Stephen R. Lawhead has contributed many novels to the "fantasy" genre, but this Empyrion duology of which "The Search of Fierra" is the first novel, is hard sci-fi. An entertaining story of a futuristic, Huxleyian society on another planet and the rebellion that its citizens stage, Lawhead creates interesting characters and interesting situations that propel this story beyond the "formulaic" or "simplistic" space operas which dominate much of the sci-fi market.

Young Howard receives a strange gift from his grandfather: A device, worn like a watch, with a series of buttons on it. As he presses the buttons in sequence, Howard shrinks to the size of a cat, then a mouse, then a fly, and even smaller! Howard makes several discoveries as he shrinks. When he shrinks to the size of a flea and hitches a ride on a dandelion seed, the tiny boy happens upon a fruitfly. Howard discovers that, seen up close, the insect has beautiful rainbow-colored wings, and is more than the fleeting little dot it usually looks like. Howard shrinks so tiny that he can hop onto a bumblebee like it was huge and he was a little bug. He then is surprised to see there is already a little bug on the bee! Howard discovers a kind of louse that lives on a bee's body, one that he could never have seen at his usual size. Howard shrinks small enough to see DNA molecules before a fail-safe kicks in and starts to reverse the shrinking. But as he shrinks, and then as he grows, Howard gets to see up close the beauty of God's creation.

Having previously read "Byzantium" and "Iron Lance", I was curious to see how Lawhead would handle a story set in modern times. His writing is still superior to much of the stuff thats out there these days. However, the protaganist in this story is not nearly as engaging as in Lawhead's previous works. You admire the character, but I didn't feel the connection with him the way I did in Lawhead's other books.

The first half of this book moved much too slow for me. Only at about the midway point did the pace quicken to my liking.

Every writer is allowed to delve into uncharted waters. My only hope is that Lawhead sticks to what he seems to do so well - writing in the distant past as opposed to the present day.

Well, I hoped to write the first review, but Donovan beat me to it. I will merely add to his accurate praises. Avalon arrived on Thursday, I started reading it Friday and just finished it now late Saturday night. It is a page turner. I was reading my way through the last three books of the Pendragon Cycle before I actually read Avalon. However, I could not resist that beautiful new book sitting unread on the bookshelf. So, I set down Arthur right before a tremendous battle against Balduf and picked up Avalon. I would say that Avalon contains some of the wittiest and most gripping dialogue I have ever read. The characters leapt to life, familiar yet changed in their modern setting. I was terribly scared that Lawhead had over reached himself when I heard that this was a modern King Arthur fable. Lawhead exceeded my expectations for this story and pulls it off with great aplomb and heart. I definitely enjoyed the book more because of my prior reading of his Pendragon Cycle.

Please read this book and let your heart soar! My intial reading rates it at 4 stars, one of Lawhead's best, easily the best since Byzantium, but upon further readings, I may strike again with another review with a higher rating.

Since I was a small boy, I've been fascinated by the Arthurian legend. In recent years, I've become acutely aware of the Christian underpinnings of the legend. I've also come to realize that historic Christianity is unabashedly monarchist (Christ is, after all, 'King of Kings', not 'First Citizen of all Republics', and St. Peter refers to Christians as 'a Royal Priesthood'). This book rolls all that into one. It is the book that I've waited 35 years to read, and I did it in less than 24 hours. It's that good. My wife, who never reads novels, loved it.

Interestingly, since reading it, I noticed a news story about a minor scandal involving one of the British Royals, and the response of one PM, calling for the abolition of the Monarchy, could easily have been lifted from the pages of 'Avalon'.

Buy it. Buy the other books in Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle('Taliesin', 'Merlin', 'Arthur', 'Pendragon', 'Grail').

Let the Kingdom of Summer begin!

After reading the Iron Lance, I must say I couldn't wait to read the next book in the series. After giving it a good read, though, I am somewhat disappointed.

I was looking forward to more of the same from the first book: bloody battles in the conquest for the Holy Land and well-written characters, neither of which I found.

I thought the battles were a large part of the first book, and part of what made that book so good. In this book, however, there was but one major battle, and the rest described only briefly by other characters. I don't mean to sound like a violence-lover, but I do think the battles add a great amount of excitement, and was disappointed with the lack of them here.

Also, the novel is told in first-person from the vantage point of Duncan, Murdo's son. I think this unintentionally limited the characterization of the other players. Also, the story didn't shift to parallel plotlines around the world like the Iron Lance, and at times I found it rather dull.

Though I do plan to read the third book of this series, I don't look forward to it with as much anticipation as I did the second book.

This was another amazing work on the part of Lawhead, a book you can't put down and yet you are sorry to finish it. Rich with historical detail, I found this book even more exciting than The Iron Lance. In all, the adventures of Duncan are believable as well as thrilling. I will agree with other readers that Duncan's relationship with Sydoni wasn't as well developed as it could have been, but that is my only complaint, if you can call it that. One little thing Lawhead can do like no one else; describe a feast! Never read a Lawhead book, this one included, unless you have food readily available. Along with studying history he must have studied the culinary arts! Can't wait for the third book!

Lawhead has done it again in proving his mastery of book series. Rarely have I seen the plots of several books tied together so well as in the Pendragon Cycle, and the Celtic Crusades is shaping up to be just as well done.

Contrary to previous reviewers, I had no trouble picking the story line right up despite the lack of reference to the previous book, The Iron Lance. I don't remember there being any "backtracking" in the Pendragon Cycle either. The history of the story seems to come out in bits and pieces as Duncan follows his father, Murdo's, footsteps through the Holy Land, then branches off into his own travels. If you have read the previous book, you know the history, and memory is refreshed in a way that saves the reader the redundancy that is often hard to avoid, there is no wasting of a lot of space and time covering what is already known. If you have not read The Iron Lance, as much history as is logical is presented to you as Duncan learns of it, in a way, you discover Duncan's past with him.

I agree in that a few of the characters could have been a little more "fleshed out", and I found this a rare lapse in Lawhead's prose. Usually we come to know each character intimately, to the point that they feel like old friends, but the only character I really felt that with in this book was Duncan. I would have liked to hear more from Padraig and Sydoni, as I found them fascinating and was left without getting to know them as well as I would have liked.

The plot, however, is well-paced, dialogue easy to read, and overall very believeable. It reminded me at times of Byzantium, a very extensive work by Lawhead, and a high recommendation on my part.

Overall, I would recommend The Black Rood to new and old readers of Lawhead alike, though I would caution new readers to buy The Iron Lance first, if only for continuity.

After a wonderful start in The Iron Lance, and a story that finally picked up and became interesting (more than halfway through) in The Black Rood, The Mystic Rose was a very disappointing read.

I am a huge fan of Stephen Lawhead, who is without a doubt one of the most gifted writers still living in the world. If anyone else had written this book, I would have given it 3 stars, but I have come to expect much better than this from Mr. Lawhead.

Cait is not a likeable nor a believable character, although she is slightly more interesting than Duncan. Not to say too much, the entire episode with the prince completely undermined her integrity and she lost all credibility as a character. I kept thinking (being a woman myself) that woman would NOT act that way. (By the way, Lawhead has written another novel largely from a woman's perspective - Taliesin, in which Charis is the main character, and in which Lawhead did a fine job characterizing her and making her real and believable.)

The story was slow, but Lawhead frequently begins stories slow. Thus, throughout the book I expected it to pick up ... something interesting is bound to happen soon ... I confess I skimmed the last eighty pages or so just to say I'd finished it.

Please don't get me wrong - Lawhead is a gifted writer, and at least the first volume of this series is very, very much worth the reading, but I'm afraid The Mystic Rose missed the mark.

Lawhead is a master at building a landscape, as he so wonderfully illustrated in The Song of Albion series. With attention to detail (sometimes to the extreme), Lawhead makes us smell and taste and hear the tangibles of worlds far removed from us. And, usually, he makes us aware of the intangibles. Though his characters can seem stiff at times, they reflect eras gone by, and sometimes suprise us with their poignant insights and honor.

I am a huge fan of "The Iron Lance." In the first book of this series, Lawhead gave us a character in Murdo that we could relate to--he struggled with his faith, with his quest, and with his own weaknesses. In "The Black Rood" and "The Mystic Rose," we find characters who never struggle in the way Murdo did. For this reason, they never drew me into the story the same way.

Don't get me wrong, Cait's character in "The Mystic Rose" is worthy of her forbears. She is strong and ready for the task ahead. After witnessing her father's murder, she decides to seek revenge against the Templar commander responsible. Inadvertently, she ends up with a letter that is key to the location of the Holy Grail, the Mystic Rose. As she sets out to find this treasure, in hopes of luring her father's killer, we are exposed to places rich in color and scenery. Unfortunately, some of this seems staged. Lawhead leads us to believe that a certain Arab prince is up to no good, but later we find ourselves slightly deceived by this. We also see the Templar commander begin to track Cait, but this subplot tapers off until his sudden appearance at the end. We suspect that this will happen, so it's no big surprise; the only surprise is that we're given no explanation of how he found the Mystic Rose's location.

One subplot that other reviewers have been quick to rail against, the early 1900's connection, I personally enjoyed throughout the series. It brought the historic existence of these holy relics into this century, whetting my appetite for the real treasure of the Swift Sure Hand that Lawhead writes of. In "The Mystic Rose," more than the first two books of The Celtic Crusades, Lawhead points us in a spiritual direction full of hope and grace. In so doing, he adds value for those who believe--and possibly undermines the effort for those who do not.

I believe. I enjoyed the series. After following three generations of Scottish folk through thousand year old adventures, I am thankful for the experience.

Hilarious! I think its hilarious! After reading my fellow reviewers, I find it amusing that they were all disappointed and that I LIKED it. Apparently, they were familiar with the authors writings and were disappointed compared to his other works----I say to that----I've got to read his others! If this was good, can you imagine how well the others are written?
I enjoyed this adventure. I FELT that it was an awesome adventure, with lots of twists and turns. I mean, yeah, there were a lot of loose ends and/or what the heck? but on the most part---its good.
Cait goes on a quest for vengeance and plans to use the Holy Cup for her purposes. Its a long road til the last showdown.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the Holy Lands and the Crusaders in the dungeon. Stuff you don't think about and then appreciate what you hear.
Hey, why'd that guy favor his side? We never found out. I thoroughly enjoyed the vision Cait had when encountering the Mystic Rose at last. Also, I missed something. Who the heck was the white priest or soldier or whatever who spoke to Cait? Its never said but it didn't make the book difficult or hard to get into. There were parts in the 20th century, but considering this was the last of a trilogy that I didn't read the first two of, I skipped that stuff. It has little relevance to ignoramuses.
It seemed the story was a little sped up at the end. We don't seem to dwell on Caits stigmata much, before its battletime and off to Caithness. I would have preferred more interpretation as the Grail Protector, etc.
But I liked it! So if you're looking for a good Grail Quest to read, like to read it from a refreshing womans perspective, want to throw in a couple Vikings or something, this is the book for you!

I was very disappointed with this book. I, too, noticed that Cai's green eyes had made a sudden shift to blue, but since his eyes are only mentioned once, this is easy to miss. At one point in the book, Lawhead states that Arthur's warriors "plight their troth" to Arthur. Well, Lawhead should look this up in the dictionary--the way he used it is very confusing, because to "plight one's troth" has the primary meaning of getting engaged to someone in order to marry them. Not until I got to the third meaning in my dictionary did it state "to swear an oath of allegiance". Gwenhyvar never had a chance, I guess--Arthur had married his generals. :)

The legend that concerns Twrch Trwyth is actually the story of Culhwch and Olwen. Culhwch wants to marry Olwen, but before he can do so, he must fulfill a series of quests put upon him by Olwen's father. One is to kill the boar Twrch Trwyth (whose name I was unable to find a meaning for) and get the comb and razor from between the great boar's ears. This boar just so happens to be a king who ticked off God and, Quite literally, was turned into a boar, and all of his household and followers were turned into piglets. Arthur is not the main character in this story, he has sort of been just stuck in, because all he really does is assist Culhwch in his various tasks (along with another character, Mabon, who happens to be a Celtic god). The chase of the hunt for Twrch Trwyth starts in Ireland, but ends up in South Wales and Cornwall--not Scotland. Arthur does not get so severely injured that he needs to be healed with the Grail, either--in fact, this tale is an oddity in the Arthurian mythos because it has absolutely nothing to do with the Grail, or any of the other stories in the Arthurian legend.

Lawhead also employs a very odd narrative technique here, one that ended up irritating rather than helping. In the middle of the battle, Merlin suddenly goes racing off, and of course the reader is forced to follow him because he's the narrator. This was very annoying, because then the reader is left wondering what is happening with the battle while Merlin goes off investigating the plague. It would have been far better to have someone else narrating this part of the book, like Bedwyr or Cai, so that Merlin's racing off doesn't produce such a weird break in the action, and when he came back he could tell them all about the plague. Even though Merlin does eventually return, and finds out nothing has happened since he was gone (?!), this has still got to be one of the worst ways to write a book.

Oddly enough, the plague is supposed to be this big huge menace, but it gets very short shrift in this book. I suppose the reason for this is that the plague problem will be dealt with in Grail.

Gwenhyvar--well, we get more background on her, but still no explanation of why she's got a Welsh name and she's Irish. In the original Arthurian myths, she is Welsh, so the name makes sense there, but not in Lawhead's book.

I am still completely mystified as to why Charis is called The Lady of the Lake. At least we get to see now the connection between Avallach and the Grail, and that "The Fisher King" is not just a title, but that he really does have a connection to the Grail like the Arthurian Fisher King did.

Llenlleawg--it should have been pointed out earlier that he was supposed to be Lancelot. All through Arthur I thought Lot was Lancelot, because Lancelot is the only knight who falls out of Arthur's favor. While it was briefly mentioned in this book, it still should have been done earlier.

Also, after swearing off fighting because of the loss of Ganieda, why does Merlin pick up a sword again? In Merlin he is committed to helping the Summer Kingdom come to fruitition, but not through fighting! Suddenly he picks up a sword again, forgetting all about his lost love and his unborn child that was killed, and goes off fighting again! His vision is restored fairly quickly after he lost it--how is it that Aneirin, the narrator in the last section of Arthur, still thought he was blind? This section picks up many years after Pendragon--something like 5-10 at least, maybe even more than that.

There are a lot of mistakes and inconsistencies in this book. I really dislike this kind of sloppy writing, and "rewriting because I feel like it" is not a good enough reason to me to be severely altering the Arthurian stories, which are good enough in their own right.

After the first three books, I expected much more from Pendragon. The first three told an enchanting story through several generations. This one, as near as I can tell, takes place between sections 2 and 3 of "Arthur." The main battle seems to be the same as the final battle in book three; did Arthur go through the same thing twice with two different enemies? The ending (with Arthur being taken away to be healed) is almost the same as in the previous book, and since it takes place before the ending of "Arthur" we are no closer to having that book's ending explained. I'm hoping "Grail" clears a few of these things up, otherwise Lawhead would have done much better leaving it off as a trilogy.

Fans of the first three volumes of Lawhead's "Pendragon Cycle" need to be forewarned about two things before they commence this fourth volume of the series.

Firstly, "Pendragon" is not a continuation of the story that ended in volume 3. "Taliesin", "Merlin" and "Arthur" complete Lawhead's retelling of the Arthurian legends, and form a complete and independent story in themselves. In "Pendragon", Lawhead expands on a part of the story about king Arthur that he has already described by recounting one of the struggles that the king Arthur faced in the early days of his kingship.

Secondly, "Pendragon" does not match the high standards of the three volumes that preceded it. Readers familiar with the first three volumes will find that Lawhead recounts much of Arthur's life that they are already familiar with. In fact, the description of Arthur's king-making is nearly identical word for word to the description of this same event found in "Arthur", the only difference being that "Pendragon" recounts the event from the perspective of Merlin. But the initial drama and sense of passion and glory is gone, because we have been here before. Even though events such as Arthur's youth are described in more detail here than in "Arthur", the fact remains that we already know the basic plot, and this detracts from the amount of enjoyment you can expect.

Yet with this warning in mind, "Pendragon" is still a worthwhile read. Lawhead focuses on one aspect of Arthur's reign, namely his conflict against the barbarian Vandals and against a pestilent plague. Don't be confused: this is not an enemy described in "Arthur", hence its ascription as "The Forgotten War" (Chronologically both "Pendragon" - aside from the first part - and "Grail" both fit between books 2 & 3 of "Arthur")

In this great conflict, the human element strongly comes into the foreground, especially the twin roles of the bard Merlin, and the king Arthur. The first point of view heightens the readers understanding of Merlin's role in this conflict. Lawhead's treatment of Merlin is profound, and particularly outstanding in my mind is one passage where Merlin comes to realize that "in order to welcome redemption, one must first embrace the utter hopelessness of failure. For how can a man look for rescue unless he knows he is truly lost?" (p.69) - a wonderful metaphor of salvation for lost sinners. Equally outstanding is Merlin's journey to the other-world, where Lawhead uses a profound sequence of events to bring Merlin to understand his role in the great conflict over against evil.

Also profound is Lawhead's treatment of Arthur. The last third of the book in my view is a climactic masterpiece, and after being entranced by the last section of the novel, Lawhead's weaknesses in the first half of the book were quickly forgiven and forgotten. Arthur's role in the struggle against the enemies of the people is central: as leader and king he must fight on behalf of his people. In an absolutely unforgettable climax, the whole weight of his people's hopes depend on him, as Arthur himself must single-handedly take on the leader of the barbarians in a battle to the death. The imagery will not be lost on you, as Arthur makes a distinctly Messianic figure, bruised for his people, a Christ-like king giving his everything for his people at the risk of his own life.

Yes, "Pendragon" has weaknesses. Does this make "Pendragon" a failure? If you were not forewarned, you would likely be disappointed. Even if you are forewarned, you may still be disappointed with the first half of the book because it lacks Lawhead's typical depth and drama. But in the last half of the book Lawhead more than redeems himself with a captivating narrative that you won't be able to put down, and will in the end leave you breathless at its sparkling imagery and depth, and eagerly grabbing the next volume in the series.

Stephen Lawhead is one of my favortie writers. His first three books in the Pendragon series left me with tears of joy and craving more. In Grail, his fifth book in the cycle, Lawhead again dips into the Arthurian world and explores the holy grail, the cornerstone of Arthur's "Realm of Summer." The first third of the book catches you up to speed with the characters, the middle third explores the current conflict, and then the last third is all action. Yet the action and set-up feel extremely forced and contrived, leaving me thinking that this had to be some sort of contractual obligation with Avon. When the book finally starts moving, it unfortunately relies on cliches--the evil witch who kidnaps the queen and leads the rescue party into a huge, dark woodland where the characters get seperated and lost. Although the ending is unique to Lawhead, the first three-quarters of the book are listless, cliched, and previously explored in earlier books. Lawhead is one of my all-time favorite writers, and I'm very sorry to not recommend this book.

SRL always delivers a great read, but this book didn't reach the same level of excellence as the first three in this series. I'd have to compare this to the fourth book, Pendragon. Both are good stories, but seem to be dragging the story of Arthur out. In the third book he concludes the story. The fourth and fifth then go back and tell us more about the life of Arthur. If you've read the first three books you should read this one also, but I would not recommend starting here. Like always SRL does an excellent job of taking the legend (in this case the Holy Grail) and presenting it in a more realistic light then many other fantasy novelists who make up extremely unrealistic fantasies. Once I finally got involved in the series I enjoyed it. For a really good read I'd recommend Byzantium or the Song of Albion trilogy.

Lawhead's Done It Again!

It is truly the mark of a good author when a relatively long book series retains all of it's brilliance and originality to the very end. Lawhead has accomplished this and more with his wondrous Pendragon Cycle.

Grail is the 5th and final installment in the series (unless you include Avalon in the list). While I think that this is the weakest book of the series, it is still superb and certainly worth the read. The atmosphere of the book is very unique. Unlike the previous books in the series, the enemy is largely supernatural - a much more frightening enemy than the Picti, Angli, or Vandali. Morgian is definetely at her worst - and she even gets a few opportunities to narrate the story (a very peculiar twist.)!

Really my only complaint about the book regards Lawhead's choice of characters. It seems that many of the major characters that were seen in Arthur and Pendragon have faded to the backdrop - replaced by relatively new characters. These characters are fine, but I would have rather seen more of characters like Bedwyr, Cai and Arthur.

I'm very disappointed by this book. Mr. Lawhead is one of my favorite writers, but "Patrick" is his weakest book so far (even compared to his early Dragon King series). I have to wonder, with other reviewers, just what "flavor" of Christian Mr. Lawhead is.

As for Pelagius...yes, he was acquitted by a pope--Pope Zosimus. BUT--Zosimus was preceded by Pope Innocent (d. 417), who had *condemned* Pelagius and his disciple Coelestius. Two North African synods held in 416, and the General Council at Carthage in 418 also *condemned* Pelagius' doctrine. "Zosimus then retreated from his earlier position and published an epistle requesting that all bishops subscribe to the canons of this council" of Carthage (R.C. Sproul, "Willing to Believe", 44).

If you want to enjoy Stephen Lawhead's writing, read the Song of Albion trilogy or the first three books of the Pendragon Cycle. Those are his best works, IMHO. If you want to learn about the REAL St. Patrick, read his "Confession" and "Breastplate Prayer". There's no fuzzy theology or Pelagian nonsense there.

I'm a big fan of Lawhead's "The Iron Lance" and his "Song of Albion" series. With high hopes, I purchased this historical novel. My knowledge of St. Patrick is limited, and I looked forward to discovering more of his life and his spiritual influence in Ireland.

"Patrick: Son of Ireland" does many things well. The settings are believable and well-researched, the language fluid, and the dry details turned into fascinating tidbits. I particularly enjoyed the Roman battle scenes and descriptions of the Plague. Sobering stuff. Succat, later known as Patrick, is a character with flaws and foibles, a man who grows slowly into the understanding of his calling. And when Succat comes to a final point of humility and turning, Lawhead paints a succint and touching scene. He employs Pelagius, who plays a minimal part in only the final thirty pages of the book, to address Succat: "You have learned what a man can do in his own strength...Perhaps now it is time to learn what God can do with a man who knows the limits of his strength."

Unfortunately, the book never allows us to see the result of this turning. We witness years of futility in Succat's life, and, in fact, we ourselves grow weary of his attempts to escape slavery and of the deceits he thrusts upon even those he claims to love. I appreciate that all this brings Succat to a medieval mid-life crisis, but I would've enjoyed seeing the working out of his newfound knowledge. I even started to suspect that Lawhead would be throwing a sequel our way. Instead, he throws us a bone--a prologue and epilogue that tidily skim over Patrick's years of hard spiritual work.

I trod my way along the arduous trails of Succat's life, found some wisdom to be gained and some eventual rewards, but felt cheated by the blithe conclusion. Am I missing a sequel, or is this all we get?

This story about the early years of St. Patrick's life is reminiscent of Lawhead's Byzantium. The writing is fairly crisp and the story moves along well. It is easy to picture yourself in 4th-5th century Europe.

However, the greatest fault of the book is the awkward attempt to continue to reform Pelagius. I first noted some inkling of this in Byzantium and it become a fairly key element of the Celtic Crusades trilogy. History has held Patrick to be an anti-Pelagian, rejecting the heresey that one can convert him(her)self, a philosophy that has reared its head in American Evangelicalism (where it appears Lawhead has deep roots). In fact, history holds that Patrick's religious instruction occurs off the British Isles to shield him from the Pelagian heresey.

However, Lawhead creates a pre-Patrick Christian movement in Ireland led through the druid community by the Cele De (or Ceile De) spoken about prominently in the Celtic Crusade trilogy. The Cele De are seen through sympathetic eyes in the first half of the book as followers of Pelagius and the opponents of Pelagius are seen as narrow minded and power hungry. Later, Lawhead creates a fictional meeting between Patrick and Pelagius where Pelagius is seen as an instrument for Patrick's conversion (or re-conversion) and Patrick is just about seen as blessing Pelagius as orthodox in his teachings. This latest attempt at propping up Pelagius to support a current day belief is a lamentable portion of the book.