1216 AD.King John has died and his young son, Henry, a boy of only nine years has been left to rule.Frederick Banastre and his own son, Alaric, know that the kingdom is too fragile to withstand any further civil war.But they are distrustful of the devious William Longsword and fear that the old William Marshal does not have many more years left in him.A new regent must be found before internal … left in him.
A new regent must be found before internal strife tears the country apart once more.
Count Ramon of Toulouse seems to be the perfect choice; he is powerful enough to bring the barons to heel until Henry is ready to fully assume the throne.
But convincing Ramon to leave his lands to become regent of England is more difficult than Frederick and Alaric first thought…
After Alaric takes up holy orders with the Templar Knights, he and Frederick travel to France to bring back a regent that England is so desperately in need of.
But Ramon is tied up many troubles of his own, most prominently the 5th Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort, who is wreaking havoc by declaring a holy crusade against him and his people.
Will Frederick and Alaric be able to help Ramon protect his lands?
Will they be able prevent the succession crisis that is imminent in England?
‘Templar’ is the third in a new series of historical thrillers chronicling the world of Richard the Lionheart, King John and the Albigensian Crusade. This book is told from the viewpoints of both son and father, Alaric and Frederick, and provides a brilliant insight into the mind of the medieval knight. The first in this series was ‘Crusader’ and the second was ‘Treason’.
“Full of action, intrigue and historical insight.” Richard Foreman, author of the Augustus series.
Paul Bannister is a journalist and author. His is also the author of the Forgotten Emperor series, which includes ‘Arthur Britannicus’, ‘Arthur Imperator’, ‘Arthur Invictus’, ‘The King’s Cavalry’, ‘A Fragile Peace’ and ‘Arthur: War’s End’.
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It was OK, but I didn’t care for this style of writing, seemed more like I was reading a history book than a novel.
Too much detail weighs this story down. I couldn’t finish it out of boredom.
The book wasn’t what I expected. I didn’t enjoy the first part so I stopped reading it. It didn’t draw me in.
Like all good anime, there’s a fair amount of retelling from the first two books before you get into this final book in the series. Except this isn’t anime. It does help readers like me, who didn’t have the opportunity to read the first two books. Yet as the book progressed, Banning repeats things from the different POVs of Frederick and his son, almost like a literary Rashomon. And I found that a bit tedious. The voice of the story got a bit confusing in a couple of places, but there weren’t many.
The battle scenes are as they should be, graphic in detail, leaving nothing to the imagination. But what impressed me was Banning’s explanation of how the Shroud of Turin came to be and his explanations as to what happened to the Sword of Tristan and the empress’ crown.
Definitely geared for the male reader I think.
An entertaining narrative set in the Middle Ages, during the period of the Crusades, swirling around the loss of the British Crown Jewels by King John and the struggle of the English Lords to defend and work out the application of John’s concessions in the Magna Carta. The development of the father-son relationship of the two protagonists was an enriching motif in the story. I enjoyed reading this novel and look forward to reading another in the series. Earned its five stars.
Great read
Historical and bloody accounts of life in those times.
Part of a series, so there were gaps in the characters that reading the series from the beginning would have filled in.
I enjoy novels which combine a bit of history with fiction, particularly those leaning toward action-adventure. With the death of King John, his nine-year-old son is left as heir. Too young to rule, who will be a guiding hand for Henry when plotters would like to steal his throne?
Alaric, a new Templar knight, travels with his father, Banastre, to France to bring Count Ramon of Toulouse back to England to serve as regent before the country is ripped apart by a holy crusade. With a good plot supported by plenty of research and believable characters, I enjoyed the story and would continue to read more works by Paul.
I liked it.
Good for historical detail. Short on complex characters you want to follow into the next book. Good action.
A lot of re-hashed info — not well-written — did not hold my interest.
It was very good…..it was slow in spots.
Great book!
Ended abruptly to entice purchase of sequel. But a good story.
‘Templar’ is the third in the historical thrillers about the world of Richard the Lionheart, King John and the Albigensian Crusade. This book is told from the viewpoints of both son and father, and provides a brilliant insight into the mind of the medieval knight.
The characters were realistic and the story line was great.
I really enjoyed this book. You can tell the author did research prior to writing it. Well worth reading.
What did i like……nothing. So bad i couldn’t finish it.