The Iron Lance (The Celtic Crusades #1) - Hardcover

Lawhead, Stephen R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061050326 ISBN 13: 9780061050329

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1998

Synopsis

In the year 1095, Pope Urban II declared war on the infidel. Kings, princes, and lords throughout Europe took up the cross and joined the Crusade. It was Murdo Ranulfson's duty to guard his family's interests while his father and brothers fought to win Jerusalem. But when a greedy king and corrupt clergy charged with the protection of Orkney become its worst enemies, Murdo must undertake the pilgrimage himself. Driven to the sea, Murdo follows the Crusades in the hope of finding his father and redeeming his family's land. His epic journey leads him to the heart of the civilized world, the Mediterranean, where the Emperor Alexius struggles to fend off the barbarian hordes that would rend Christendom and engulf the world in darkness. Murdo's quest carries him to the fabled city of Constantinople and beyond to the Holy Land, guarded by the sword points of the Saracens. Amidst unimaginable brutality and ambition, he finds the man he seeks. Steeped in heroism, treachery, and the clamor of battle, The Iron Lance begins an epic trilogy of a noble Scottish family fighting for its existence and its faith during the age of the Great Crusades -- and of a secret society whose hidden ceremonies will shape history for a thousand years.

About this title

About the Author

Stephen R. Lawhead is an internationally acclaimed author of mythic history and imaginative fiction. His works include the first two books of the Celtic Crusades, The Iron Lance and The Black Rood, Byzantium the Pendragon Cycle, The Song of Albion, and Dragon King trilogies, as well as the science fiction novels, Empyrion I and II and Dream Thief.

From the Back Cover

In book one of the Celtic Crusades series, a Scottish boy travels to Jerusalem to try to regain his family's stolen lands, and ends up saving the relic Iron Lance that pierced Christ's side.

Reviews

This massive historical-fantasy novel about the First Crusade begins a family-saga trilogy recounting the story of a mysterious mystical order founded upon the discovery of the spear that pierced Christ's side as he hung on the cross. The narrative is framed as a series of visions by a Victorian Scots lawyer, who begins by seeing his ancestors leaving the Orkneys on the Crusade, except for the youngest brother, Murdo, who remains behind to watch the family holdings. When fraudulent clerics take those lands, Murdo attempts to rejoin his family. In describing the young man's journey to the Holy Land, Lawhead displays considerable historical scholarship, some talent for depicting picaresque adventures and verbiage in such excess that the emotional impact of the climax?the discovery of the lance?is diminished. Lawhead is known for his ability to combine Arthurian and Christian fantasy, as in his Pendragon Cycle, blending disparate elements into engaging if frequently overlong tales. But here the historian overwhelms the storyteller. The novel fails to meet Lawhead's usual standard, let alone that of other time-binding fantasies such as the novels of Diana Gabaldon. Agency, William Morris.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Historical fantasy and first of a ``generational epic,'' so the publisher informs us, from Lawhead (Byzantium,1996, etc.), etc. Things get off to a poor start as Lawhead employs a trite, clumsy framing device. In 1899 Scotland, lawyer and member of a mystical secret society Gordon Murray is proposed for initiation to a higher degree. He accepts the test, and soconfused, drugged, and lowered into a lightless cavernhe stumbles upon the weapon of the title. Touching its cold pitted iron grants Murray visions of the distant past. There, in the late 11th century, young Murdo, son of Lord Ranulf of Dyrness, Orkney, must stay at home and mind the store while his father and brothers march off to join what will become the first Crusade. But soon the king of Norway's lackey Orin Broadfoot (with the collusion of the Church) dispossesses Murdo of his estate, then hastily disappears to join the Crusade himself, before Murdo can remonstrate with him. Murdo vows to follow Orin and force him to make amends, and pledges to return to his beloved Ragna. Meanwhile, another narrative strand details the doings of the Byzantine Emperor, Alexius I, who, having requested warriors from northern Europe to fight the Turks, receives instead a peasant rabble headed by Peter the Hermit. These sections merely reiterate the progress of the Crusade, treading the same ground as Susan Shwartz's Crescent and Cross (1997). Eventually, we learn of Murdo's exertions, the fate of lawyer Murray, and the identity of the weapon that inspired the whole business. Familiar fare for Lawhead fans, watery gruel for outsiders or newcomers. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Undergoing an initiation into a secret brotherhood, a Scottish lawyer receives a vision from his ancestral past, reliving the epic tale of a young man's journey from Scotland to Jerusalem in search of his Crusader father. Lawhead's (Dream Thief, Zondervan, 1996) latest effort, the first in a series that combines historical fact with Christian legend, displays the author's deep convictions as well as his storytelling expertise. A good choice for most fantasy collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0061050326
• ISBN 13: 9780061050329
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512