I loved the story a huge and epic struggle to save the remnants of a dying order. This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom If the rest of the series is going to be put into audio form, he needs to be the narrator. He was able to convey the emotions of the characters. Through a deck of Tarot cards the story unfolds. The old woman is much more than she seems. An author meets an old woman outside of Lockenhaus Castle in Austria. Even though you know the story and how it ends, the author brings the story to life by adding some twists and backstories to some of the mysteries surrounding individuals of the Knights Templar. Incorporating historical facts and characters into a great story. The story is a fictional retelling of the downfall of the Knights Templar. Although this is the 2nd in the series, I have not listened to the first book, that fact did not take away anything from the story. The story pulls you in and keeps you there until the end. If you like stories involving the Knights Templar this is a really good, well written, engaging, interesting and entertaining book. In the end, I do not think I was given a thorough understanding of the Templar mythos, but rather a narrative if the last days told as a passion play.

What of the Teutonic knights? Did the gold story occur as described? I also think Phillip is given more antagonist status than the Roman church itself. I only wished there were more pages spent in this philosophy and the conflicts and moral ambiguity of fighting Christians. But I credit the book with keeping to an esoteric thread. With present history suspect, what can we know if the distant past, but through our self revelation. I was hoping for a better transition into the RC order, which to my mind us a superior incarnation of the values as established in this book. It is clear the Temple lives on, but in myriad forms. It is easy to portray them as pious or as an uncomfortable sovereign force with little accountability.

One is still left with many questions, such as those topics not addressed well in the book, such as the fact the Templars had become a state within a state, with a permanent standing army, and let's not forget they introduced Europe to the banking paradigm that plagues us still. A great Templar history dramatized, with wisdom.Īlthough not as satisfying a story as the first installment of the series, this book also had to exposit much history.

Temple of the Grail by Adriana Koulias