A Tudor Turk, by Rehan Khan

A Tudor Turk is a story set in the year 1591. The story revolves around two main characters, Will Ryde and Awa Maryam Al-Jameel. Will Ryde is a 16-year-old galley slave from London. He longs to go back to his home country and meet his mother after he was taken from her at a very young age. Will has a chance to change his life forever and needs to prove himself worthy of this opportunity. On his travels, he meets a woman from the Songhai Empire, Awa Maryam Al-Jameel. She is a talented warrior who finds herself in the middle of a quest, to find the stolen Staff of Moses.

Awa, Will and a team of other trained warriors (Rüzgar) have to retrieve the staff and return it to Sultan Murad III. Their journey takes them from Istanbul to Alexandria, to Venice to London and back to Istanbul. Danger lurks behind every corner and the Rüzgar have to stay alert.


They have to fight battle after battle and are constantly putting themselves in danger. The team have to go through tragic losses and these make the job they have been given, so much harder. To solve the problems they are faced with, they have to use their strong friendship and work together.

I liked the fact that the story was mostly based on historical events that happened in 1591. I learnt a lot about different aspects of history from this period in time. The characters clearly also learn a lot during their quest. They have to learn to live in terribly difficult and potentially fatal conditions, whilst still striving to complete their very difficult challenge.

Overall, the book was a very fast-paced page-turner. Once I started to read it, I just couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series. If its as good as this one, I think I might have a few sleepless nights! I would rate this book a 5/5 and would recommend it for ages 11 and above.

I am also happy to mention that my blog has been featured on Feedspot’s list of  Top 100 Children’s Book Blogs.