Review: Test of Faith by Aleksandr Voinov and Raev Gray

Set in Palestine during the crusades, Test of Faith follows two men who on the surface seem very different.  Thierry is a French Templar knight who has been captured on the battlefield and sent to the tent of a man who has paid silver for him.  That man is Abdul, a Muslim convert who has bought Thierry in order to rape and humiliate him.  Things are not as they seem between the men though, as Abdul gains respect for the knight who refuses to cower in terror before him, and Thierry learns that even brutal infidels can be honourable and tender.

There was much to like and admire about this short story.  The story is very intense as most of it takes place over a few hours in one location - that of Abdul's tent.  During that time a whole wealth of emotion is unleashed between these characters.  They begin by hating one another and everything that they stand for.  Abdul may be a convert to Islam, but he has his own reasons as to why he despises Christians so much.  Thierry has a typical ignorance of what he sees as a race of barbarians.  He's only been in that part of the world for three months and believes only the propaganda fed to him by the knights who trained him for war.  As the men interact their hatred changes to grudging respect, even admiration, before other emotions such as lust come into play.  The way that the emotions of men ebb and flow, change and develop was one of the more fascinating aspects of this story.

Another thing I liked about the story was the way in which it took the theme of captive/captor and twisted it.  At the beginning Thierry is bound and helpless, completely at the mercy of Abdul.  However, even then Thierry doesn't allow his almost overwhelming fear to show, nor does he let go of the one thing which makes him strong - his faith.  Despite being captive, Thierry is actually the stronger of the pair as Abdul doubts his actions throughout the first part of the book and questions himself continually.  Thus the men are almost on an equal footing even with Thierry bound.  They are well matched, both utilising words to great effect, whether it is to solicit anger, a questioning of faith, or lust in the other man.  Even though Thierry is the youngest and least experienced of the pair, mentally he is just as strong as Abdul.  Their arguments and counter-arguments, which bled slowly into agreements and genuine respect; the logic of their arguments, the way that neither man was willing to back down or give in, was absorbing to read.  I found it fascinating to read such overwhelmingly masculine characters, full of pride, honour and self-assurance, who could also be warm, tender, attentive lovers.

Alas the pride and strength of mind in both men also lead to what turned out to be a very definite non-HEA.  It's not even anywhere near a HFN.  I can see that many readers will not like the ending, especially those who insist that any book which deals with a relationship ends well for the heroes.  Normally, in a book which ends as this one does, I would give it a label of erotica, rather than romance.  However, Test of Faith was a romantic book.  My emotions were engaged and this story is far, far more than just a sex scene to titillate the senses.  I finished the book feeling genuinely sad, but also resigned to the fact that the story is as historically accurate as it should be.  My heart ached for what could have been for these two men, had not pride and circumstance interfered.

Other than the ending, there was one other slight niggle which affected my enjoyment of this book.  The story is constructed so that the viewpoint shifts backwards and forwards between the men and I found some of these shifts quite abrupt, so abrupt that it pulled me out of the story whilst I read back to work out whose head I was now in.  This wasn't enough to spoil my enjoyment too much but it was a small annoyance from time to time.

Despite the niggle, this was a pretty terrific story.  Historically it seems well researched; the characters are engaging; and the writing poetic and beautiful.  If you like historical stories and are prepared for the lack of HEA, then I highly recommend this story to you with a grade of 'Excellent'.  I've been very impressed with this collaboration so far, and I look forward to reading more of their stories.

Buy this book HERE.