Customer Reviews

The Temple and the Crown

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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I spent last night in Bannockburn with Robert Bruce and a group of outlawed Templar Knights. I watched in awe as they routed the army of Edward of England. Actually I've spent the last week following these men around the world...To France, Scotland, and even under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. And now that the adventure is over and Robert is King, I will miss our time together.

If I sound like Robert and his Templar friends are personal friends, you may be right. In their latest collaberation Kurtz and Harris have created their best story yet. They skilfully weave fact and fiction in this tale of Scottish independence and the downfall of the Knights Templar.

Much has been speculated about these mysterious warrior monks. When Philip of France orchestrated their downfall in 1307 he expected to find great stashes of gold and other valuables. However, when the king's men invaded the Templar Chapter Houses, the vaults were empty. Not one ounce of the Templar's reputed wealth has surfaced even to this day. What better place to stage a novel than in the middle of an unsolved mystery?

We follow Arnault St. Clair as he struggles with forces both physical and spiritual to put Robert Bruce on the Scottish throne and to provide a place for his displaced Brethren. The book is full of battles, politics, spiritual evil, and spiritual good. It is fast paced and full of characters one can actually identify with.

I hated to come to the end of this novel. That is the highest compliment I can pay to any book. I just hope that the story will go on.....and on......and on.....

I thought this book was a really good historical fantasy. Atmospheric, well researched, creative, etc.
But. I'm interested in Scottish history, history in general, and occultism. I have books upon books.
Katherine Kurtz is awesome as a writer, and I agree with the person above who said it feels like you are there. It's part of how she makes the story work. The more farfetched mysticism feels real because of the way she describes it and the whole scene.
But if you are not interested in history-you might get a bit lost. To say the least.

I did not like the first book at all and not sure why I read the second, I guess that I am just stubborn that way. I really enjoyed the concept of following Robert the Bruce through his consolidation of power. The Scottish Monarchy is a fascinating story and one in which I have ordered a history book about to read the whole story. What I didn't like about this book was that the battle between good and evil was too simplistic. When situations got bad for Bruce or the Templars there was no real action or plot to save them, the Templars just prayed about it and some divine intervention would take care of the problem. I simply didn't like the fact that it was that easy. I guess that I was looking for more drama or action from the divine forces. A demon in rings doing mans bidding in a war against the Templars (I would have thought the church as a whole would have been a better target for this concept). The Templar order falling apart from within was interesting and maybe I don't know enough about their real history to appreciate their treatment in this work. This was not my favorite piece of historical fiction.