Customer Reviews

Shattered Icon

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

 

 

I have procrastinated in getting this latest Bill Napier's novel for nine months, and eventually took a gamble buying one. The same novel was also titled as Splintered Icon.

For fans of The Da Vinci code: do not expect something identical to Dan Brown's novel. This novel flips back and forth between current day and 200+ years ago. For the historical fiction part, I give this novel a five-star rating. It's like reading Wilbur Smith novels.

The icon is supposedly from Christ himself and being sought after by the main protagonist and an old church faction fanatic-turned-terrorist. Lots of astronomy involved for Napier himself being an astronomy professor at a university in Scotland. The romances part of the plot also went quite well, though not outstanding.

A four star read.

Bill Napier, author of "Shattered Icon", seems to be trying to be Britain's answer to Dan Brown, author of the super-success "The Da Vinci Code".

There are many similarities between "Shattered Icon" and "The Da Vinci Code". The story is very fast-moving, the hero and heroine are well-educated people with specialized historical knowledge, and the plot is based on events that happened long ago. The history of the Catholic Church is involved, and there is even a mention of Opus Dei, the religious organization that is featured in "The Da Vinci Code".

In "Shattered Icon" Harry (the hero) and Zola (the heroine) have to decode an encrypted 400-year-old journal in order to find a religious relic (the "icon"). Of course, there are also some really nasty bad guys trying to steal the journal and using violence to force Harry and Zola to turn the journal over to them. Later, when Harry and Zola are getting close to finding the relic, the bad guys get even nastier.

There are actually two stories in "Shattered Icon". One is the here-and-now story about Harry, Zola and the bad guys. The other is the 400-year-old story told by the journal, describing an expedition from England to The New World, an expedition shrouded in secrecy and full of conflicts. The journal tells an exciting story and gives clues about the religious relic that was hidden/lost 400 years ago.

When I started the book I was swept along by the fast-paced action and was enjoying the idea of an encrypted 400-year-old journal. But as I continued reading I realized that the story was not very believable. By the time I got to the end I could see holes in the plot that were big enough to drive a bus through.

For example, Harry and Zola have been attacked several times by the bad guys, and then they realize that a new member of their group is probably not who he claims to be. But they ignore this information and continue to blunder onwards as if they don't care!

Another example: By the time one gets to the end of the book it becomes obvious that the bad guys could not possibly have known that the 400-year-old journal told about an important religious relic. This makes the whole story crazy - why did the bad guys try to steal the journal and try to force Harry and Zola to give it up?

A final problem is that the characters in this book (like in a Dan Brown book) are not at all believable. In particular, Harry and Zola come across as pretty silly, in an amusing way, but do not resemble real people.

In conclusion, if you're willing to totally suspend your disbelief and go along for the ride then "Shattered Icon" is lots of fun. But if a plot that doesn't make sense and characters that are fairly two-dimensional reduce your enjoyment of a book then you should look elsewhere.

Rennie Petersen

PS. This book is published in the USA as "Splintered Icon". "Shattered Icon" is the original UK title.

I discovered Bill Napier a few months ago when on a whim, I picked up Revelation at a local booksellers. I was amazed as it was just the kind of novel a person of science such as myself who loves adventure stories needed. Cryptonomicon was great but long, this was a nice shorter diversion though no less interesting.

Then I bought Shattered Icon. Wow. What a good novel! Exciting, witty, historical adventure set in present times as well as the age of Sail!

I thoroughly recommend Shattered Icon.