CRUSADE

Author: Robyn Young ISBN: 9780452289604 (Reprint) 7/2008 HISTORICAL FICTION Publisher: PLUME
Time Period: Late 1200s

THE YEAR IS 1274. After years of bloodshed, peace finally reigns in the Middle East, in part due to the efforts of a mysterious group known as the Brethren. However, Knight Templar Will Campbell suspects that the Brethren have been betrayed. A cabal of ruthless Western merchants aims to turn a profit by means so scandalous that, should they succeed, the Muslim world will rise against the Christians in retaliation, while King England has made a promise to the pope: he will take the Cross to Jerusalem and lead a new Crusade. As a catastrophic conflict looms, Will finds himself in a race against time from the dark heart of Cairo across the Arabian desert to the forbidden city of Mecca. In this world of reckless greed and violence, he may become the people's last hope for peace.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Robyn Young sets her historical suspense novel, CRUSADE (second in the trilogy of THE BRETHREN, CRUSADE and THE FALL OF THE TEMPLARS) in Acre, Jerusalem, starting in 1274 where Sir William Campbell is a Knight of the Templars as well as a member of a secret group of Templars working with Muslims and Jews to create peace in the Holy Land and then maintain it. That this small group agrees and is working toward this goal is miracle enough, but that they do it in spite of the clamoring of each respective people group to annihilate the other two groups so that they may own the Holy Land alone, for themselves, is simply amazing. How can such a fragile thing last? As long as Will is breaking his Templar oath to belong to The Brethren, he may as well admit to himself that he's broken his vow of celibacy with Elwen, his childhood sweetheart who has followed him to Acre. It is a very small part of this tale, but like a single golden thread woven into a piece of multi-colored woolen plaid, it stands out as something special.

Young sets Will in a harsh environment, filled with rules and regulations, and like steel being refined by fire, he becomes ever more committed to peace and the people of the Holy Land even while sometimes giving to break his manmade oaths. He loves Elwen, but until he actually almost loses her to the hand of Muslim kidnappers, he allows his duty to hold priority. He proposed secret marriage to her once when they were young, but they were betrayed by a brother knight, Garin, who returns to them eventually in Acre to spew more of his treachery and poison.

Young's plot is almost more important, though, than characters. It is filled with oaths within oaths, spies and counter spies, and all the while that The Brethren are whispering peace, Kings, Sultans, Mongol hordes and the Pope himself, keep yelling and planning for crusade, jihad, and supremacy in the land. All they get for their plotting and planning is death and destruction. In light of present day events, it felt like a very convenient overlay of current feelings and actions onto a setting in the past, and then I found that this is a re-publishing of a trilogy originally brought out in the 1970's. It seems that nothing ever changes. War for the sake of military contracts, the right to say, "we win," and personal glory for power-grubbing leaders must always be with us?

CRUSADE is a taut, gripping drama, that despite having just the smallest of romantic threads was next to impossible for me to put down. It is well-written, and everywhere the reader turns there is hope amidst all of the death, destruction, double-dealing and turmoil. I recommend this to any reader hoping to get a bigger grasp on the enormity of Middle Eastern history, the power plays that have gone on for centuries under the guise of race, religion and politics, and the essence of love in all settings.

Susan Barton