Rating: 
Summary: Better than the 2nd part
Review: The Mystic Rose concludes Lawhead's Celtic Crusade trilogy. It's a fine ending to the great story. I was afraid the book would fare poorly after the exciting start in The Iron Lance, and a bit slower The Black Rood. But the Mystic Rose brought the dramatic continuation to the Celtic saga started by Murdo, his son Duncan, and finished by Duncan's loved daughter Caitriona. Caitriona witnesses the tragic death of his father during the trip to the fable Byzantium, and swears the vengeance. Her travels and adventures are worth the movie. The plot is quite interesting and it is taking us to the Moorish Spain on the track to find mystic chalice. Caitriona and her sister Alathea undergo spiritual and physical change, and end up at achieving what their father ever dreamed. Book is a great read.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth 2.5 stars, but I'll round up based on past performance
Review: The Mystic Rose continues the downward trend in the quality of stories in "The Celtic Crusades" series. While I found The Iron Lance enjoyable, and Black Rood decent, I just could not find as many positive aspects in Mystic Rose. The main character, Cait, is not likeable, nor do you empathize with her in most situations. The reader isn't able to fully connect with her emotions and thoughts. I've never read a Lawhead book in which the main character was a female, but I'm wondering if he struggled with the process of trying to write a story from a woman's perspective. The first half of this story is quite simply, boring. The remainder does have some redeeming qualities, including vivid battle scenes (a staple of Lawhead's), more interesting characters, and an overall higher level of action. Lawhead is capable of doing so much better than Mystic Rose, and I'm looking forward to a rebound in his next book.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the 2nd part
Review: The Mystic Rose continues the downward trend in the quality of stories in "The Celtic Crusades" series. While I found The Iron Lance enjoyable, and Black Rood decent, I just could not find as many positive aspects in Mystic Rose. The main character, Cait, is not likeable, nor do you empathize with her in most situations. The reader isn't able to fully connect with her emotions and thoughts. I've never read a Lawhead book in which the main character was a female, but I'm wondering if he struggled with the process of trying to write a story from a woman's perspective. The first half of this story is, quite simply, boring. The remainder does have some redeeming qualities, including vivid battle scenes (a staple of Lawhead's), more interesting characters, and an overall higher level of action. Lawhead is capable of doing so much better than Mystic Rose, and I'm looking forward to a rebound in his next book.
Rating:
Summary: Good conclusion to an exciting series
Review: This is the third volume in the Celtic Crusades series and I would rate this one as "not as good as the first, but better than the second." All of the books in this series are very good. The characters are well-developed, the plots are good and there are many interesting sub-plots. My only gripe is that the first two get started a little slowly, but if you hang in there for the first 50-75 pages then the action gets going well. The Mystic Rose does the best job of the three in grabbing your attention at the beginning and holding it. Within the first few pages an event happens that sets the tone for the rest of the book. The heroine, Caitriona sets off on a quest to avenge her father's murder and capture Christendom's most sacred relic. In fact, capturing Christendom's most sacred relic is integral to her plan for revenge. This sets up a dicey moral dilemma that is resolved nicely at the end. I find things like this moral dilemma to be one of Lawhead's strengths. In so much Christian fiction the heroes are cookie cutter Christians who seem to rise above all of the sins and temptations of the common man. Lawhead's heroes, and Caitriona in particular are very earthy, and very sinful people. The upshot of this is that he tells a story that leads one to believe that God, in his mercy, is the real hero of the story, not the protagonist of the book. At the end of this story, Caitriona is less conquerer and more conquered by the love and mercy of God. This is a very gospel based story line. All in all, the entire series is a worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: Good conclusion to an exciting series
Review: This is the third volume in the Celtic Crusades series and I would rate this one as "not as good as the first, but better than the second." All of the books in this series are very good. The characters are well-developed, the plots are good and there are many interesting sub-plots. My only gripe is that the first two get started a little slowly, but if you hang in there for the first 50-75 pages then the action gets going well. The Mystic Rose does the best job of the three in grabbing your attention at the beginning and holding it. Within the first few pages an event happens that sets the tone for the rest of the book. The heroine, Caitriona sets off on a quest to avenge her father's murder and capture Christendom's most sacred relic. In fact, capturing Christendom's most sacred relic is integral to her plan for revenge. This sets up a dicey moral dilemma that is resolved nicely at the end. I find things like this moral dilemma to be one of Lawhead's strengths. In so much Christian fiction the heroes are cookie cutter Christians who seem to rise above all of the sins and temptations of the common man. Lawhead's heroes, and Caitriona in particular are very earthy, and very sinful people. The upshot of this is that he tells a story that leads one to believe that God, in his mercy, is the real hero of the story, not the protagonist of the book. At the end of this story, Caitriona is less conquerer and more conquered by the love and mercy of God. This is a very gospel based story line. All in all, the entire series is a worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: Good conclusion to an exciting series
Review: This is the third volume in the Celtic Crusades series and I would rate this one as "not as good as the first, but better than the second." All of the books in this series are very good. The characters are well-developed, the plots are good and there are many interesting sub-plots. My only gripe is that the first two get started a little slowly, but if you hang in there for the first 50-75 pages then the action gets going well. The Mystic Rose does the best job of the three in grabbing your attention at the beginning and holding it. Within the first few pages an event happens that sets the tone for the rest of the book. The heroine, Caitriona sets off on a quest to avenge her father's murder and capture Christendom's most sacred relic. In fact, capturing Christendom's most sacred relic is integral to her plan for revenge. This sets up a dicey moral dilemma that is resolved nicely at the end. I find things like this moral dilemma to be one of Lawhead's strengths. In so much Christian fiction the heroes are cookie cutter Christians who seem to rise above all of the sins and temptations of the common man. Lawhead's heroes, and Caitriona in particular are very earthy, and very sinful people. The upshot of this is that he tells a story that leads one to believe that God, in his mercy, is the real hero of the story, not the protagonist of the book. At the end of this story, Caitriona is less conquerer and more conquered by the love and mercy of God. This is a very gospel based story line. All in all, the entire series is a worthwhile read.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best of the Trilogy!
Review: Usually when reading a trilogy, the first book is the best, and the series begins to lose steam as one goes on. Not in this case. This is by far the best book of this trilogy.
Caitriona, daughter of Lord Duncan of Caithness, visits Byzantium with her father and sister, on her way to trace her father's footsteps during his sojourn (if you can call it that) in the Holy Land of many years ago. Here their trip goes awry, and chaos begins. Duncan is assassinated inside Agha Sophia, in the heart of Byzantium, by the evil Grand Master of the Knight Templars.
What follows is a witty and entertaining tale of adventure in exotic places, lead by a woman both vulnerable and strong, whose destiny has been traced long before her journey has begun.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction. I fully enjoyed it.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating history, unlikable characters
Review: When her father is murdered in the Basilica Santa Sophia, Caitriona vows revenge against the master of the Knights Templar who performed the cold-blooded assasination. When she sneaks into the Templar's castle, her first attempt at revenge is foiled partly by a white-robed monk (or the spirit of such a monk) who invites her to renew her family's longstanding bond with the Celtic Church. Cait, agrees, but vows to continue her search for revenge--a search that seems closer than ever to fruition when the monk points out a letter describing the location of the 'mystic rose,' or the Holy Grail. Cait sets off with her sister and a small group of knights to locate the Grail, now believed to be located in Spain. Behind her, the Templars follow, searching both for the Grail and for the woman who stole the letter. Conflict is inevitable--should Cait live long enough in the face of Moorish bandits, love-lorn Arab noblemen, and her ongoing conflict with her sister. THE MYSTIC ROSE is the third and final volume in author Stephen R. Lawhead's CELTIC CRUSADE series. The crusades represent a critical period in western history--a time when the leadership of Europe was wrested from the faltering hands of Byzantium by the combined attacks of the Turks on the east and the kingdoms of the west (France, Norman Sicily, the Italian states, especially Venice, and Germany). Religious artifacts of any kind were key elements of both commerce and power. The three artifacts that this series concerns itself with--the Lance that killed Christ, the Cross that bore him, and the Cup of the last supper) are perhaps the most holy in the Christian world (perhaps joined by the Ark of the Covenant). Unfortunately, Lawhead's characters are not up to the history that surrounds them, nor to the artifacts they search for. Cait is continually angry, ignoring her promise to her father to forswear revenge and the clear warnings given by holy visions as well as common sense. She treats her sister like the poor woman is beneath contempt. Worse, she behaves irrationally and impulsively. Although this provides the basis for character growth, by the time Cait is ready to grow, I wasn't much interested in seeing it.
Rating:
Summary: A nice rose, but it could smell sweeter.
Review: With "The Mystic Rose", Stephen Lawhead's Celtic Crusades trilogy ends as it began: good but not great. But perhaps that's because I have been spoiled by his superb ability in some of his other books. This is still a decent historical adventure. On this occasion the protagonist is Cait, daughter of Duncan and granddaughter of Murdo. After the murder of her father Duncan, Cait uncovers a secret letter with details about the mystic rose, the famed Holy Grail from Christ's Last Supper. After stealing the letter and armed with a small band of knights, Cait undertakes her own quest to grab the cup for herself. But the ruthless Templar knight Renaud de Bracineaux is close on her heels, and has his own plans for the sacred relic. The holy treasure becomes the object of a race between the two, both with ambitions of selfish greed. The closing stages of the novel feature an unexpected and yet not unsatisfying resolution. The loose ends are finally tied together, including the long awaited connection with the story of Gordon Murray which frames the novel. Having a heroic feminine protagonist with such determination seemed anachronistic, and it is debatable whether Lawhead was really able to create a female heroine with any degree of real success or conviction. Yet what I appreciated about Lawhead's characterization is that Cait is a well-rounded character who develops, and that she needs to learn to overcome her lust for revenge, as well as her uncritical passion for a Moorish prince dubious in character. The repentant Cait is eventually overwhelmed by the enormity of her crimes, and confesses: "I prayed to be God's instrument of justice. I thought to use the Mystic Rose to lure my father's killer to his doom. For that, I needed the Holy Chalice, and I came here to take it. You must think me a most brazen and contemptible sinner. The audacity of my deeds amazes even me." (p414). Lawhead's main character in this respect is a flawed and very real - just like ourselves - which makes his story all the more convincing and credible. The Holy Grail plays an important role in Cait's change. As was the case in the other books of the trilogy, coming into contact with the sacred relic leads to visions and experiences of spiritual renewal, sipping from the cup resulting on this occasion in a vision of the Passover Feast. But while the characterization is quite sound, the plot lacks the suspense and imagination of some of Lawhead's other efforts, and the series as a whole lacks their intense passion and emotion. Like the rest of the series, "The Mystic Rose" is good, but not great. Here's hoping that Lawhead will return to crafting the novels in the genre that gained him such great success: the brilliant, imaginative and passionate historical fantasy of "The Song of Albion" trilogy and "Pendragon" cycle. If not for the brilliance of these other works, perhaps I would be speaking in much more glowing terms of "The Celtic Crusades". But while this series doesn't shine so bright when compared with Lawhead's own work, perhaps it can hold its own against a great deal of other historical fiction today. If you're a Lawhead fan, you'll probably enjoy his other work better. But if you're a historical adventure fan, you might well find "The Celtic Crusades" a rewarding read. -GODLY GADFLY
Rating:
Summary: A nice rose, but it could smell sweeter.
Review: With "The Mystic Rose", Stephen Lawhead's Celtic Crusades trilogy ends as it began: good but not great. But perhaps that's because I have been spoiled by his superb ability in some of his other books. This is still a decent historical adventure. On this occasion the protagonist is Cait, daughter of Duncan and granddaughter of Murdo. After the murder of her father Duncan, Cait uncovers a secret letter with details about the mystic rose, the famed Holy Grail from Christ's Last Supper. After stealing the letter and armed with a small band of knights, Cait undertakes her own quest to grab the cup for herself. But the ruthless Templar knight Renaud de Bracineaux is close on her heels, and has his own plans for the sacred relic. The holy treasure becomes the object of a race between the two, both with ambitions of selfish greed. The closing stages of the novel feature an unexpected and yet not unsatisfying resolution. The loose ends are finally tied together, including the long awaited connection with the story of Gordon Murray which frames the novel. Having a heroic feminine protagonist with such determination seemed anachronistic, and it is debatable whether Lawhead was really able to create a female heroine with any degree of real success or conviction. Yet what I appreciated about Lawhead's characterization is that Cait is a well-rounded character who develops, and that she needs to learn to overcome her lust for revenge, as well as her uncritical passion for a Moorish prince dubious in character. The repentant Cait is eventually overwhelmed by the enormity of her crimes, and confesses: "I prayed to be God's instrument of justice. I thought to use the Mystic Rose to lure my father's killer to his doom. For that, I needed the Holy Chalice, and I came here to take it. You must think me a most brazen and contemptible sinner. The audacity of my deeds amazes even me." (p414). Lawhead's main character in this respect is a flawed and very real - just like ourselves - which makes his story all the more convincing and credible. The Holy Grail plays an important role in Cait's change. As was the case in the other books of the trilogy, coming into contact with the sacred relic leads to visions and experiences of spiritual renewal, sipping from the cup resulting on this occasion in a vision of the Passover Feast. But while the characterization is quite sound, the plot lacks the suspense and imagination of some of Lawhead's other efforts, and the series as a whole lacks their intense passion and emotion. Like the rest of the series, "The Mystic Rose" is good, but not great. Here's hoping that Lawhead will return to crafting the novels in the genre that gained him such great success: the brilliant, imaginative and passionate historical fantasy of "The Song of Albion" trilogy and "Pendragon" cycle. If not for the brilliance of these other works, perhaps I would be speaking in much more glowing terms of "The Celtic Crusades". But while this series doesn't shine so bright when compared with Lawhead's own work, perhaps it can hold its own against a great deal of other historical fiction today. If you're a Lawhead fan, you'll probably enjoy his other work better. But if you're a historical adventure fan, you might well find "The Celtic Crusades" a rewarding read. -GODLY GADFLY
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