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

Lawhead, Stephen R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310217822 ISBN 13: 9780310217824

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999

Synopsis

In the year 1095, Pope Urban II declared war on the infidel. Kings, princes, and lords throughout Europe have joined the Crusade. To Murdo Ranulfson has fallen the duty of guarding his family's interests while his father and brothers fight to win Jerusalem. But when corrupt clergy prove enemies rather than protectors, Murdo must leave his native Scotland in search of his father. In the company of monks and warriors, he journeys far beyond the rolling fields of home, beyond the fabled Constantinople and the brooding walls of Antioch, to the Holy Land and the sword points of the Saracens. There, where blood, suffering, and human evil at its most horrifying are shot through with rays of the miraculous, he obtains the relic that will guide his life and the lives of his descendants for centuries. And there he grows from a callow youth to a man, trading cynicism for faith and selfishness for the heart of a leader. Steeped in heroism, treachery, and the clamor of battle, The Iron Lance begins a remarkable, masterfully woven epic trilogy of a Scottish noble family fighting for its existence and its faith during the age of the Great Crusades -- and of a secret society that will shape history for a thousand years.

About this title

Review:

Most of Stephen Lawhead's popular historical fantasies are part of one or another of his sagas, trilogies, or cycles. For readers who enjoy big galloping yarns set in distant lands, and don't mind having their hands held by the author every step of the way, the first volume of his new Christian trilogy should hit the spot.

The framing device begins at the end of the nineteenth century, in Edinburgh, where Gordon Murray is about to be inducted into an ancient brotherhood whose secret rites involve a sacred relic: the iron lance of the title. The main narrative is set in eleventh century Orkney. When Pope Urban II calls for the retaking of Jerusalem from the infidel, the local lord, Ranulf, joins the Crusade with his elder sons, leaving behind young Murdo to oversee the family holdings. When the Church, through a nefarious scheme, confiscates the house and holdings, Murdo has no choice but to follow the Crusaders to the Holy Land and bring his father home to fix the whole mess.

Lawhead paints a vast and exotic canvas of medieval world politics, then peoples it with colorful characters--cunning Byzantine rulers, bluff Norman knights, gap-toothed, shaggy-brained Saxon peasants--who encounter visions and miracles, brutality and ambition, love and justice. At the end of the main narrative, Murdo gets what he wants but not in the ways expected. The framing narrative ends with hints that, as the world lurches towards a new millennium, Gordon Murray's Christian secret society is the world's only hope for survival, and the time nears for the brotherhood to reveal itself. --Luc Duplessis

From the Publisher:

In an ancient church in rural Scotland, a Scottish lawyer beholds visions of an ancient past--the journey of Murdo, an ancestor whose fight for his family's home sets him in the thick of the Crusades. . . . Embittered by his betrayal by crooked clergy and by the theft of his family's lands, Murdo leaves his native Scotland in search of his father. In the company of monks and warriors, he embarks on a journey that takes him far beyond the rolling fields of home, beyond fabled Constantinople and the brooding walls of Antioch, to the Holy Land and the sword points of the Saracens. There, where blood, suffering, and human evil at its most horrifying are shot through with rays of the miraculous, he encounters the Iron Lance--the actual weapon that pierced Jesus on the cross. And there he grows from a callow youth to a man, trading anger and cynicism for devotion to Christ, and selfishness for the heart of a leader. He returns at last to his home to right a bitter wrong, and to establish a kingdom where faith can dwell in peace. Steeped in heroism, treachery, and the clamor of battle, The Iron Lance begins a remarkable, masterfully woven epic trilogy of a Scottish noble family fighting for its existence and its faith during the age of the Crusades.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0310217822
• ISBN 13: 9780310217824
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512