| Title | : | Меч тамплиеров (Templar, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 5699468366 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9785699468362 |
| Language | : | Russian |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 368 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2009 |
Меч тамплиеров (Templar, #1) Reviews
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Novela al más puro estilo de Indiana Jones.
Su protagonista John “Doc” Holliday es un profesor en busca del origen de una espada que se encontraba en posesión de los nazis y que perteneció a los templarios.
Una trama poco novedosa, donde nuestro protagonista recorre medio mundo en busca de información, recibiendo palizas de las que sale poco más que ileso y sembrando su recorrido de cadáveres, a los que por cierto nadie presta la menor atención.
Aunque se resuelve el misterio del origen de la espada, el final queda abierto a próximas entregas que, por el momento, no voy leer, ya que no ha logrado convencerme. -
I enjoy the occasional thriller, and I have an abiding interest in the medieval order called The Poor Fellow-soldiers of Jesus Christ and Solomon's Temple, or Knights Templar, for short. Since Dan Brown's silly little fairy tale, there have been many offerings in the thriller genre dealing with these Crusader-monks and their putative hidden purpose and succession down into the present. I enjoy these tales, as far-fetched and obviously ridiculous as most of them are, because they make for a pleasant adventure. Suspension of disbelief for the sake of the tale is usually easy.
UNLESS ... the writer begins his tale with such egregious errors in historical fact that it blows one completely out of the story. Such a book is THE SWORD OF THE TEMPLARS. It has the same faults that most of these ancient-conspiracy-hidden-treasure-world-changing-revelation type books: utterly improbable thesis, insufficient motivation, plot driven as much by coincidence as by the protagonist(s)' actions, omnipotent and omnipresent villains. All this can be forgiven, if, as I said, one enjoys the occasional dip into this kind of story, as I do. What is unforgivable is the plain errors in Templar fact on which the author grounds his plot. Here are a few:
**THE BOOK: Hughes de Payens, the Templars' founder, was said to have gotten the backing of Godfrey of Bouillon, who had seized the title of King of Jerusalem, for the creation of the Order of the Temple.
HISTORICAL FACT: When the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, they elected Godfrey de Bouillon to rule the City, but he, a pious man, refused to accept the title of king in the city where Christ was crucified. He would only accept the title, "Defender of the Holy Sepulchre." Further, Godfrey lived only one year after the capture, dying in 1100. The Templars did not form until 1118 or 1119, under the sanction of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem.
**THE BOOK:Attributes the pamphlet, "De laude novae militiae" ("In Praise of the New Knighthood") to St. Alberic of Citeaux. HISTORICAL FACT: De laude nova militiae was written in the period 1128 - 1131 to establish that the new order was justified in waging war and shedding blood. It was written by St. Bernard of Clairevaux. Alberic had died in 1108.
**THE BOOK( p. 273): "Innocent was Pope during the Crusades. He was the one who eventually ordered the Templars to be arrested and killed." HISTORICAL FACT: Innocent was A pope during the Crusades, which lasted for more than two hundred years, but he was not the pope that presided over the destruction of the Templars. That was Pope Clement V, who, because of a promise he had made to King Philip IV (called "The Fair") of France prior to his elevation as pope, colluded with the French king in the sordid charges against and destruction of the Order.
There are others. Mistakes like this rob the readers of the simple, escapist pleasures to be had in books of this ilk. -
A good first book in a series. I will be reading the next one. Lots of action and travelling. Living vicariously through the author.
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This book was cliched and really skimpy on research and style. The plot was unbelievable with little characterization. I only finished it so I could legitimately write this review. It was like reading the outline for a book instead of a book. Even my writing has been affected by this book.If you want to read about Templars, try the Raymond Khoury book.
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It’s not the best, though it’s a long way from the worst of its type. I think maybe it could have done with being a bit longer. Of having more time to fold out the characters and the situations. It wasn’t written in the note-form seemingly favoured by Lee Child (in the first 'Jack Reacher' I’ve read anyway), but things do seem to fall a little too easily in place and I missed some further development. The action comes thick and fast and I think it could have done with a few ‘breathers,' a couple of ‘slower’ sections added in. There are some fairly thinly papered-over plot holes - they never seem to return car-hires - but nothing too alarming. Nothing to stop you racing through this almost as fast as the characters. Having said that, it was a lot better than some of the short reviews I saw when I glanced at it on Amazon/Audible.
There are plenty of interesting information nuggets packed in here too, some I was aware of, but plenty I wasn’t. It’s certainly not a Dan Brown-alike, which may have disappointed the publishers, but considering the fact that there are, as far as I can see, at least nine books in the series so far, he must have been considered to be doing something right. There’s enough to have me looking for where I can get hold of the second in the series anyway.
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Speesh Reads -
لطالما كان فرسان الهيكل من اكبر اسرار التاريخ الاوروبي و اكثرها اثارة للحيرة و الدهشة، فنشاة الجماعة و اهدافها و حتى اندثارها و مصيرها الغامض اثار حولها عدة تساؤلات و استفسارات و فتح المجال لعدة نظريات و اقتراحات..النورانيون..الماسونية..الوصول الى امريكا قبل كولومبوس و العديد العديد
تدور احداث هذه الرواية، و هي اول حلقة في سلسلة حول هذه الجماعة، حول سيف يرثه استاذ دراسات تاريخية في البحرية الامريكية و قريبته.. ما ان يقع بين يديهما حتى تبدا لعبة مطاردة اشبه بتوم و جيري، لكنها لا تخلو من المتعة السياحية و التاريخية ( الحرب العالمية، هتلر، سفاستيكا، موسوليني، فرسان الهيكل، هوج دو بايين، قلعة البيرين، صلاح الدين الايوبي..) بالاضافة الى العديد من المعلومات التي يشك في صحتها و يتاكد بطلانها لكنها اضفت سحرا تاريخيا فريدا على احداث الرواية
بالنسبة للحبكة الروائية فانها لم تنشق عن الطراز الدان براوني و لذلك اقول ان دان براون صنع انشا مذهبا معتمدا في عالم الرواية -
3.5 stars
The Sword Of The Templars is book one of the Templars series. It is a modern-day adventure thriller that follows secrets from the time of the crusades.
Lieutenant Colonel John ‘Doc’ Holliday and his cousin Peggy have recently inherited all the belongings of their relative, historian Henry Granger. They discover a mystery sword and a treasure trail of clues that takes them across Europe, to Israel and beyond. They are not the only ones seeking the treasure and soon the dead body count rises alarmingly.
This story grew on me; in places it was a little light on story depth, but the pace was relentless. First published in 2009 it felt dated in a places where technology has advanced, but this could easily be overlooked. The author names many films and books in the course of the narrative; I felt this was unnecessary as it didn’t add anything to the narrative. However, the storyline won me over and by half way I was keen to keep reading. With a glimpse into book two in the final pages, I would happily pick up the next book if the opportunity occurred. -
An old historian dies ad his nephew and granddaughter inherit. The nephew is a militar historian, retired army LTCol teaching military history at West Point. The granddaughter is a photo journalist with assignments all over the world. Whilst going thru his things they come across a medieval sword. They look at grandfathers passport and see he has been to England and Germany and his emails reveal correspondence with other medievalists.
This sets them on a quest to see what is going on with the sword as it seems to have come from Berchtesgaden shortly after the end of world war 2. So begins and exciting adventure over several countries. An excellent read. -
Definitely got better towards the end but for the majority of the book I was confused on what the characters were actually trying to do, the plot was so convoluted. Half a star for accurate Portuguese grandad characters 🥰
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Pretty nice and fast-paced, with easy to understand story, with lots of information about the Knights of Templar.
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Доста бързо и схематично развиващо се действие.
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I quite enjoyed the first book in Christopher's Templar series, but was left wondering a few things:
1) Where was this great writing in the Finn Ryan series?
2) Where was Cotton Malone (book reminded me a lot of Steve Berry)?
3) What does he have in store?
I liked the fast-paced nature of the book and the plots that came to the forefront. Holiday sped all around the world, meeting numerous other characters and the reader was able to learn a great deal about so many countries and cultures. Christopher should be applauded for that, especially by keeping the reader's interest.
I was left to wonder if Christopher is a fan of Steve Berry's work, as I expected the famed Cotton Malone tro pop up and offer some of his ideas to help push the story along. Perhaps I have read too much in this genre, but sometimes stories all wash together and I forget who i sholuld be expecting to start the next chapter.
I cannot wait to start the next book in the series and hope to be just as intrigued. -
I could not recommend this book any less. There are perhaps a few historical lessons to be learned but with the way it is presented you would be much better off (and i'm sure better informed) with a work of non fiction. The plot itself is very patchy and far too fast paced as the characters skip through countries in the blink of an eye, the authors lectures on the historical context make up a very large portion of the book and an equally large portion to dull descriptions of both people and environments. I am not interested in what the ceiling looks like. There is very little in the way of character development, the main protagonists get very repetetive and every minor character they meet seems very unpleasant whatever their role with sneering waiters, unpleasant maids and disgruntled secretaries.
Constant quotes to popular culture like Johnny Depp and as many references as possible to people like Shakespeare and E.A.Poe are unnecessary, the author seems quite determined to impress on the reader just how intelligent and well rounded he is. All in all it made for very bad story telling and the ending could not have come any sooner. -
This was a different reading venture than what I usually attempt. I wanted to delve into some of the history of the Templars, started with this book and realized it was going to be a quick read. It was and, unfortunately, so was the story. I felt as though too much backstory was being pushed into a very fast-paced storyline and it felt rather cluttered. The characters were accomplishing goal after goal at an extremely high rate. If only I could be this lucky while treasure hunting!!!
Overall, it was fun but not exactly what I was looking for. I will try the other novels in the series but at a later date. -
I liked this book, it's a good kickoff to a pretty good series. Holliday is a compelling character, and the storyline is good. If you liked The Last Templar, you'll like this one.
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An entertaining read which never really hit the heights I expected it to. I'm not quite sure why. I think 'Liked it' is fair.
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Paul Christopher has a really great voice and a fantastic way of blurring the lines between fiction and history. My dad initially passed me The Sword of the Templars a year ago and I held off reading in fear that I would pick it up and it would be a boys club esque Templar book I just couldn't get into. I mean don't get me wrong, I think the history of the Templar is fascinating, but when I read historical fiction I often like a bit more fluff and a bit more romance. I can be fairly basic in that respect. I also enjoy reading characters that I can relate to, and when the main character is a Retired Army Ranger teaching at West Point and you're a 24 year old theater nerd the pairing doesn't exactly match up.
So you can guess my surprise when I picked this book up and truly struggled to put it back down. I was hopelessly tangled in the web of Doc Holliday, Peggy, Rafi, and the Uncle who had one too many secrets. Paul Christopher did a marvelous job of leading our characters all over the globe, discovering one secret after the other, and painting a truly fascinating picture along the way. He is so successful at blurring reality with fiction that I made a point to look up a number of moments and places from the book to see what was real and what was part of his fantasy.
My favorite character was of course Peggy, Doc Holliday's vivacious, energetic, and wickedly smart niece. But in her descriptions is where I had my one major mark on the book, and ultimately gave it 4 instead of 5 stars. Being that the book is told primarily from Doc's perspective, it is a little disconcerting when Peggy is described in an over sexualized way. This doesn't happen often, but when it did I was instantly pulled from the story. One moment in particular is when Peggy decides she is going to swim through a lake to retrieve something for the group. She strips down to her underwear since she didn't have a bathing suit. Fine, fair, no judgement there. My problem was in how many times her slipping something into her panties, or moving in her panties or literally doing anything in her panties is described. We have already read that Peggy is an attractive woman so it is safe to assume we know she looks good naked. I also would have had zero problems with this description if it was Rafi (her love interest) taking note of the pantie action. I'm good with sexy, I love sexy, but not when sexy is being told from the perspective of the Uncle. At that point it just becomes a little uncomfortable.
But moving past that long winded note, I honestly loved the book and I am very much looking forwarded to The Templar Cross. -
I really enjoyed this first novel in the Templar series as an exciting modern spy/adventure novel, though I must warn people that the later books in the series will not receive such glowing reviews. I would give this first entry a solid recommendation for fans of globe-trotting thrillers in the vein of authors like Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, Daniel Silva, Christopher Reich, and Glen Meade.
The first book in Christopher's Templar series involves John "Doc" Holliday, a former special forces intelligence soldier currently teaching military history at West Point, with a specific focus on the Knights Templar. An uncle of his dies, leaving him and his cousin, Peggy, a house containing many articles, one of which is a Templar-era sword with intriguing inscriptions wrapped in a Nazi standard. When the uncle's house is burned down, Doc and Peggy are dragged into a frantic search for the origins of the sword, opposed by shadowy enemies representing modern Templars and the remnants of Nazi adherents, taking them to England, Ireland, France, Germany, Israel, and Portugal.
This book's story was really captivating, with a fast-moving plot bolstered by interesting locations and fascinating historical tidbits. Doc is presented as a competent, yet aging, soldier/spy, with contacts in multiple jurisdictions and abilities beyond the average history professor. Peggy is a strong young woman who sometimes overestimates her abilities and underestimates the danger in which they find themselves. The plot moves along well (I finished it in about two days), and has a nice conclusion that clearly sets up more books in the series (I believe there are 9 total), but is a satisfying book by itself if readers choose not to continue with the rest of the series.
There were a few editing mistakes that bugged me, especially with spelling ("lighting" instead of "lightning," or "yoke" instead of "yolk"), but it wasn't an egregiously bad final copy.
In sum, I'd give this entry in the series a solid recommendation for fans of international thriller/spy stories, but with the major caveat that I have some serious issues with later entries in this series -- so, readers who continue on with this series should be prepared to be lured in by this first one, then somewhat disappointed with those that follow. -
Paul Christopher's "The Sword of the Templars" has a certain familiarity about it; first of all, it focuses on the Templars, then there is an ancient object, a riddle to solve, and it all involves a sort of quest. Despite some criticism, Christopher's descriptive powers are excellent. His characters and situations are vivid, as are his geographic settings. His main character is Army Ranger Lt. Col. John Holliday who had resigned himself to ending his career teaching at West Point. Also of interest is his niece Peggy, both of whom are likeable characters about whom the reader grows to care.
The story begins when his uncle passes away, Holliday and his niece Peggy discover a medieval sword-wrapped in Adolf Hitler's personal battle standard. The lawyer claims it is his, and later the house is burned down and the sword almost stolen. Holliday and Peggy are determined to find out the truth. They are drawn on a treasure hunt that takes them from country to country to solve this riddle.
Some reviewers criticised "historical" facts and elements within the story; certainly as readers, we all want a relatively well researched story. Still, some reviewers were overly picky - this is fiction; it is not an history book. There is enough Templar history here to give the story credibility. If I want action, adventure, and escapism, then that's what I want. If I want a history lesson, then I will go and look it up. Still, there were some issues in the story with which I did have problems, such as when they left dead bodies in various countries and often lost their possessions and passports. Despite this, they traveled relatively freely, which did diminish the believability for me. Regardless, "The Sword of the Templars" was still enjoyable, and it kept me reading until the last page. Paul did have good character development and, contrary to some reviewers, a nicely crafted plot. The book was good, but not great; however, I will try the next one to see where Paul takes "Doc" Holliday in this new Templar series. If you enjoy the Templar stories and action genres, then I suggest you give this book a chance. -
Paul Christopher's "The Sword of the Templars" has a certain familiarity about it; first of all, it focuses on the Templars, then there is an ancient object, a riddle to solve, and it all involves a sort of quest. Despite some criticism, Christopher's descriptive powers are excellent. His characters and situations are vivid, as are his geographic settings. His main character is Army Ranger Lt. Col. John Holliday who had resigned himself to ending his career teaching at West Point. Also of interest is his niece Peggy, both of whom are likeable characters about whom the reader grows to care.
The story begins when his uncle passes away, Holliday and his niece Peggy discover a medieval sword-wrapped in Adolf Hitler's personal battle standard. The lawyer claims it is his, and later the house is burned down and the sword almost stolen. Holliday and Peggy are determined to find out the truth. They are drawn on a treasure hunt that takes them from country to country to solve this riddle.
Some reviewers criticised "historical" facts and elements within the story; certainly as readers, we all want a relatively well researched story. Still, some reviewers were overly picky - this is fiction; it is not an history book. There is enough Templar history here to give the story credibility. If I want action, adventure, and escapism, then that's what I want. If I want a history lesson, then I will go and look it up. Still, there were some issues in the story with which I did have problems, such as when they left dead bodies in various countries and often lost their possessions and passports. Despite this, they traveled relatively freely, which did diminish the believability for me. Regardless, "The Sword of the Templars" was still enjoyable, and it kept me reading until the last page. Paul did have good character development and, contrary to some reviewers, a nicely crafted plot. The book was good, but not great; however, I will try the next one to see where Paul takes "Doc" Holliday in this new Templar series. If you enjoy the Templar stories and action genres, then I suggest you give this book a chance. (less) -
I am a fan of Christopher Hyde, so much so that one of his works (A Gathering of Saints) is currently my favorite book. When I learned there were stories of his under a pseudonym I sought some of them out and here we are. The write up of Sword of the Templars didn’t immediately grab me; sounded too similar to Dan Brown for my taste… not that his books are bad, I’ve just already read some in his Langdon series. I gave it a shot though and Chris did not disappoint.
The story was interesting and engrossing. The locations were exciting (I want to go to the Azores even more than I did before). Most of all, the characters could’ve easily become grating and thankfully didn’t. That may not be high praise for John and Peggy, but he came close to a pretentious know-it-all, and she was almost that annoying side-kick type who always needed help getting out of things she caused. Neither of those came to fruition and it’s so relieving I wanted to bring it up.
Sword of the Templars was a more entertaining read than I thought it would be, but it isn’t without its nitpicks. For one thing, I highly doubt West Point would continue to let such a cynical person like John to teach classes. A historian or research specialist maybe; possibly for an upperclassman elective course, but not a full-time professor. Then there’s the bad guys, who are so rich and powerful they know exactly where John and Peggy are all the time. It strains believability when someone has a level of reach that rivals entire countries, especially given where his wealth comes from. By that same token, John and Peggy conveniently escape those near-omniscient villains a little too often.
Despite those minor points I would still recommend this book to fans of treasure hunt stories. I’m undecided if I’ll continue with the series, but another book was mentioned in this one that I plan to check out: Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett. Cheers -
Well, first off, who doesn’t LOVE anything and everything Templar Knights. Okay, sometimes they are too romanticized as Robin Hoods, but still… So this seemed like a nice change in what I’ve been reading lately. Some adventure travel, history lessons, fiction, Army (Huah!) prof and a spunky niece… get the beer ‘n popcorn, eh!⚔️ 😊 In fact, if Indiana Jones were a book, I imagine it would be this. Lots of unbelievable circumstances, coincidences, and curiosity not found in mere mortals. Villains who are let go, dead/killed henchmen and bit players… all to solve a series of clues, too obscure for anyone not named Google… or Doc Holliday. 😂. Wait a minute, His name and nickname are even better than Indy’s! Good start, but in this book, some cons (a lot) with those pros.
I love books with snippets of trivia, like the guy who invented cheese whiz (and the McDonald’s French fry!😳), Benedict Arnold and his secret door while Commandant at West Point. And 8 like having to look up things I just didn’t know (e.g., a Mansard roof, a morini bowl, Standard Oil and the Nazis 😳). This book had plenty of that… and a few fun descriptions that I happened to know (blue Morocco leather).
Some parts of the book had incredible amounts of (I.e., too much) detail. If you weren’t so into transportation/geography/logistics to get from A to B, or the seven different weapons used (or even passed by) in their escape(s), well, you found yourself skimming those half-dozen pages… each time he starts in.
So the two main characters are ‘cantankerous’ and ‘whiny’ with uncle-niece humo - not funny, not witty, so less entertaining than it could/should be. Unfortunately, not so many surprises, and no twists, unless I missed something. Learned some things, but not such a fun ride around the world with these two. -
Overall, I'd rate this book a 3.5/5.
I found the plot to be a fairly generic one for the genre of the story. The neo-nazi's searching for Templar treasure is commonly covered in stories of this type, and this didn't offer too much to the exploration of this.
A lot of the story is, I'm afraid to say, info-dumping, with various characters only being introduced to provide the exact information wanted by the protagonists before being killed off as "suspense". It became quite predictable in this sense, and the information provided became quite hard to follow.
"Doc", the narrator, annoyed me continuously throughout the story, from his almost incestuous relationship with his niece to his apparent wide knowledge of history and specific information needed at particular moments. He wasn't necessary likeable, and his frequent quotations of Latin became arduous and vain.
That isn't to say that it was a bad story, but there were a lot of elements of it which almost infuriated me. -
I read this back in 2010, and frankly, to me as a young man and boy, it was intriguing. I read it every night before I went to sleep, as it was one of . . . I'd say ten or nine different books that were laying about in the bedroom. At first, when I read it, it was great and enjoyable. However! As I grew up, I found myself really feeling quite underwhelmed and bored of the story years later because a more adult me, in the sense that I had endured much more and grown as well, seemed to not find enjoyment in this tale. I would advise readers to take it with a pinch of salt. Paul Christopher's "The Sword of Templars" doesn't start out strong, quite the opposite -- it starts out boring, tiringly so. Albeit, just because I did not find enjoyment in it, I do not think everyone will find this to be a bad read. I do recommend it, but only if you can find yourself to enjoy his writing style. Otherwise, I just have fond memories of this book as a kid, truth be told.
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I wish we could give half stars! 1.5 on this, but I'm being nice and rounding up because I actually did finish this one.
I would recommend this to any action lover who enjoys misogyny and fat-shaming. And that's too bad, because the premise is interesting. I did, however, get tired of the number of times characters' weight was mentioned, the "old maid" stereotyping of the Uncle Henry's secretary, and the weirdly archaic language that Peggy used ("screaming meemies"coms to mind). For all her alleged professionalism, she was weirdly adept at shooting and killing a bad guy, and strangely without any contacts once she left on the missionwith her uncle.
Action thrillers like this generally aren't about ringing true to life, but this one lacked even more depth, and the characters feel secondary to the plot. -
The author acknowledges the existence of Dan Brown and the National Treasure movies in universe. Somehow, the author still falls short of those less than stellar pieces of fiction. It was an easy read but just all over the place.
As a fellow reviewer mentioned here, the book focuses on unnecessary details while providing zero information about important plot points. While the book would give you useless trivia like 'the car was a Mercedes S class saloon with modern features.....' it would gloss over important information like what was the identity of the assassin, who was the arsonist, what were the motivations of the protagonists. You are left with more questions than answers by the end. -
I'll admit I was multitasking as I listened to this audiobook so take my review with a grain of salt: I did not like this book.
I'm not sure if it was the storyline or the narrator or both, but I could not get into this book. The main character said some very inappropriate and sexist things that made me grind my teeth. On top of that, listening to the narrator do a feminine voice made it even worse. So perhaps I did not give the book my full attention and there was more depth to the characters and storyline than I perceived, but for a book about the Templars (a subject I love), I was very unhappy with it.
