The Templar Legacy: A Novel (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: abbey des fontaines, main rue, parish close, The Templar Legacy, Steve Berry, Lars Nelle (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Berry goes gnostic in this well-tooled Da Vinci Code-knockoff, his fourth novel (The Romanov Prophecy). Ex-U.S. Justice Department agent Cotton Malone is intrigued when he sees a purse snatcher fling himself from a Copenhagen tower to avoid capture, slitting his own throat on the way down for good measure. Further snooping introduces him to the medieval religious order of the Knights Templar and the fervid subculture searching for the Great Devise, an ancient Templar archive that supposedly disproves the Resurrection and demolishes traditional Christian dogma. The trail leads to a French village replete with arcane clues to the archive's whereabouts, and to an oddball cast of scholar-sleuths, including Cassiopeia Vitt, a rich Muslim woman whose special-ops chops rival Malone's. Malone and company puzzle over the usual Code-inspired anagrams, dead language inscriptions and art symbolism, debate inconsistencies in the Gospels and regale each other with Templar lore, periodically interrupting their colloquia for running gun battles with latter-day Templar Master Raymond de Roquefort and his pistol-packing monks. The novel's overcomplicated conspiracies and esoteric brainteasers can get tedious, and the various religious motivations make little sense. (Thankfully, the author soft-pedals the genre's anti-Catholicism.) But lively characters and action set pieces make this a more readable, if no more plausible, version of the typical gnostic occult thriller. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

The Knights Templar, a small monastic military order formed in the early 1100s to protect travelers to the Holy Land, eventually grew and became wealthy beyond imagination. In 1307, the French king, feeling jealous and greedy, killed off the Templars, and by 1311, the last master, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake. The whereabouts of the Templars' treasure--and their secrets--have been the subject of legend ever since. Now, a new thriller trieas to follow in the steps of The Da Vinci Code.

There's a secret about early Christianity at the core of Berry's Templar Legacy, but he dispenses the clues too slowly. The cat-and-mouse game between Cotton Malone, a former Justice Department agent, and a modern-day order of Knights Templar is weighed down with too much confusing backstory about the Templars' connection to Rennes-le-Chateau and the mystery that surrounds it. (The real-life town plays a part in The Da Vinci Code as well.) Like Dan Brown, Berry draws on the seminal nonfiction work Holy Blood, Holy Grail for many of his themes. After nearly grinding to a halt through all the premise building, the novel finally gathers steam in the last 100 pages or so, concluding with a revelation that seems refreshingly clear after the many convoluted twists that precede it. Until the next Dan Brown opus is released, this should hold devotees. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition edition (February 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345476158
• ISBN-13: 978-0345476159
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (180 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #286,016 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Scanning Wikipedia doesn't count as research, Steve Berry, August 16, 2006

By	sanstitre - See all my reviews

I started this novel primarily because of massive amounts of praise heaped onto it by various family members, claiming it to be a 'DaVinci Code' (with which I have an entirely different set of issues) worthy thriller. More importantly, I have studied and continue to hold an interest in the history of the Middle Ages and am willing to give most anything historical fiction/thriller-related a go. I was greatly disappointed with 'The Templar Legacy' not only because of its ridiculously slow pace and rubbish character development (if that phrase can even be applied to the novel at all) but primarily because of the astonishingly apparent lack of in-depth research by its author, Steve Berry. Whilst reading the novel, I honestly felt as if he had merely read abstracts on the topics he covered in the novel and felt that to be sufficient enough to put into final draft. Everything from theology to medieval history to religious life seemed to have a veil of inaccuracy hanging upon it, as if the author felt addressing his opinion to be more important than being correct. I was repeatedly shocked at the incorrect, awkward grammar, numerous misspellings of common words, and often overly camp expressions ("The land, as far as the eye could see, oozed the romance of history when marauding knights swooped like eagles from the fortified heights to prey on their foe,"- please.) Where was the editor?? Berry's knowledge of the French phrases and place names in the book is underwhelming, repeatedly changing the accent and capitalization of the word 'abbé' and misspelling the Palais des Papes. There are numerous errors seemingly every few pages that agitated me more and more as I went on: Berry refers to a character as 'half-Muslim' (Islam is an ethnicity as well as a religion?), misuses the word 'anachronistic', refers to the ancient Egyptian deities Isis and Osiris as Greek, and repeatedly makes errors regarding Catholic dogma and practices. There are numerous more glaring errors that I fail to recall. It may seem petty on my part, but I felt insulted continuously at the transparent lack of research and commitment on Berry's behalf, almost to the point of being unable to finish the book. It was as if he was attempting to seem very educated about the subject matter, spewing facts out left, right and center, but the overall effect given off was one of shallow arrogance.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The start of a promising new series , March 1, 2006

By	Bookreporter.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

Steve Berry has acquired a formidable reputation within the relatively short space of three novels. His latest work, THE TEMPLAR LEGACY, introduces readers to Cotton Malone, a former covert agent of the U.S. Justice Department.

The history of the rise and fall of the Templars, from a force created for the protection of Christian pilgrims to a society whose wealth and power equaled (and perhaps threatened) that of the Roman Catholic Church that they purportedly served, is fascinating even as it is shrouded in mystery. The primary questions about the Templars that have yet to be answered are: 1) How did the organization manage to acquire the power that it did? and 2) What happened to its much-rumored treasure, which was seemingly lost forever when the Templars experienced a rough disbanding at the hands of an alliance of convenience between church and state? Berry sends Malone on a wild chase to connect the dots in a tale that is equal parts cerebral and cataclysmic.

Malone finds himself drawn into the pursuit of the Templar legacy when what was supposed to be a visit with Stephanie Nelle, his former supervisor at Justice, turns into a purse snatching that ends when the perpetrator, after being cornered, commits suicide. It develops that the would-be thief is after a notebook of Nelle's late and estranged husband that has passed into her possession under somewhat mysterious circumstances. Nelle's husband had become famous writing a number of speculative works concerning European mysteries of the 14th century, including the disappearance of the Templar fortune. His notebooks and a seemingly innocuous manuscript appear to hold the key to the ultimate location of the treasure trove.

Malone and Nelle are in competition with others in a race to the treasure --- a race that includes the modern-day leader of the Templars, an organization that has continued to exist quietly, biding its time. Malone gets some assistance from unexpected sources, including an exotic and capable Moslem beauty with an agenda of her own and a Templar monk whose destiny appears to be forewritten in prophecy. As they draw closer to unearthing the treasure, however, Malone finds that the number of people whom he can fully trust becomes fewer and fewer, even as the path to the treasure, and the Templar legacy, grows more dangerous.

Berry has created a likable, capable, and ultimately believable character in Malone, one who is perhaps more competent cerebrally than physically, though he certainly is no slouch in either department. Malone's de facto alter ego --- after cashing in his retirement, he owns and operates a bookstore in Denmark --- is both intriguing and intrinsically ironic, a status quo that hopefully will be retained in future novels. THE TEMPLAR LEGACY thus simultaneously serves as Malone's introduction and keeps Berry's string of winning novels intact.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

91 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good beginning, slow middle, better than average finale!, March 1, 2006

By	Christine Mendoza "The girl next door" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read the Amber Room and enjoyed it, but did find it slow in places, and having a bit too much sensational sex and violence (I am all for sex and violence as long as it is central to the story). Over all though it was an entertaining read on a great subject, so I decided to try Mr. Berry's latest novel even though I am weary of all the Da Vinci Code clones. The Nights of the Templar is also slow in places, but is overall an entertaining novel. Like the Da Vinci this book is based on many of the ideas presented in the nonfiction book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" (these theories have been proven false and are not taken seriously by credible historians). I found the build up confusing in places and almost gave up on the book halfway through. The final third of the book saves the day with a convincing conclusion that makes the book worth while. Final conclusion: If you are looking for something to carry you through to the next Dan Brown thriller you will probably find this book entertaining. On the other hand, If you have had enough of the "Da Vinci Code hype, you might want to pass on this one. Oh Yeah, I recommend you check out the thriller "Tourist in the Ycuatan," a Da Vinci Code for the America's!