Rating: 
Summary: Cadfael is set to pay the price!
Review: ...it should come as no surprise that BrotherCadfael feels he must pay penance for his, as well. And in this20th--and final--chronicle of Brother Cadfael, Ellis Peters takes us a giant step forward in her characterization of the good Benedictine monk, a man once a member of the Crusades and now wrestling against sin behind the cloth. In "Brother Cadfael's Penance," Peters permits Cadfael to come face to face with another aspect of his life--a time before his monastic vows. It is 1145 and the great civil war rages on between King Stephen and Empress Maud. However, there is hope. A meeting between the two factions is scheduled for Coventry and Brother Cadfael secures permission from the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury to attend. Known widely for his skills in diplomacy, as well as crime solving abilities, Cadfael, however, wishes to attend for a very personal reason. He is seeking news of a young knight, Olivier de Bretagne. Olivier is Cadfael's son, from his days fighting in the Holy Land as a crusader. His holy vows aside, he feels he must do all within his power to save his son. Peters, as always, presents Cadfael as more than human--she gives us a man for all seasons, as it were. In addition, she presents the good brother in a realistic but incredibly humane manner. He is a man whom we can love, respect, yes, even cherish. Peters' ability to draw out these characteristics is perhaps what makes the series so fascinating. Hers is a series not to be missed. One probably should read them in the order they were written; or at least, read earlier ones before this one, as the poignancy of the meeting between father and son is so much more dramatized when the reader has the background to appreciate such a climactic episode. I cannot imagine a reader being disappointed! (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)
Rating: 
Summary: Satisfying Conclusion
Review: After reading Ellis Peters' 20th and last Cadfael story I can't help but feel a little sad knowing that there will be no more coming. The Cadfael novels were all finely written and satisfying as mysteries and historical novels. In this last installment, there is a murder mystery, but Cadfael ends up solving much more than a crime. In fact, the crime solving aspect is a small part of this story that mostly surrounds the relationships between a father and an estranged son. I think most fans will agree that it isn't one of the best three or four, but it was very good, and is a fitting conclusion to the Cadfael story.
Rating:
Summary: Satisfying Conclusion
Review: After reading Ellis Peters' 20th and last Cadfael story I can't help but feel a little sad knowing that there will be no more coming. The Cadfael novels were all finely written and satisfying as mysteries and historical novels. In this last installment, there is a murder mystery, but Cadfael ends up solving much more than a crime. In fact, the crime solving aspect is a small part of this story that mostly surrounds the relationships between a father and an estranged son. I think most fans will agree that it isn't one of the best three or four, but it was very good, and is a fitting conclusion to the Cadfael story.
Rating:
Summary: Ellis Peters, always excellent
Review: Alas and alack! There will be no more Brother Cadfael mysteries. Ellis Peters is gone, but she has left a rich estate for all her readers, especially in the well-known Brother Cadfael series. Cadfael's conflict in the book is between his monastic vows and what he perceives to be his natural duties as a father. His son Olivier has been captured and none know where he is. Cadfael looks for Olivier though he knows the search may cost him his home in Shrewesbury Abbey. Later parts of the book deal with the issue that an honorable man may do that which seems most dishonorable if it helps end a destructive war. Ellis Peter's characters are far more realistic and human than most. They are sympathetic, mostly good characters torn by events, doing wrong in reaction to being trapped in unpitying reality. Her characters are consistent and believable with a few possible exceptions. Olivier, for example, seems all perfection -- yet is this not how his loving father would see him? As a whole, the Cadfael series is an excellent blend of plot, character, and setting. Brother Cadfael's Penance, the last written in the series, is one of the best. The insights are richer and deeper, the characters more engaging, the conflicts of a bigger yet always very human scale.
Rating:
Summary: Miss Peters we will miss you!
Review: BUT! Now Brother Cadfael belongs to history, and the readers who love him so. Start at the beginning and READ THIS SERIES! Miss Peters had an unparalleled gift for conjuring the most beautiful images with her words. I mean, how many people can write about the grim and gritty middle ages and almost make you want to live there? When Cadfael digs in his garden and breathes in the scent of his herbs, you are there, my friend. In this volume we again meet Olivier, Cadfael's son. That would make it worth buying alone, but we also get a brilliant story with EP's usual marvelous characters. What a marvelous ending to this stand-out series.
Rating:
Summary: Miss Peters we will miss you!
Review: BUT! Now Brother Cadfael belongs to history, and the readers who love him so. Start at the beginning and READ THIS SERIES! Miss Peters had an unparalleled gift for conjuring the most beautiful images with her words. I mean, how many people can write about the grim and gritty middle ages and almost make you want to live there? When Cadfael digs in his garden and breathes in the scent of his herbs, you are there, my friend. In this volume we again meet Olivier, Cadfael's son. That would make it worth buying alone, but we also get a brilliant story with EP's usual marvelous characters. What a marvelous ending to this stand-out series.
Rating:
Summary: Full circle
Review: Cadfael is faced with an incredible delimma. He must make a decision between following the vows he loves so dearly and the son and family his Welsh blood will not let him desert. Is this the end of his brotherhood? This suspense kept me reading and at the end, I was sad this was the last of the Cadfael Chronicles.
Rating:
Summary: A double delight: entertaining and edifying
Review: Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter) came to my attention early in the Brother Cadfael series, and has seldom been a disappointment. This novel has an interesting, historically sound plot, a keen grasp of human nature, and great characterization throughout. More than one reviewer has marveled at the virtuousness of her medieval characters, but when Peters paints a portrait of virtue, it is never cheap, sentimental, or caricatured. In a 21st-century culture trying to light the dead wood of honor and chivalry with the fickle tinder of cynicism, warrior monks like Brother Cadfael were and are a welcome breath of fresh air. Those reviewers who dismiss Cadfael as too saintly have let his faithfulness to Benedictine rule and Catholic orthodoxy blind them to his literary kinship with the good-but-not-to-be-messed-with likes of Huckleberry Finn and Phillip Marlowe.
Rating:
Summary: By far the best book in the Chronicles!
Review: Ellis Peters did a wonderful job with the last book in the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. Cadfael gets word that his secret son, Olivier de Breatgne, has been taken prisoner in the civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud, and has not been offered for ransom. Born in the far East of a Syrian mother, and choosing his unknown father's religion to join the English, Olivier does not know that Brother Cadfael is his father. By chance Cadfael met him he when looking for two missing children, and the monk realised that the young man was the son that he never knew he had. Now Olivier is prisoner, his whereabouts and imprisoner unknown. Although Cadfael has broken the Rule of the Benedictine Order before, he has never broken his monastic vows. But as he said, "Knowing or unknowing, before I was a brother I was a father." Cadfael is torn between the monastic life he loves so dearly and the duty he feels to find his son and set him free. A wonderfully moving and exciting book.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent final volume for the Cadfael saga
Review: Ellis Peters has again delivered an outstanding Brother Cadfael book. This adventure combines all of the elements we have grown to love - a pivotal event in the war between Maud and her cousing Stephen, Cadfael's relationship with his son and Cadfael's relationships within the Abbey. And of course a mystery or two to be solved along the way. If you're a Brother Cadfael fan, this book is definitely for you. I feel it is one of the best books in the series. Unfortunately, with the death of Ellis Peters, this is the final chronicle of Brother Cadfael.
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