Rating: 
Summary: No way!
Review: In my opinion this book is clap-trap, & pretentious clap-trap at that! Worse, it is dreadfully dreary & dull to read. Masses of dates, places, details that are brought together from numerous dubious sources & then presented as having some (usually preposterous) bearing on their peculier "Jesus" theory. It's totally unconvincing & an awesomely boring read. In fact, if this review saves one person from repeating the experience, then that will be my only reward for the excrutiating time I spent reading the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Where to start
Review: Perhaps Fr. Saugnier, a poor priest in the Langue'doc would have never found the 'Pearl of Great Price' from which came his fortunes and the beginning of a great mystery of the Priory of Zion, the lineage of the Royal Davidic Family, the mysterious works of Marc Chagal and the poetry of Blake. But, that is bygone and only mentionable upon the path set by Messrs. Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln.
Come with us now to ancient and dangerous times with landmarks and esotericisms leading us to the conclusion: The Davidic Line did not die with Y'shua bar Y'usef or his, I believe, wife, Mary, the Magdalen. It spread and was preserved. The Grail was the vessel, Mary, from which the bloodline continued through the Goth's intermarriage with the Jews of Marseille.
This book is not only about the Templars and its mysterious start, but of the even more mysterious Priory of Zion who pur portedly has protected as maintained the Holy Bloodline and whose leaders are stated to include Sir Isaac Newton, Leonard DaVinci, Robert Fludd, Claude Debussey and Jean Cocteau, and members may have included Marc Chagall, Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, FDR, many of the French, British and European royalty.
Adventures abound and the search unpeels like an endlessly petalled rose (I say 'rose' most purposefully).
Detail after detail after detail. Connections, connections and reinforced research that some have criticized as rather exhausting. Well, this is a serious work of research and this is what one must do to survive peer review. No apologies here.
dIf you have read Barbara Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror", Laurence Gardner's "Bloodline of the Holy Grail", or the "Dagobert's Revenge Compilation" (which I recommend most highly and which you can retrieve online by keyword) and you're still hungry for more, this is the place to start, or their next book "The Messianic Legacy".
Indispensible. Seminal. If you don't get any others, at least get this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolute nonsense
Review: This book's claim to fame is the theory that Jesus did not die 2,000 years ago and is based on suppositions, myth and a twisted view of the scriptures.The statement in the book that Jesus' impalement only last 3 hours is bogus, as the scriptures do not say this. Luke 23:33-46 clearly shows that Jesus' torture started long before the "sixth hour", which was when the "darkness over the land" started and lasted until the ninth hour. It was at the ninth hour when Jesus finally died. Another bizarre theory in Holy Blood, Holy Grail, is the use of some midieval picture that shows the disciples carrying Jesus' body. In the background there is a full moon and it is dark. The authors have decided that the picture insinuates that Jesus did not die as no Jew would touch a dead body on the Sabbath as is indicated by the full moon in the background, and that they were, in fact, REMOVING the body from the tomb. With a small amount of reasoning, this theory too can be shown to be false. First, the picture was painted eons after Jesus' time
and cannot be used as anything credible to the actual crucifiction. Second, the authors are correct in saying that no Jew would touch a dead body on the Sabbath, but they would also not carry a wounded body, or any other body on the Sabbath, as this would have been considered "work." In addition, the book claims evidence that Jesus and Mary Magdelene married and moved to France and established a "Royal Blood Line" is without merit. There is nothing at all in the scriptures or anywhere else that points to this conclusion or even hints at it. Another consideration is that, not only was Jesus himself a decendent of King David, but he also had at least 4 half-brothers and 2 half-sisters (as shown in Mark 6:3) that were also decendents of King David; any one of them or their children or grandchildren could have moved to France or anywhere else, and established a "royal blood line." This book is, in my opinion, absolute rubbish.
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Summary: Well what a shock that was!
Review: When this book was first brought out, it created a wave of shock throughout not only the christian, but also the Islamic world....After all, it is all connected, as the authors show. What the authors say is nothing new though, and they know that themsleves as well. But their extensive research in the matter, made this an exceptional book. At a certain point, in defense of their hypothesis, the authors critisize the way of analysis most historians will turn to. They show the lack of the ability to make connections between certain -at first glance unconnected-events of most present day historians.
This makes this book so immensely special: they DID make the connections.
The result: they lead you gently but surely through the world of the cathars and their secret. From there, they will lead you through to the templars, and their possible secret. Then to the secretive order that worked behind the screens of the templars. They expose the entire dynasty of the Merovingians, and their bloodline.....Finally, they show you the person of Jesus, and his connection in the mystery of all the things spoken of up to that point. Throw al this together, and you don't only have an explanation of what the Holy Grail is, but also what consequences this mysterious "object" had on history, and perhaps also will have on the future! The blood of Jesus, passed down by his descendants, might have quite an impact on the religious world and beyond, if the secretive order spoken of in this book succeeds in its task. The King of The Jews might still be around...And in this world of decay in spirituality, could anything have a bigger impact? All in all: a book you will not be able to put away, even though you will go mad after the 1000th date they throw at you. Read it, and you'll comprehend many things concerned with religion so much better. Not religious? Read it anyway. You might find out you can relate more to Jesus after reading it...Good luck!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Read but Set Your Skeptical Level for "High Power"
Review: A very exciting and wonderful read. Very much a good representative example of conspiracy theories. It could be used as a text book case. The real interesting thing is that one is almost sure that the authors set out to manufacture something that would appeal to the gullible and those without even a rudimentary understanding of how to think clearly about ideas, history and reasoning from first principles. For those who can see this as their true purpose, the book is wildly exciting and has all of the good elements of a detective sleuth story, with convoluted plots, existing theories turned on their head, dark unseen powers manipulating the central characters, and plenty of bad guys. The central idea is that the blood line of Christ is alive and well and reposited and protected over time by a group of secret societies, mainly the Rosecrucians. But the Knights Templar, Cisterian Monks and other secret societies are also given pride of place in this pantheon of conspiracy vendors. The line of investigation and reasoning moves very well and for those with a bent for medievalism, you will love the book, with a lot of the basic historical outline being true. But one would never take it as serious history. (If you are interested in the Cathars one should check out Johnathan Sumption's "Albigensian Crusade," a good read and serious history). Some out there may actually take its contents seriously. The authors leave subtle hints throughout that they are pulling our leg and that is one of the joys of the book. In addition it is interesting to pick apart the reasoning and leaps of logic that are sometimes subtle and sometimes outlandish and funny --- eg, the supposed leaders of those that have been entrusted to protect the blood line. For those who want a good read that plays with your mind, this is a good read. For those who are gullible enough to believe conspiracy theories in general, I serious recommend that they re-read it or, if still beyond then, add some serious reasoning and skepticism to your diet, by reading some Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, or Richard Feynman.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting but misrepresents itself.
Review: The book is a great read. If you are into conspiracy theories at all, this book will take you for a great ride. After all, what better conspiracy theory to pursue than the idea that Jesus' ancestors are alive and influential today and that these reasearchers know who they might be? Sadly, if you are interested in scholarship, this book is a huge letdown. The theories presented are often very interesting and persuasive in the possibilities they hold. The research behind those theories is weak, though represented as more than it is. The writers themselves admit often that they don't have the information they need to make te conclusions they jump at, but right after making a caveat will make 20-30 pahes of statements presented as fact (even though it rarely is). Their research also rests primarily on one set of documents, the validity of which they cannot verify. This is better as a work of fiction than as it is presented to us.
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Summary: amazing story, until you find out it is a hoax
Review: a woefull piece of scholarship with a complete disregard for facts-the authors exploited a theme which had been gathering momentum in france since the 60's and foisted it on the english speaking world. The basis for the book, a series of mysterious pamphlets, was a careful hoax orchestrated over 20 years by a man called Pierre Plantard who claims to be not only the rightful king of france but a descendent of christ...
Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: I read this years ago and it lead me to other works. It fascinates me how upset people can get when they feel their belief structure is being threatened. All one has to do is look around at all the so called organized religions today to see that they are all politically based. Hmmmm.... The authors present a wonderful piece of work which for me rings true. It is beautifully written and researched, and what saddens me the most is the "drama" that lives on today. Megan
Rating:
Summary: A pretty good book!
Review: I enjoyed reading HBHG. I don't agree 100% with what is written within these pages. But, then again, who usually does. Reading this book has gotten me interested in other areas, such as; the Knights Templar, Rosslyn, the Cathars, to include a good background on European history related to the topic. I find the thought that Jesus Christ survived the Crucifixion pretty far-fetched. But, I was intrigued with the early history of the Church and the major players who shaped and developed Christianity. Overall not a bad book!! The Traveling Man
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Summary: Jesus, Myth and Legend, and a Secret Society to boot
Review: I've just sat and read through the reviews of this book. What concerns me is that though it covers a subject like the Bible, which is designed specificaly for different people to extract different things from, the people who have read Hold Blood Holy Grail seem unable to afford the same curtesy to this book too. In my own opinion, the book is exceptionaly well written, and opens up an approach to Christianity that allows people to relate to Jesus as a man, and removes a lot of the "hokus pokus" which deters people from beliving your standard tales of miracles and magic. The basic plot, and i use that word with good reason, reguards a preists riseing wealth, which appears to be related to some occult knowledge discovered by accident in the shape of some parchments. This information pertains to a secret, which has been carried by generations by a society known as the Priory de Sion, and claims to change the face of christianity as we now know it. The book carrys through analysis of what this information is, and how the society is prominent throughout the centuries. The conclusions the book comes to will no doubt be rubbished by people who have closed minds to endings that are different to the normal ideas, but people are already disillusioned by biblical explanations of Christ, and are searching for truths which they can relate to. It is everybodys privelege to believe what they want to, and that adage applies here. In summary, buy the book. Once you pick it up, you wont put it down. That alone suggests it captures the imagination, and maybe will change your perceptions on past, present, and future. Other suggested reading would be...Bloodline of the Holy Grail : The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed by Laurence Gardner, and The Tomb of God : The Body of Jesus and the Solution to a 2,000-Year-Old Mystery by Richard. Andrews, Paul Schellenberger Apologies for poor spelling.
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