The Mystic Rose (The Celtic Crusades #3) [Hardcover]

Stephen R. Lawhead (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2001

Stephen R. Lawhead's Celtic Crusades saga has won widespread critical acclaim and a legion of loyal readers. Now, he returns with the final volume in this magnificent series -- a tale rich in history and imagination, filled with danger, betrayal, courage, and faith, as the third generation of a Scottish noble family continues its eternal quest to secure the divine on earth, and preserve humankind's last true hope for salvation.

While undergoing the initiation into the highest order of a secret religious society, Scottish lawyer Gordon Murray discovers the greatest revelation of all ...A thousand years after its disappearance, the Mystic Rose, which is the fabled Grail -- the Chalice of the Last Supper -- has been found, and the Knights Templar will stop at nothing to possess it. Led by the ruthless and corrupt Renaud de Bracineaux, the warrior monks embark on a dangerous and deceitful quest to find the Holy Cup.

Only one person stands in their way: Cait, a young woman from the windswept hills of northern Scotland. Raised on the Crusader tales of her grandfather, Murdo, and her father, Duncan, the redoubtable Cait has determined to claim the prize for her own.

The trail is long, and it is treacherous. Guided only by a handful of coded clues gleaned from a stolen letter, Cait and her small band of knights will make their way from the shadowed halls of Saint Sophia to the marble palaces of Aragon, from Constantinople to Santiago de Compostela and beyond, deep into the heart of Moorish Spain and a world unseen by Christian eyes for over four hundred years.

Thus begins a race which quickly escalates into a battle of wits, will, and might between two implacable, cunning, and resourceful foes for the possession of the most valuable object in all Christendom: the Mystic Rose.

Magnificent and breathtaking in scope, The Celtic Crusades traces the epic tale of one family fighting for its faith during one of the bloodiest epochs in history, and with The Mystic Rose delivers a powerful and moving climax to this unique and compelling historical adventure. Vividly interweaving the history of our own tumultuous time with events from long ago, and brilliantly blending sheer, visceral storytelling excitement with a powerful sweeping vision of human destiny, Stephen R. Lawhead concludes his thrilling trilogy of a Scottish noble family during the age of the Crusades and the secret society whose hidden ceremonies have shaped our world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lawhead, a prolific writer of historical novels, ably captures the colorful swirl of Crusader-era Byzantium and Spain in this final installment in his latest trilogy (The Iron Lance; The Black Rood). In Constantinople on a trip to the Holy Land, where her Scottish family has battled Saracen invaders for two generations, Celtic beauty Caitr¡ona is desolate when her father is stabbed to death in the crowded cathedral of Ayia Sophia by unscrupulous Templar Renaud de Bracineaux. Eager to seek revenge, Cait steals a letter from Renaud disclosing the whereabouts of the Holy Grail, called the Mystic Rose, and sets off in her father's ship for Spain, with the Templars in hot pursuit. Romanced on the Iberian peninsula by a handsome Moorish prince, a Valentino clone lacking only a desert and a blue lens filter, Cait finds the Grail and defeats the Templars with the help of her faithful Norse sailors and the prince's men. Otherwise conventional, this historical potboiler takes an unexpected turn at its conclusion, when Cait sips "a darkly gleaming crimson liquid" from the Grail and has a vision of a da Vinci-like "Passover Feast." Blessed in the vision by a young man named Yeshua, she emerges bearing stigmata and is charged with making a distinct career change. The action drags in places, and an unnecessary early 20th-century subplot is wrapped up after the climax, but Lawhead's robust characterizations and vivid descriptions of exotic locales should satisfy fans.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

After her father's murder in Jerusalem by the Templar knight Renaud de Bracineaux, Lady Caitriona vows to avenge his death but finds herself drawn instead into a perilous journey in search of a holy treasure known as the Mystic Rose. Christian fantasist Lawhead concludes his trilogy of faith and heroism with a tale of a determined young woman whose love for her father leads her to a higher calling. Together with the other books in the series (The Iron Lance, The Black Road), this historical fantasy is recommended for most collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Harper Voyager; 1st edition (October 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061050318
• ISBN-13: 978-0061050312
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #891,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen R. Lawhead is a prolific and bestselling author of mythic history and imaginative fiction. He is best known for his King Raven trilogy, a re-telling of the Robin Hood legend, and Pendragon Cycle, centering on the King Arthur legend. Other notable works include the Song of Albion, Celtic Crusades and Dragon King Trilogies, Byzantium, Patrick, Avalon, and the works of science-fiction Dream Thief and Empyrion saga. Lawhead makes his home in Oxford, England, with his wife.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Par ending to a Par series, October 10, 2001

By 

Timothy Waters (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mystic Rose (The Celtic Crusades #3) (Hardcover)

I feel like I am commiting a sacriligeous act by writing a bad review of a Stephen Lawhead novel.

I loved the Pendragon Cycle. read the series twice
I wept in the Song of Albion read the series 4 times
I was enheartened by Byzantium. third time reading
And I reminisced in Avalon. read twice

But I was disappointed in the Celtic Crusades. Its not that they were bad. They weren't at all. But they weren't good either. They were just "there". Kinda like your belly button. It doesn't look bad, it doesn't look good. It just "exists".

I was dissapointed in the character developement. I never cared much for any of the characters in this series, least of all Cait in the "Mystic Rose". There is not much motivation to continue reading a series when all the characters bore you. I did like Rognivald (sp?).

I never cared much about the plot either. Searching and recovering holy artifacts is just plain boring and not to mention its already been done. Stick with the stories about men and the love they have for their people and their country (Albion and Pendragon) and stick with stories of men on historic and spiritual journies (Byzantium).

Did anyone else get the feeling that the rest of the series was written because he just "had to finish the series"?

Very dissapointed but not so dissapointed that I am not eagerly awaiting his next novel or series.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, April 18, 2002

By 

phantomfan (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mystic Rose (The Celtic Crusades #3) (Hardcover)

After a wonderful start in The Iron Lance, and a story that finally picked up and became interesting (more than halfway through) in The Black Rood, The Mystic Rose was a very disappointing read.

I am a huge fan of Stephen Lawhead, who is without a doubt one of the most gifted writers still living in the world. If anyone else had written this book, I would have given it 3 stars, but I have come to expect much better than this from Mr. Lawhead.

Cait is not a likeable nor a believable character, although she is slightly more interesting than Duncan. Not to say too much, the entire episode with the prince completely undermined her integrity and she lost all credibility as a character. I kept thinking (being a woman myself) that woman would NOT act that way. (By the way, Lawhead has written another novel largely from a woman's perspective - Taliesin, in which Charis is the main character, and in which Lawhead did a fine job characterizing her and making her real and believable.)

The story was slow, but Lawhead frequently begins stories slow. Thus, throughout the book I expected it to pick up ... something interesting is bound to happen soon ... I confess I skimmed the last eighty pages or so just to say I'd finished it.

Please don't get me wrong - Lawhead is a gifted writer, and at least the first volume of this series is very, very much worth the reading, but I'm afraid The Mystic Rose missed the mark.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth 2.5 stars, but I'll round up based on past performance, December 15, 2001

By 

Timotheus Josephus - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mystic Rose (The Celtic Crusades #3) (Hardcover)

The Mystic Rose continues the downward trend in the quality of stories in "The Celtic Crusades" series. While I found The Iron Lance enjoyable, and Black Rood decent, I just could not find as many positive aspects in Mystic Rose.

The main character, Cait, is not likeable, nor do you empathize with her in most situations. The reader isn't able to fully connect with her emotions and thoughts. I've never read a Lawhead book in which the main character was a female, but I'm wondering if he struggled with the process of trying to write a story from a woman's perspective. The first half of this story is, quite simply, boring. The remainder does have some redeeming qualities, including vivid battle scenes (a staple of Lawhead's), more interesting characters, and an overall higher level of action.

Lawhead is capable of doing so much better than Mystic Rose, and I'm looking forward to a rebound in his next book.