On Crusade: More Tales of the Knights Templar [Paperback]

Katherine Kurtz (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Tales of the Knights Templar | Publication Date: May 1, 1998

The bestselling author of the Deryni fantasy series has compiled a new collection of stories about a mysterious and romantic order of medieval knights, featuring tales written by Andre Norton, Deborah Turner Harris, and other of today's leading fantasists.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Katherine Kurtz has collected eleven original stories based on the legendary Knights Templar in a book that serves as a sequel to her earlier collection, Tales of the Knights Templar. The stories, written by such authors as Andre Norton, Diane Duane and Kurtz herself, are separated by interludes that chronicle the actual history of the Templars and that also set the background for each successive tale. As with most collections, the stories vary widely from about average to pretty good. What's most compelling here is the Templars themselves, a mysterious order of knights founded in the late 11th century, ostensibly to protect pilgrims in and around Jerusalem. But the Templars grew to become one of the most powerful political and religious orders in the world, only to be brought down by a jealous King Philip IV of France. In the aftermath of their destruction, tales and legends that persist today sprang up around the Templars, creating fertile ground for Kurtz's band of imaginative storytellers. --Craig Engler

From Publishers Weekly

The Order of the Knights Templar is best known for its members' zealous deeds in the Holy Land, but the organization was also a formidable financial institution?wealthy enough to earn the enmity of the Catholic church and King Philip IV of France, who, in 1307, ordered the Templars hunted down. This dark period provides the backdrop for Kurtz's second Knights Templar anthology (after the mass market Tales of the Knights Templar, 1995), a hit-or-miss collection despite appearances by some popular fantasy authors as well as by the head of John the Baptist, the Shroud of Turin and the Holy Grail. A Templar official pays off a draft authorizing payment of "an amount without limit" to protect a holy artifact in Diane Duane's slight "Blank Check." Andre Norton's surprising "Stonish Men," with its New England colonials speaking like characters in a B-grade western, does little with the intriguing idea that Templars might have fled to America. Kurtz's own "Restitution" merely allows modern-day reincarnated Templar Sir Adam Sinclair (from her popular Adept series) to tie up a loose end from another story. Robert Reginald's "Occam's Razor," however, is a lively tale, with William of Occam called in by the pope to investigate some suspicious deaths. Also noteworthy is the dry, neo-noir "Selling the Devil" by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald. Educational interludes by Kurtz knit the collection together and fill in the context that too many of the stories leave out.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Aspect (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446673390
• ISBN-13: 978-0446673396
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,356,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fill your night with more Tales of the Knights, April 27, 1998

By 

Edward Alexander Gerster "miamibooks" (South Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On Crusade: More Tales of the Knights Templar (Paperback)

The Knights Templar have proven to be a durable subject of historic fascination and literary speculation for more than 700 years since their alleged end. These elite warrior-priests, answerable only to the Pope, amassed wealth, knowledge and power through their Crusades in the Holy Lands.

ON CRUSADE tells eleven new tales, mostly fantasy, based on the exploits and actions of the Knights Templar. It continues the explorations began in TALES OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR, and shows both the humanity, and inhumanity of soldiers who straddled the hyposcrisy of being warriors for Christianity. The individual tales are wonderful dips into the waters of literary talents both new and old. Highly Recommended

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exciting, puts you right in the action., March 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: On Crusade: More Tales of the Knights Templar (Paperback)

A collection of very good writing styles. Believable. Exciting. Excellent escapist work, lets you get away from the daily grind and live in the adventure of the Middle Ages.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Tales of Pure Knights, November 27, 2005

By 

OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: On Crusade: More Tales of the Knights Templar (Paperback)

_The author's _On Crusade_ is my favorite single volume on the subject of the Knights Templar- and this volume is a worthy successor. Like the original it combines both fact and myth in an a blend that comes across exactly right. The introduction,as well as, the "interludes" between stories, are an excellent, readable history of the order, while the stories themselves cover the mythology and legend from many differing perspectives- from the founding of the order, to the present day, to the far future.

_You get an good overall sense of what the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon (later, the Knights of the Temple) were really all about. These were men from all over Christiandom (and perhaps beyond) who were pledged to protect pilgrims and holy places with their lives and honor. The took a vow of absolute poverty- individual knights owned nothing. Any wealth the order amassed was put to the purpose of the protection of pilgrims- and later, all of the Christiandom. A measure of their success at fulfilling their original purpose lies in the fact that, from humble pilgrims to kings, all knew that they could trust their lives, as well as, their last penny to the Templars. Even the infidels knew that Templars were honorable men, for they neither asked for, nor accepted ransom, nor would they retreat in battle (unless out-numbered by at least three-to-one, and even then only under direct orders.) It is said that even the famed Assassins feared and payed tribute to the Templars.

_Are the Templars still among us?