The Last Templar

For some time now, I've been looking for a new mystery series to begin. I've often seen Michael Jecks' medieval series on the bookstore shelves but I never saw the first one so I kept putting it off. But then a couple of weeks ago I saw The Last Templar at the store and so I used my free coupon and snatched it up.

Right up front I will say I enjoyed reading this book, despite some "first book" flaws. I wish it had had a better editor but I will be reading additional books in the series as I understand they get better and better and there are at least 20 books in the series now. I also like the fact that the author himself has earned a reputation for helping new authors to get published, perhaps having learned some lessons himself along the way.

Among the positive aspects of the novel was the writing style, an easy flowing narrative that captured the era of the 11th century without forcing the reader through a bunch of "thees' and "thous" (if that is even the appropriate verbiage for that time.) I liked the main two characters although much of this volume seemed to be setting up the rest of the series so consequently they both need to be filled out better. Among the not-so-good aspects was the author's inconsistent use of point-of-view. The novel is all third person and about 90% is from one of the two main character's viewpoint. But occasionally we jump to omniscient POV and get the thoughts from other characters. The mystery aspects itself was fine, nothing elaborate, but since the sleuths in this story do not have modern forensic tools, etc., they are forced to rely on what their eyes tell them and use their brains to logically make conclusions...a rather refreshing change of pace.

So I'm glad I finally began this series and am looking forward to the next entry.