Hard work
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I'm afraid I have to agree with the general concensus, whilst the majority of my reading is based around either the crusades or the great war, I found this book almost impossible, long winded, confused and in parts well boring I'm afraid. Reading the blurb I took to this book with great hopes of the forthcoming series only to be sadly disappointed. As pointed out in an earlier review, how can you cover the siege of Antioch in 2 pages? That alone should speak a story.
Pity, but I won't be bothering with Standard of Honour
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Compelling and Well written
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I cant understand why so many people have condemned this book. Maybe they were all looking for Dan browne type stories.
Personally I fould this to be a brilliant book, well written , maybe a little slow in places but it added meat to the bones of the myths of one of the most interesting organisations of medieval times.
To those who gave it 2 - open your minds and read it again.........
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Holey Story
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"I know of no other book which places true historical facts so easily into the dialogue. "
Well so far I have only read the author's inro and the first chapter and its historical accuracy is already full of holes.
I will persist, though expect it will end up being thrown at the wall in exasteration
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The real Da Vinci code, Medieval Style
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I am dissapointed to see the previous reviews that this book has been given. Yes, it may be a heavy read, it's not your usuall crusade book with the armies of Christendom fighting before you even know who the charecters are. It is a bit slow to start, but the excellent plot later on makes up for it.
I know of no other book which places true historical facts so easily into the dialogue. The book's descriptions of the crusade at first is a bit weak but if the writer had tried to enter into the long dreary march of the crusaders as well as including all the facts I probably would've gotten bored. But what plot is better than that of trying to unearth the secrets of Christ beneath the very eyes of the Cathlic Church? What plot is better than the beggining of an order which completley dominated the medieval world for at least 200 years?
What can be more inspiring, than a group of knights, secretly fighting for the most just cause of all? I've always been fascinated with the crusade's, and wanted to imagine a true hero leading it, but as much as you may try to justify the whole ordeal it is still very hard (something that Kingdom of Heaven tried with Orlando Bloom as 'the perfect knight').
Yet here you have the first Martin Luther's, secretly fighting to release the people from the mighty Catholic Church and it's Racist lies of the time. And then the astonishment when you realized that this is all fact, or slight variation on fact. Nothing could be a more compelling read, and if a 14 year old can easily enjoy it then it is definately not that 'hard to get into' at all.
And after reading this book, and am begining to read the next in the series I am convinced, that the Templars and their legacy are the next influential force on Europe scince the Romans.
An excellent read for anyone who is intrested in medieval history or the Da Vinci code. (14+)
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Conspiracy theory nonsense
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Let me address the esoteric side.
Whyte attempts to wrap himself in Freemasonic tradition backed by claims from the Holy Blood, Holy Grail/Dan Brown conspiracy theory. The outcome of the story drifts into some form of Indiana Jones adventure whose resolution is completely incompatible with his theory.
Unfortunately for him, there is actually some original, nearly contemporary (thirteenth and fifteenth century) historical evidence in support of his claim, which he misses: if he has the kind of knowledge he indicates, he'd have known of it and its consequences, but his incoherence demonstrates admirably that the Freemasons must have attempted to rewrite history when the esoteric subject resurfaced in the 1560s, sparking the alchemical furore in which the hard science of chemistry has its roots.
The result is that he associates his story with known and discredited modern frauds, and thus discredits himself.
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