- Darker and Edgier: The Tournament is a far darker and more mature story than Reilly's usual work (with multiple child suicides and multiple onscreen successful sexual assualts), to the point where it's honestly hard to believe it's the same author writing it.
- Gold Digger: Elsie outright tells Bess that her intention is to seduce Crown Prince Selim, with the hopes that he'll make her his bride, so that she can become a princess (and, later, a queen) and spend her life in the lap of luxury. It really doesn't end well for her, although she is thankfully saved by Ascham, Bess and Giles.
- Historical Detective Fiction: The story is based around a murder plot in the 16th century. The two short stories involving Roger Ascham also count, with him investigating the disappearance of a prostitute in one and a threat towards Queen Elizabeth in the other.
- Historical Domain Character: Quite a few: Elizabeth I, Roger Ascham, Sultan Suleiman, Michelangelo, Ivan the Terrible...
- Karma Houdini: Crown Prince Selim, as per history, in spite of being a medieval sex trafficker. Though the postscript about the historical figures reminds us that his life was quite ignominious.
- Pedophile Priest: Pretty much the whole delegation from the Vatican appears to be this, but special mention has to go to Cardinal Cardoza, who couples this with Depraved Homosexual, blackmailing the wrestler Darius for sexual favours after discovering the latter's affair with the Queen. The discovery of this, as well as the obscene displays of wealth that they indulge in, is implied to have been what started Bess's real-life disdain for the Catholic Church.
- Really Gets Around: Elsie, to a frankly almost ridiculous level. The section detailing the group's journey from England to Constantinople alone implies that she manages to find a random partner nearly every night that they're travelling - on a trip that lasts over a month.
- Young Future Famous People: The novel is narrated by a thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Tudor, and also features a similarly young Ivan the Terrible.
