The DaVinci Code has sparked a flurry of novels in its wake. Some of these are excellent. Some are horrible. Unfortunately Templar leans to the latter. The Last Templar has some redeeming features, but in the end, your time and money are probably best spent somewhere else. Templar is Raymond Khoury's first novel, and it shows. The novel is extremely cliche, and the dialogue is almost painful in some locations. The book is directly inspired (if not lifted) straight from Dan Brown's DaVinci Code, even to the point of having the whole “bloodline of Christ” be one of its potential conspiracies, and directly reffering to Brown's novel in Templar several times. Templar follows the formula for this genre flawlessly, including the obligatory hook-up between the male and female protagonist. One nice change was that the female lead actual drove most of the discovery and action throughout the book, the male lead was the side-kick.
The book does feature several flashbacks to the Templars, each time reavealing a bit of the backstory, as the protagonists have discovered clues. These parts are wonderful, and if Khoury had written a book purely about the Templars, I belive it would have been a rousing success.
To repeat myself, spend your time and money elsewhere, unless you are a huge Templar fanatic, or have a lot of spare time. I recommend the following books that fall roughly into this genre(reviews forthcoming)
The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco - The book that spawned the genre. A must read.
The Historian, Elisibeth Kostova - Excellent historical mystery, revolving around the history of Dracula, both the ruler, and the vampire.
Shadows of the Wind, Carlos Ruis Zafon - A wonderful novel, very rich in its descriptions. Highly reccomended
More book reviews to follow.
Print | posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 5:54 PM