Customer Reviews

The Mystic Rose (The Celtic Crusades #3)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

After reading some of the other reviews here I had to voice my opinion. I am just grateful that I read the book before these reviews!!! Maybe the action is a bit slower in this final book of the series but what it lacks in action it makes up for in plot... Only Lawhead could give us a story of this depth set in this era!!! Maybe it's not the Pendragon Cycle (of which I am a huge fan) but it is still Lawhead and I was not disappointed!!!
I really identified with Cait (the heroine). She struggled with herself and her world and was won over in the end by the God that had been chasing her throughout the story. The reemergence of de Bracineaux was utterly brilliant and true to his character from Rood only much more developed. And the ever present Cele De story was... well, let's not give that away, just know that our veiw of Murdo, Duncan, and Caitriona from within the Cele De was reconciled at last and beautifully. I felt he crowned the Celtic Crusades with gem!!!
No one, and I mean NO ONE does historical fiction/fantasy the way Lawhead can... who else can wrap those 2 genres up together and make you like it?

This is the third volume in the Celtic Crusades series and I would rate this one as "not as good as the first, but better than the second." All of the books in this series are very good. The characters are well-developed, the plots are good and there are many interesting sub-plots. My only gripe is that the first two get started a little slowly, but if you hang in there for the first 50-75 pages then the action gets going well.

The Mystic Rose does the best job of the three in grabbing your attention at the beginning and holding it. Within the first few pages an event happens that sets the tone for the rest of the book. The heroine, Caitriona sets off on a quest to avenge her father's murder and capture Christendom's most sacred relic. In fact, capturing Christendom's most sacred relic is integral to her plan for revenge. This sets up a dicey moral dilemma that is resolved nicely at the end.

I find things like this moral dilemma to be one of Lawhead's strengths. In so much Christian fiction the heroes are cookie cutter Christians who seem to rise above all of the sins and temptations of the common man. Lawhead's heroes, and Caitriona in particular are very earthy, and very sinful people. The upshot of this is that he tells a story that leads one to believe that God, in his mercy, is the real hero of the story, not the protagonist of the book.

At the end of this story, Caitriona is less conquerer and more conquered by the love and mercy of God. This is a very gospel based story line.

All in all, the entire series is a worthwhile read.

I found this book to be an incredible bore. After the first two books in the series, the first one quite entertaining and the second one less so, I was shocked at the incredible number of yawns I counted while reading this. The characters, especially Cait, were so thoroughly unlikeable and I could not relate to them hard as I tried. If it was any other author, I would give this a two, but as I generally like Lawhead books, I hope that this will encourage him to SPEED UP THE PLOT and BETTER CHARACTERIZE!

Lawhead is a master at building a landscape, as he so wonderfully illustrated in The Song of Albion series. With attention to detail (sometimes to the extreme), Lawhead makes us smell and taste and hear the tangibles of worlds far removed from us. And, usually, he makes us aware of the intangibles. Though his characters can seem stiff at times, they reflect eras gone by, and sometimes suprise us with their poignant insights and honor.

I am a huge fan of "The Iron Lance." In the first book of this series, Lawhead gave us a character in Murdo that we could relate to--he struggled with his faith, with his quest, and with his own weaknesses. In "The Black Rood" and "The Mystic Rose," we find characters who never struggle in the way Murdo did. For this reason, they never drew me into the story the same way.

Don't get me wrong, Cait's character in "The Mystic Rose" is worthy of her forbears. She is strong and ready for the task ahead. After witnessing her father's murder, she decides to seek revenge against the Templar commander responsible. Inadvertently, she ends up with a letter that is key to the location of the Holy Grail, the Mystic Rose. As she sets out to find this treasure, in hopes of luring her father's killer, we are exposed to places rich in color and scenery. Unfortunately, some of this seems staged. Lawhead leads us to believe that a certain Arab prince is up to no good, but later we find ourselves slightly deceived by this. We also see the Templar commander begin to track Cait, but this subplot tapers off until his sudden appearance at the end. We suspect that this will happen, so it's no big surprise; the only surprise is that we're given no explanation of how he found the Mystic Rose's location.

One subplot that other reviewers have been quick to rail against, the early 1900's connection, I personally enjoyed throughout the series. It brought the historic existence of these holy relics into this century, whetting my appetite for the real treasure of the Swift Sure Hand that Lawhead writes of. In "The Mystic Rose," more than the first two books of The Celtic Crusades, Lawhead points us in a spiritual direction full of hope and grace. In so doing, he adds value for those who believe--and possibly undermines the effort for those who do not.

I believe. I enjoyed the series. After following three generations of Scottish folk through thousand year old adventures, I am thankful for the experience.

In the first two novels of this trilogy Lawhead narrates the tales of Murdo and then Duncan, Orkney Lords on pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

The final novel opens with the death of Duncan, and it is left to his plain headstrong daughter Cait and her flighty and beautiful sibling Thea to avenge him.

The now familiar Brother Andrew guides Cait in the theft of a letter which promises a prize beyond value, which can only be the Holy Grail (lets face it, the family already have the holy lance and the cross - what's left?).

Cait borrows from her fathers experience and travels to Damascus, where she randsoms a band of Norse knights who have been captured by the turks. Then they travel from one end of the Islamic world to the other, to Moorish Spain. Racing all the way to defeat the evil schemes of the corrupt Master of the Knights Templars, the book races to a thrilling conclusion. Will the Evil Renaud De Bracineaux get his filthy hands on the Grail, which he wants for himself, or will Cait save it.......for herself.....? I'm sure she deserves it. Something to do with keeping it safe until it is needed. Never did understand that twist in the plot.

The use of a female protagonist sets this novel out from the previous two, and makes for a good conclusion to the series. It is not the Da Vinci Code, so everyone lives happily ever after except for the bad guys. But it is a fun read, and the research is good, so you get a good feel for the world of the Crusades.

I have to say that, after reading some other reviews on here, that I almost didn't buy this book. Thankfully, my desire to finish this trilogy overcame any trepidation caused by poor reviews, so I purchased the book and brought it to the beach.

The book is not up to Lawhead's usual fare. The plot tends to drag in places, and some of the description becomes tediously overdone. I did enjoy the story, and found myself reading more than I had planned at each sitting(thank God for sunscreen, or I'd have been a lobster!). Cait's quest for the Grail, her desperate search for her sister -- these parts of the book drew me further. Her encounter with both the subjects of her search in the same place and her ... but I will say no more, so as to not give away precious plot points. Suffice to say that the book is well worth the time and effort in reading it. For those who have followed Murdo and Duncan, this book contributes to the BOTH stories that we have been following -- the story of the returning Crusader, and the story of the modern-day Cele De.

Concluding the "Celtic Crusades" trilogy - this book kind of had to be a grail quest really! Better than the second book, Lawhead recovers his sense of storytelling, but still I think the first of the series was the best. Lawhead writes action sequences very well, but the journeying I found a little too long winded.

In this story Cait, daughter of Duncan, son of Murdo Ranulfson, witnesses the murder of her father at the hands of a Knight Templer. She promises not to avenge him, but does not keep her vow - but before she can kill her father's murderer, she discovers an important document and steals it. This then sets in train a grail quest across medieval Europe.