Monday 11 January 2016

Sharon Reviews: The Pawns of Sion by Scott R Rezer

The author kindly has kindly donated an e-book copy as a giveaway. Just leave a comment at the bottom of the blog or on our Facebook page.
The winner will be drawn on Tuesday 19th January 2016




The Leper King is dead. His sister, Countess Sibylla, longs to return to the convent and leave the crown in the hands of her young son. But when the boy suddenly dies, the Order of Sion forces Sibylla to become queen and crown her estranged husband, Guion de Lusignan as king. Meanwhile, a squire named Ernoul discovers that a woman attending his sick mother in the Hospital of Saint-John is the beloved saint, Mary Magdalen, and that he is the illegitimate son of a powerful lord. As the Order of Sion regains strength and the kingdom moves ever closer to war with Salehdin, Mary seeks out the hiding place of the lost Cup of Christ… but is it the end of a long quest or a trap set by the enemy to destroy her?

At first glance The Pawns of Sion looks like a straightforward story about the politics and rivalries of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. But once you start reading, you discover the novel delves deeper than you'd ever thought possible. Scott R. Rezer has created a story which merges two realms, that of man and that of the angels. The war between Salehdin and the Christians runs parallel with the greater, age-old battle of good versus evil. The author has cleverly interwoven the two realms in a deep, intense book. The plot is detailed and unveiled in layers the deeper into the book you get.

Set in the years immediately before the Third Crusade, the action moves fast and furious from the death of King Baldwin V, through the behind-the-scenes manipulations of the the Order of Sion and the Magdalen's attempts to stop them, while Salehdin takes advantage of the deep divisions revealed among the Christian lords. And underlying it all is the centuries-long search for the Holy Grail....

I found The Pawns of Sion both fascinating and intriguing. It looks deeper into the origins of Christianity than other Crusader novels and the age-old battle of good against evil mirrors the irreconcilable differences of the Christian and Muslim combatants. There is the occasional missing word in the text, but this does not detract from the overall enjoyment of the book. The author knows how to evoke the reader's sympathy - or distaste - for particular characters. You find yourself rooting for the good guys.

The full depth of the story is slowly  revealed - each revelation releasing a new feature of the plot. And as each new secret is disclosed, it adds a little explanation to the motives and desires of the protagonists.

The language is, at times, haunting, drawing aside the veils between the realm of the natural world and that of the spiritual, giving the reader a sense of the surreal:

....Her magic shrank from the shadow of his evil rather than endure its touch.
"Did you think you could defeat me with so little a thing as the death of your beloved daughter?"
"You have no place here, Simon," she hissed, ignoring his taunt. She drew a thin silver blade from the belt beneath her cloak. The rasping sound of metal upon metal overwhelmed the silence of the wood. "You never have."
"Your words wound me, Mariamne," said Amalric de Lusignan. "Why must we continually bicker when we might become friends?"
She walked towards him, sword on shoulder, shedding her immortal glamour and taking on a semblance men knew....


 


As with many people, the Knights Templar have always held me in awe and although they are not the heroes of the story, their Grand Master Gerard de Ridefort is one of the leading characters. The author makes good use of the known protagonists of the time, weaving his story around their lives and the events that shaped the Holy Land and its politics at the time. Each character is imbued with the qualities passed down by history.

Balian d'Ibelin is the good, noble knight, whose integrity is beyond question. Guion (Guy) de Lusignan is the weak, easily manipulated, indecisive king, while his wife, Sybilla, is the pawn he uses to gain power. Then there's the young Ernoul, a fictional character who struggles to come to terms with his destiny. The historical characters are intermingled with the fictional ones, allowing the writer to create his own story within the historical record.

The characters are brought to life in the hot, arid backdrop of the Holy Land in the second half of 12th century. The author has recreated the Medieval Near East vividly, cleverly evincing the heat, the dust and the thirst, in the reader's mind.

Although I found the duality of the story confusing at first, it didn't take me long to find myself totally immersed in the concept, and in the general story itself. I like the depth of the story; the first few chapters reveal a complexity to the politics and religion of the Holy Land of the time. Individual stories are expertly woven together to make one great tapestry; a tapestry depicting the disasters befalling Outremer which would eventually lead to the launch of the Third Crusade. And behind it all are the origins of Christianity itself, the fight for good against evil and the search for the greatest relic, the Holy Grail.

It's going to be very interesting, to see how this story continues in Book 3.





Scott R. Rezer was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania in 1963. He met his wife and best friend while serving in the U.S. Air Force. They have two grown children and live in the Southwest. He is an indie published author of four historical fiction novels ranging from the Civil War to the Crusades to ancient history. Two of his books have garnered Editor's Choice selections by the Historical Novel Society (The Leper King and Shadow of the Mountain).


As a maintenance technician in the U.S. Air Force, he worked on an aging, outdated nuclear missile system of questionable safety. He believes he may have unwittingly been exposed to radioactive material that altered his DNA and gave him his writing ability -- well, maybe not. It could be he simply acquired his ability from his grandmother who was a local historian and writer. He could never ask her a simple question without hearing her say with a wink, "Go look it up." In so doing, she managed to instill in him a love of history and a wonderful sense of discovery that have stuck with him ever since.

Visit the author at:
Website 

Amazon
Facebook
Pinterest





Sharon Bennett Connolly has been fascinated by history for over 30 years. She has studied history academically and just for the joy of it – even working as a tour guide at historical sites. She is now having great fun passing on that love of the past to her 10-year-old son. Having received a blog, History...The Interesting Bits as a present for Christmas 2014 she is also enjoying sharing her obsession of history with her readers.



34 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. A very interesting review about a book with such an incredible storyline that it is sure to be a page turner. Already I have scurried off and bought book 1!

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    1. christine spielman16 January 2016 at 02:20

      I AM OF MARY MADALENE AND ARCHDUCHESS MAGALENE HABSBURG OF BAVARIA ,DEUTSCHLAND BLOODLINE. I AM DEEPLY INTERESTED IN SION, SINCLAIR FAMILY,KNIGHTS OF THE TEMPLAR.............THIS BOOK WOULD EXPLAIN WHY I AM SO INTERESTED IN THE ANCIENT WAYS, THE HOLY VIRGIN/QUEEN MARY OF HEAVEN, AND IN CHRIST-HIMSELF. I AM A DEDICATED ROMAN CATHOILC, BELIEVING IN THE OLD KAISERS, HOLY ROMAN CHURCH, POPE, VATICAN, AND KNIGHTS OF THE TEUTONIC AND GOLDEN ORDER-WITH THE KNIGHTS OF THE TEMPLARS,but,i want to spiritually connect with mary magalene,etc.,. I believe this book is key to the ancient mysteries and knowledge of mary magalene.

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    2. christine spielman16 January 2016 at 02:35

      I am also related to archduke franz jozsef habsburg and king Ludwig 2 wittelsbach of Bavaria, Deutschland and Charlemagne. I sense a connect between this book and the mervingians/franks and mary magalene,also. the royal BLOODLINE. clovis and their ancestor - THE FISHER KING. having 2 fathers one of the sea/fish and his human father. this book will unlock the ancient mysteries with the missing dead sea scrolls. amen.

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    3. christine spielman29 January 2016 at 00:06

      DID I WIN THE COPY THE PAWNS OF SION?

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  4. Sounds interesting. I'm reading a lot about 1000 - 1200 at the moment as I have found several well known, and not so well known historical persons to be my ancestors. I'd love to read this book.

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  5. Sounds like both a good read and a good share.

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  6. Sounds like both a good read and a good share.

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  7. Sounds like both a good read and a good share

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  8. Sounds like both a good read and a good share

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  9. I want this book. I would love to win a copy!

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  10. I am fascinated by the Leper King. This book reminds me of the movie Kingdom of Heaven. Can it be purchased on Amazon?

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    1. Both books (The Leper King and The Pawns of Sion) are available from Amazon. However, although both books endeavor to remain historically accurate, they also rely heavily on elements of medieval fantasy and mysticism, quite unlike The Kingdom of Heaven. It is oh, so much better... but then, I might be a little bit biased!

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    2. christine spielma16 January 2016 at 03:12

      the problem with history is like the bible-it has been rewritten many times and scrolls of it deleted, what we need is the missing dead sea scrolls. as far as history, well, king Arthur has a different nams, and merlins were druids. druids had a tie with mary magalene. it is complicated to explain. how do we prove noah's ark? the holy grail, and the feminine with the masculine-both being extremely important with worship. the goddess was extremely important. the cathars,etc.,. they existed. the tie with knights of the teutonic order with jeusalem,etc.,. in the bible it speaks of giants,etc.,. we take the bible, and the old testament into full examation as a whole as historic fact. PLEASE EXAMINE THE ANCIENT PAGAN RELIGIONS OF BOTH GODDESS AND GODS, AND YOU WILL SEE THE PARALLEL and same beginnings of creations but with different names-like Yahweh,odin,etc.,. and like the ancient norse- father god/odin, goddess/fredja=holy virgin mary,queen of heaven, and son jesus/thor. exam and you find similarities. I found it and I was shocked to my core. why is there so many things in the bible similar? I am interested in anthropoly of culture and studying of people and history. JUST LIKE THE PHAROHS OF EGYPT<AND THEIR RELGION. fact,fact,fact through archaeology-ALWAYS ARCHAELOGY! you want 100% prove read into findings-YOU MUST LOOK TO ARCHAELOGY AND THEIR FINDINGS

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  12. 'm really interested in reading this book! I have numerous ancestors who took part in the Crusades, including one, Fulk V le Anjou, who was King of Jerusalem following the death of Baldwin II. He married King Baldwin's daughter, Melisende.with whom he ruled jointly. They had two sons, Baldwin III and Amalric. Amalric was father of Baldwin IV and his sister, Sibylla, onwhom the movie, Kingdom of Heaven, was based.

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  13. wow the review makes it a must read

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  14. Sounds intriguing. Great review Sharon.

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  15. Sounds intriguing. Great review Sharon.

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  16. Wonderful review,very intriguing premise. I'm with D.Arcadian, I'm off to buy the first book...great giveaway, I've got my lucky clover out for this one 🍀

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  17. Wonderful review,very intriguing premise. I'm with D.Arcadian, I'm off to buy the first book...great giveaway, I've got my lucky clover out for this one 🍀

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  18. Great review. The book looks very interesting!

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  19. Always been fascinated with the mysteries behind the Knights Templar, the mysticism and feelings about Christianity of this time. Great Review would love to win a copy

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  20. Thank you, Sharon for such a great review! It is always a thrill when a reader—in this case a reviewer—comes away enjoying a book as much as did writing it.

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  21. I have only read about The Leper King and Sybella as people in other books, this sounds like a great read,Its a great review and I'd love to win a copy

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  22. Wonderful. This book sounds like a great read! Wonderful review too. I didn't/don't know much about the Third Crusade or the Knights Templar but even if I don't win this book...I may still go to Amazon and buy it.

    Sincerely
    Helen R. Robare

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  23. I'm in....though I lay no claim (that I know of) to having anything to do with the Crusades :-)

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  24. Sounds like a book I need to read to broaden my knowledge. Thanks for the opportunity.

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  25. Sounds like a book I need to read to broaden my knowledge. Thanks for the opportunity.

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  26. christine spielman18 January 2016 at 21:15

    I, am Christine spielman, and would love to win a copy of this book. I want to go full circle-360, and close the gap of my ancient knowledge- before I die. pass this on to my sons-it is their bloodline and mine. I need this book to finish my circle of life-past,present,future.


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  27. christine spielman21 January 2016 at 22:12

    did I win? Christine spielman. Theehistorian777@gmail.com the one with my face/profile on it. thanks.

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