Order in Chaos

June 15, 2009
Whyte puts the Knights Templar to rest in the uninspired final volume of his Templar trilogy (after Knights of the Black and White
and Standard of Honor
), a lengthy and pedantic history of the Knights and their 200-year-old tradition of service to the pope and Christianity, loaded with historical detail, but offering little suspense and even less action. When the Knights are declared outlaws by King Philip IV of France in an effort to crush their influence and seize their treasure, the Knights are arrested and tortured or driven into hiding. Templar knight Sir William Sinclair leads the survivors to temporary sanctuary in Scotland, where they team up with Robert Bruce, king of the Scots, who is embroiled in civil war and war with the English. After a promising opening, the story downshifts into a narrative bog of plots, schemes, court intrigues and hand-wringing over the Templars' future, but very little actually happens. This tale has great potential for a rousing, sword-swinging adventure, but instead is just a plodding medieval history without any zip.

July 1, 2009
Whyte brings his Templar trilogy to a rousing conclusion. The novel opens on the eve of Friday, October 13, 1307. Sir William St. Clair has learned that King Philip IV has ordered, inexplicably, the immediate arrest of every Templar in France. Not only that, he has also brought the power of the Holy Inquisition against the entire Order. St. Clair has but one course of action open to him: flee France, set his men free, and hope that, somehow, the Order can survive this purge. It is a course of action that could very well change the course of history. The book starts a bit slowlythe first 100-odd pages are mostly dialogue, background, and expositionbut once the plot gets going, readers are in for a thrilling, exhilarating ride. Theres a reason why Whytes historical novels are so popular: he adroitly juggles fact and fiction, using real events as a jumping-off point for stories that feel historically right. Fans of the previous two novels who have been clamoring for this one since 2007 will not be disappointed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)