Brethren: An Epic Adventure of the Knights Templar (Brethren Trilogy)

A great book with great characters and a propelling story. It's set in a historical backdrop and everything within it is very believable. Great read.

Sensitive, aspiring, vital, adventurous and avid for mysticism, I saw William Campbell is a historically grounded Harry Potter. Instead of Hogwarts, the London Temple was the institution through which he had to pass. In place of the masters and mistresses of academic magic, the knights and commanders both outlined the boundaries of his freedom and taught him to move beyond it. Everade was an exacting mentor and Gavin and Elwen were the companions who aided and abetted young William. The magic of history is worked as eloquently by Robyn Young in "Brethren" as the dark arts are evoked by J.K. Rowling. This was revealing and spell binding because Young found, in the era of the Crusades, the complexities we now spin fantasy to encounter. "Brethren" looks at familiar themes of family break up, bullying, alienation and betrayal in a very believable yet fascinatingly strange context but, in addition, she is able to examine the theme of growing up, not just as a social but also as a spirtual phenomenon. I applaud the selecton of character and setting that enabled her to package this investigation in the recreated reality of the Medieval Knights Templar. Robyn Young's narrative skills create a rich and diverse canvas that spans Europe and the Middle East and finds humanity in ancient history and heroic figures of the past on both sides of the idealogical struggles that gave rise to the Crusades. She hints at the relevance of this conflict to contemporary issues, a theme to be developed further in "Crusade". Young people who learned to love reading in the Harry Potter break through period will relate to this book and find it a great path to a new genre at an adult level. Established readers who have been thrilled by Dan Brown will be drawn to Robyn Young as a well informed source of further musing about the origins of faith and the conflicts associated with religion. Seasoned epic readers will become quickly fascinated by the scope of the Brethren trilogy. This book brings together timeless human concerns and clearly redrawn historical situations.

Sometimes I bemoan the fact that I have too many books to read which means that it takes me a while to get to them all. I bought Brethren months ago but only recently did it rise to the top of my to be read pile. Once I started reading it I was chagrined that I hadn't read it sooner. This is one terrific tale of the 13th century and the turmoil between East and West, between Christian and Muslim and between the various knight orders especially of the Templars and Hospitallers. It seems that everyone wants to bring the Templars down and they all go to great lengths to pursue that agenda. The author has put together what I think is a microcosm of what secular and religious powers are at their worst and has wrapped that up in a drama filled, emotionally tense story. The characters are all too human, some are even, well let's say subhuman and the plot and twists are sublime. Now that I have the first book under my belt I will for sure be tackling the rest of the series with great anticipation. 5 stars. About the author: Robyn Young was born in Oxford and grew up in the Midlands and a fishing village in Devon, during which time she won awards for poetry and edited a regular page in a regional newspaper. After hitchhiking to Brighton at 19, she worked as a festival organiser, a music promoter and a financial advisor. She wrote two novels before gaining a Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Sussex. Her first published novel, BRETHREN, went straight into the Sunday Times top ten, where it remained for five weeks, becoming the bestselling hardback debut of the year. It entered the New York Times top twenty on publication in the US and was named book of the year by German newspaper Bild. Her second novel, CRUSADE, reached number 2 and REQUIEM completed the trilogy. In 2007, Robyn was named one of Waterstone's twenty-five 'authors of the future', judged by a panel of one hundred industry insiders who were asked to nominate the authors they believed would contribute the greatest body of work over the next quarter century. The inspiration for Robyn's new bestselling trilogy, which began in 2010 with INSURRECTION and continued in 2012 with RENEGADE, was inspired by a research trip to Scotland and is based on the life of Robert Bruce. The third novel, KINGDOM, will be published in 2014 in the month of the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn. Alongside writing novels, Robyn has collaborated on a WWII screenplay. Her novels have been published in 22 countries in 19 languages and together have sold almost 2 million copies.

When I bought this book, I wanted a good intro into the period. I've read some histories, but was looking for more daily life type experience. Good fiction should provide such. This did. In regard to the barbarism of the battles, I was not shocked. That a young authoress could do such a clinical job with them was gratifying, because those times were such and truth demands her descriptions. Do the Templars come off poorly? I don't think so. They are a human organization with fatal flaws, but that's who they were battling as well. If you're on a God sanctioned mission, some within the organization will play that card with their own interest in mind. Too, I think their enemies are believable for the same reason. You come away from this work wondering how these folks, all sides, contest so vigorously having slept with one eye open wary of the enemy within. About the love story contained, I thought it was good, but the behavior of the lovers, in certain parts, evoked loud: "why'd he/she do that?" That was ok in the end, because love's irrational anyway. As I read this tale, I kept thinking about the Roman Republic and its putative checks and balances. The Templars were obviously a check on monarchy's potential excesses. Overall, it was more than a worthwhile read, having piqued my curiosity for the next two books in the story of Will Campbell and the Knights.

I always worry that the second book in a trilogy will bog down or not measure up to the excitement of the first book but this second book in Ms Young's knights templar series doesn't disappoint. Though I think that the story is rushed at times I found the twist and turns very satisfying and found the conflict to be realistic and not excessively violent considering the time period. I look forward to the culmination in this series and I hope to read more from this exceptional historical fiction author.

I'd actually rate this at 3.5 stars, but that wasn't an option. This was Robyn Young's first novel, and though I generally shy away from reading books written by women (I know, I know - MCP!), the subject of the story is a fascinating one for me. It concerns the Kings Templars and the end of the Western presence in the Near East. As a history buff, I found her research to be first rate. I have read other novels where Baybars, the Mamluk leader of Egypt was the main character and her interpretation of him and his motives was just as believable. I'd read the novel just for the historical insights and flavor. I did think the plot took too long to develop and some aspects of it may have stretched probability. On the other hand, her characters were well developed and internally consistent. I will probably buy the next in the series since I've put this much time into getting to know the characters and invested still more time understanding the plot. When she did write the action scenes they were OK, but the story could have used more of them, seeing how violent that era was. Would I buy this book again, knowing then what I know about it? Maybe, depends on what else was out there at the time. I value my time, and am quite willing to stop reading a book that I find I don't like enough. I finished this one, and will probably buy the next one. She has a way to go to become one of my favorite authors.

Adventure, love, fighting everything I enjoy! I love the twists and the story line. Cant wait to finish the trilogy!

This was the first book of an absolutely amazing trilogy. Thoroughly enjoyed the books. But, the first book was very slow going for the first 100 pages or so. Once the setting and characters are finally set up. These were among the best books I have read. Though, the last book was less impressive due to the content being on a less grand scale compared to the first two books, as well due to it leading to the expected end of the Templars.