THE BLACK ROOD

THE BLACK ROOD by Stephen Lawhead
Voyager (Harper Collins) - January 2001
ISBN 0006483224 – Paperback
Historical & Inspirational

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
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Like its predecessor, The Iron Lance, this is listed as fantasy although it certainly isn't anything of the sort. There are a couple of religious visions as in the first and final novels and this is very much a series that would appeal to practicing Christians, but then it would also appeal to anybody who likes a jolly good story.

For this novel is marvelously fast-paced adventure story that Rider Haggard would have enjoyed. Murdo has built his "kingdom" in Caithness and the narration is now taken up by his son Duncan who is married with a young daughter (Catriona who narrates the third book The Mystic Rose). All is peaceful until his uncle returns from the Holy Land to die and tells the Ranulfssons that the Holy Rood has been found as in the hands of the
Templars.

Duncan has a vision and desires to go on a pilgrimage to bring it back to Scotland and with him goes Padraig of the Cele De, a secret order that appears to be something like a cross between the Celtic Church and the Freemasons. Once in the Holy Land the pace hots up and although this isn't a very short book it is one fast read and the end left me wanting more which is a very rare phenomenon. Hashish-dazen assassins, battles, visions, luxurious Eastern courts, terrible hardships and friendships of the true and false variety keep Duncan and Padraig more than busy and the reader more than entertained.

My one criticism of the trilogy is that Lawhead intersperses the narrative with fragments from a late 19th century descendant's diary, telling us of his initiation into the mysteries of the Cele De and a mission he is undertaking. These scraps are few and when they occur are more akin to the adverts cutting in to a thrilling film than any story device. They add nothing and merely take away some of the dignity of the novel without really having anything to do with fantasy either. This gripe aside this is one trilogy to hold onto for your keeper shelf.