The Iron Lance (The Celtic Crusades #1)

The Iron Lance (The Celtic Crusades #1)
by Stephen R. Lawhead

The Iron Lance (The Celtic Crusades #1)
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Book Summary Information

Author: Stephen R. Lawhead
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-04-05
ISBN: 0061051098
Number of pages: 656
Publisher: Harper Prism

Summary of The Iron Lance (The Celtic Crusades #1)

Scotland, 1095. While his father and brothers follow Pope Urban II's call to win Jerusalem from the infidels, Murdo Ranulfson stays behind to guard his family's interests. But when his home is confiscated by greedy usurpers, Murdo is forced to follow the Crusades himself. Hoping to find his father and redeem his family's land, Murdo sets off on a journey that leads him to the Mediterranean -- the heart of civilization now threatened by barbarian hordes -- and on to the fabled city of Constantinople and beyond, to the Holy Land. Amidst brutality and ambition, Murdo discovers what he seeks -- and obtains a relic that will guide him and his descendents for centuries. Rich in heroism, treachery, and adventure, The Iron Lance begins an epic trilogy of a Scottish noble family fighting for its existence and its faith during the age of the Crusades -- and of a secret society whose ceremonies will shape history for a millennium.
Most of Stephen Lawhead's popular historical fantasies are part of one or another of his sagas, trilogies, or cycles. For readers who enjoy big galloping yarns set in distant lands, and don't mind having their hands held by the author every step of the way, the first volume of his new Christian trilogy should hit the spot.

The framing device begins at the end of the nineteenth century, in Edinburgh, where Gordon Murray is about to be inducted into an ancient brotherhood whose secret rites involve a sacred relic: the iron lance of the title. The main narrative is set in eleventh century Orkney. When Pope Urban II calls for the retaking of Jerusalem from the infidel, the local lord, Ranulf, joins the Crusade with his elder sons, leaving behind young Murdo to oversee the family holdings. When the Church, through a nefarious scheme, confiscates the house and holdings, Murdo has no choice but to follow the Crusaders to the Holy Land and bring his father home to fix the whole mess.

Lawhead paints a vast and exotic canvas of medieval world politics, then peoples it with colorful characters--cunning Byzantine rulers, bluff Norman knights, gap-toothed, shaggy-brained Saxon peasants--who encounter visions and miracles, brutality and ambition, love and justice. At the end of the main narrative, Murdo gets what he wants but not in the ways expected. The framing narrative ends with hints that, as the world lurches towards a new millennium, Gordon Murray's Christian secret society is the world's only hope for survival, and the time nears for the brotherhood to reveal itself. --Luc Duplessis

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