Rating: 
Summary: Historical Fiction Second to None!
Review: Having read all of Lawheads major works I can easily say that this is one of his finest achievements. Within these pages you will experience the treachery of monarchs, the plotting of kings and nobles, the loss of loved ones, the tenderness of true love, the warmth of true friends, and the excitement of a raging battle. All of this comes together to make a tapestry of epic story telling and an adventure as timeless as they come. So if you have read Lawhead in the past and enjoyed his works then I urge you to get this book. And if you have never read Lawhead before this is a great place to start.
Rating: 
Summary: not bad
Review: Are you interested in the crusades? Do you enjoy stories that have to do with scotland, norway, ireland? Do you appreciate solid writing? If so, then this book may be of interest. After all, the crusades are the backdrop, the main character is from scotland, and the writing is solid.
That being said, there is nothing particularly special about this book. As I said, the writing is solid, not spectacular. The characters are passable, but in a week you will not remember anything about them. In my opinion, the spirituality / theology aspects are weak and distract instead of enliven.
However, if you are looking for something to read, then why not? The book is worth the money and you will not feel as if you have wasted your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Fans of the Crusades will enjoy this book
Review: This is a story full of adventure that will keep you going all the way. It's entertaining, it's instructive and most of all, it's orginal. Nice to see the involvement of the men from Orkney in the Crusades. Same goes for the Norsemen. There are some endearing characters in this book as well as some interesting twists. In all, a different look at a very documented time in history, the Crusades, which atmosphere and horror are well detailed in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant story set in the First Crusade
Review: Lawhead tells the story of Murdo Ranulfson, a Dane from the Orkney islands, who finds himself thrown into the first crusade.
His story is told hundreds of years later by a member of a secret organisation to whom the Freemasons are children playing with toys.
Having read Byzantium by the same author, it is easy to see that he has a love of Celtic Monks, Vikings and Constantinople. This book, the first in a series of three, gives Lawhead free rain to exploit his vast knowledge of all these elements.
It is a thrilling rollercoaster ride through the first crusade. Historically this is a very accurate account of events, and I could find no discrepancies with the "Short History of the Crusades" by Reilly Smith.
But best of all, this reads like a good fantasy saga, complete with fortunes in gold, magnaminious kings, a holy lance and plenty of swashbuckling fun. I can't wait to read the next volume.
Rating:
Summary: A good fictional story depicting life during the crusades.
Review: I just finished reading "The Iron Lance". It provided a good story; however, it did not just knock my socks off. The book began somewhat slow, but this was necessary to set up the main character Murdo's strengths and weaknesses. I decided to continue on because I had read good things about Mr. Lawhead's writing. I am glad I did.
I don't necessarily read the books for historical accuracy, but rather the ability of the book to transport me to another time. I have read other novels that did this with excellence. "The Iron Lance" may not have attained this level of excellence, but I felt the book was a good read.
I would recommend this to anyone who reads historical fiction books for entertainment. For the die hard, avid historical fiction fan, this may not be the case.
The book was good enough, that I will read the next book in the trilogy when I come across it. I rated it a 3 star, but it was more like a 3.5 star.
Rating:
Summary: Spiritually intriguing but finally unsatisfying
Review: Why is this book good but not great?
Three things make it good. The first is Murdo, the hasty, boy-wonder hero whom we follow from boyhood to manhood, and whom we wish to see succeed. The second is the pay-off--that point near or at the end where things turn out worse in some ways than we had hoped, yet in others, far better than we had dreamed. Lawhead gives us the payoff straight-away, without flashback or inference, right out of the characters' mouths, and the casual reader just needs that once in a while. The third is Lawhead's dependable ability to spark one's "Sehnsucht"--that deep-down yearning for something grander, greener, heroic, more beautiful and more raptuous, that all humans hope and pray is at the end of the metaphysical rainbow. Lawhead does it consistently by situating his readers in Celtic lore and drawing upon the Celts' rich spiritual tradition. This sets Lawhead's work apart from your average "slash 'n' spell" fantasy novel by grounding it in transcendent themes, and it was for this reason that I chose it from the myriad other dragon and druid selections lining Borders' "fantasy/sci-fi" shelves.
Three things make this story "not great." The first is Murdo. Murdo is indeed a likeable character, but he has been seen a hundred times before--the youngest brother who is left behind on the crusade but makes his own way to the Holy Land through crazy coincidences with the help of generous, shallow characters along the way. The second is the pay-off: sweet but predictable. The third is the (sorry, Stephen!) the shallowness of the spiritual dimension. I commend Lawhead for rising above the standard fantasy fare by consistently digging deeper into our souls and incorporating his own manifest spiritual wonder, informed by his evangelical Christian faith. He follows in the line of Lewis, but whereas simplicity enables the former's profundity, Lawhead's simpleness lacks depth. Murdo wrestles with the church's hypocrisy, and Lawhead invites the reader to wholeheartedly condemn the Crusades and the bishops, priests, emporers and monks who advanced it. But instead of truly wrestling with this grand historical problem and all the theological fallout, Lawhead allows no room for ambiguity and merely suggests that earthly kings are by definition corrupt, the medieval church was apostate, and that there is a "True-Path" and a "Holy Light"--the real "born-again-ness," the "real Christianity," if you will--that the Celts somehow held secret for centuries while the world went to hell in a handbasket. Perhaps this assessment is unfair, as I have not finished the trilogy. Maybe everything comes full-circle with "The Mystic Rose."
All in all, a fun read that's certainly worth $7.99 in paperback, but will leave the wrestlers-at-the-River-Jabbok among us unsatisfied.
Rating:
Summary: Couldnt put it down
Review: This is my second read from Lawhead, the first being "Patrick, Son of Ireland". Patrick was just good enough to get me to try again and I'm glad I did. The Iron Lance was great from start to finish. I simply could not put it down and finished it in 2 days. I can't wait to get started on books 2 and 3 in this Celtic Crusades series. Hopefully Santa will bring them! Also, if this is your cup of tea, check out Bernard Cornwell.
Rating:
Summary: After a bit of a slow start, it is terrific
Review: I am one of those people who is finding Lawhead a little later in his career. This is the second book of his I have read - I missed the books surrounding Arthur and others he wrote earlier in his career. I read his novel about Patrick last year and it was pretty good, but it didn't make me a committed fan of his. After reading this one I am much more of a fan. The story centers around the Crusade of the late 1000's and 1100's. The central character is Murdo Ranulfson, who wants to join the crusade but is too young. His father and brothers go on the crusade but he is unable to and it grates on his terribly. While his father and brothers are gone, his family is the victim of the treachery of some unscrupulous churchmen, and they lose their estate. This sets Murdo on a course of action where he journeys to the Holy Land to try to find his father, in order to bring him back to claim his lands. On this journey to and from the Holy Land, Murdo grows from a precocious boy into a man of strength and character. As he makes his way across the sea and to his father he has many adventures which shape his character. He is befriended by Celtic monks who help guide and care for him and who show him the way of the True Path. There are many reasons I liked this story - this is a "Christian" book by a "Christian author" with many Christian themes. But, the characters are not your stereotypical characters that are found in so much Christian fiction. There is a wonderful conversion scene involving Murdo but it is done in a very believable way. We see Murdo's struggles along the way, and he doesn't become a saint nor does this conversion scene wipe away all of his troubles. Instead, a very real and human person struggles along in his faith in a very harsh and brutal time of history. Speaking of harsh and brutal, there are some scenes of pretty explicit violence. I usually don't get emotionally affected, but in one scene in Jerusalem the brutality took my breath away. This is a vivid picture of man's inhumanity to man, and it is all the more stark in view of the fact that much of this is committed in the name of Christ. Lawhead doesn't really theorize on the morality of the crusades - he simply tells the story. To my mind, the story shows the futility of the crusades and the sinfulness of the whole project. But the real story in this is the transformation of Murdo.
Rating:
Summary: Lawhead drops a notch below Pendragon & Albion
Review: In the Celtic Crusades trilogy, acclaimed Christian fantasy writer Stephen Lawhead again tries his hand at historical fiction, just as he did in his successful Byzantium. The adventure revolves around Murdo Ranulfson, whose brothers and father leave Scotland to join one of the eleventh century Crusades to rescue Jerusalem from the infidel. When usurpers confiscate his home and property, Murdo leaves his native land and his new bride Ragna, to find his father and brothers and call them to return home and restore their property. Together with three mysterious priests, his quest takes him to the center of the crusaders' action in sacking Jerusalem in 1099, where he soon becomes part of the search for the iron lance, the relic which apparently pierced Christ's side and now seems to magically guarantee the crusaders victory. Juxtoposed with Murdo's personal quest, is the much larger and epic story of the crusade. In place of Lawhead's usual fantasy, "The Iron Lance" instead is full of historical adventure. But unfortunately Lawhead doesn't succeed in this effort at historical fiction to the same extent as he did in "Byzantium". There are too many loose ends, coincidences, and implausibilities. Unlike some of his other efforts, here the bad guys are neatly vanquished and the good guy gets the gold, the glory, and the girl. The Iron Lance lacks the deep and contrasting passions of glory and tragedy that I came to love from the Pendragon Cycle and the Song of Albion trilogy. And the framing device about Gordon Murray who is initiated into a mystical nineteenth century secret society of brotherhood has little obvious connection with the rest of the book. Ultimately it is a rather incredible historical adventure set in medieval times, somewhat too good to be true, where you must suspend you sense of disbelief to enjoy the plot, somewhat similar to Louis L'Amour's "The Walking Drum" but without the same success in execution and failing to live up to its potential. Certainly there are some aspects that redeem this book. The portrayal of the crusades is fascinating for those interested in medieval times. Lawhead is not afraid to show the corruption that existed within the ritualistic church of the time, and the brutality and bloodshed of the crusades. But amidst all the religion and the politics, this book lacks the personalities, the passion and the plot that made some of his other works so successful, and compared with them is only second rate. Newcomers to Lawhead would do better to start with Byzantium, or the Pendragon Cycle and the Song of Albion trilogies. I hope the other two entries in this series will rise to the heights Lawhead has reached in the past with those titles. -GODLY GADFLY
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