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I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Just Finished Reading: The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury

In 1291AD the city of Acre fell and with it the Holy Land. But as the city burnt a lone ship made its escape carrying with it a secret cargo disappearing from history until the present day. That secret is about to be revealed to the world and there are those that will kill in order to stop it.

Yes, you guessed it – The Last Templar is a Da Vinci Code clone. In it we have a Catholic FBI agent and a beautiful Archaeologist racing to uncover clues before the Vatican can erase them. We also have a centuries old mystery that leads to a revelation – one so powerful that it challenges the very foundations of Christianity.

This book makes no pretence at being anything else other than pulp fiction. The characters are pretty much two dimensional and the plot is largely predictable. It is fairly well written at the beginning but slowly descends into cliché and, I must admit, took a bit of an effort to bother finishing it. It did have a few interesting ideas but their delivery, via an overly long conversation spanning several pages, was poor. It had little of the page turning drama of Dan Browns bestseller and at 440 pages was far too long. The ending was a particularly unbelievable act of cowardice based as it was on a complete about face by one of the major characters. Although entertaining enough it was most certainly light entertainment. If you’re going to read this I suggest you do so at the beach.

13 comments:

Paste said...

I did last summer!

CyberKitten said...

Hi Paste.

Did you enjoy it....? And the book?

dbackdad said...

I was wondering how that book was. I like the subject matter and style of the DaVinci Code, but the only other of that type by Brown was Angels and Demons, which I had already read. Any other others covering this ground? I've heard of the Rule of Four but haven't read it yet.

CyberKitten said...

Oh, there are LOTS and *LOTS* dbackdad. I have a few of them - having enjoyed both Da Vinci & Angela and Demons.

Skywolf said...

There just seem to be so many books jumping on the Grail/religious mystery bandwagon. It's getting a little tiring. Time for a change of subject, perhaps?

CyberKitten said...

I definitely need to 'up my game' with my reading ATM. [grin]

As to all the Grail books... I think that they died out a while back... probably. It's just that it can take me ages to actually read the books I've bought.

Skywolf said...

I saw a new one this week in my bookclub catalogue... it was called 'The Last Supper', or something. And somewhat imaginatively based on - you guessed it - Da Vinci's painting. Ugh. I can't remember who it was by, and of course it may have been published years ago, but I haven't seen it before this. I'm quite amazed that so many people can get away with selling the same story so many times under different titles. *yawn*

Then again, my gift copy of The Da Vinci Code is still sitting on a shelf, as yet unread. I suppose I ought to find out what all the hype is about at some point...

CyberKitten said...

DVC was a pretty good read - as long as you don't think about it too much! Just leave your critical facilty out of the equation and enjoy the ride...

Skywolf said...

Yeah... perhaps I'll pick it up next time I'm in the mood for something light and fluffy to read. Maybe it'd be a good one to follow the next George R.R. Martin, which is hopefully imminent (and bound to be epic, heavy, and gob-smacking). Always need a light breather after Martin, but damn he's good.

CyberKitten said...

I have a few George R.R. Martin in 'The Pile' I think... I'm not sure if I've read any of his stuff though.

Skywolf said...

He's a fantastic author. He writes fantasy at its absolute best, with some of the most memorable, complex, unpredictable characters ever. His main body of work, the A Song of Ice and Fire series, is completely brilliant. If you have any of those, you absolutely must start at the beginning, though, with A Game of Thrones. Some of his other work (short stories and smaller novels) is also excellent. He's a highly talented writer.

Read some. *grin*

CyberKitten said...

I've just checked my database & I have two of his books:

Sandkings

and

Ferve Dream.

Skywolf said...

Ooh. I haven't read Sandkings, but Fevre Dream is brilliant. Totally original, beautifully written, and deeply atmospheric and creepy. Excellent story.