Lucifer's Crown

Rating:
Summary: a pleasant surprise
Review: Before I bought this book, I must have picked it up and put it back on the shelf at least on ten different occasions. I normally don't read contemporary fiction, let alone ones with a religious background. However, I'm glad that I gave it a try after all, because it was probably one of the most enjoyable books I've read in a while.

Stewart Carl's strongest point by far is her character creation and development. Thomas Beckett, the sinful saint who let someone else die in his place and has lived with this moral flaw for centuries, is simply fascinating. He is sinner and saint, scholar and warrior, human and angelic ... all in one. The author manages to combine all these traits into what has become one of my favorite fictional characters ever.

Her skills also become apparent in the rest of the cast. A middle-aged university instructor, who is deicated, smart, and witty, but who is also thoroughly disappointed with life and men. A young girl who embodies goodness and purity while still being human and likeable. And so son.

The plot is fascinating as well, a classical good vs. evil story set in modern-day Britain. The author manages to include enough new ideas, interpretations, and twist into this 'old' story that it is a joy to read it all over again. Every page is a pleasure to read, and I could not put the book down until I was done in one night.

Rating:
Summary: original good vs. evil tale
Review: Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury did not die a martyr's death in 1170 as the history books proclaim. At the last minute, he decided to escape and an innocent monk named David willingly gave up his life for the cause. As his punishment for his overwhelming pride, Sir Becket was granted eternal life so he could atone for his sins.

In the present, he is living in Temple Manor in Glastonbury guarding one third of the Holy Grail. His path crosses that of Maggie Sinclair and Rose Kildaire who, along with Scotsman Mick Dewar, are the key to finding the stone, the second part of the grail. On the eve of the new millennium these four reluctant warriors are enjoined by the Lady to unite the book to the stone and the cup to ensure another millennium of life for humanity. Trying, to stop them is Robin Fitzroy, a being who long ago allied himself with the dark principalities. If Robin can stop them, the world will enter the End Times.

LUCIFER'S CROWN uses the archetypes from many different cultures, legends, and myth to create an original good vs. evil story line. The characters are what make this plot so unique because all the protagonists are fatally flawed yet reject evil again and again even when they are tempted beyond measure. Hearts will go out to Becket, a man who has lived eight centuries and never loses faith even though he has yet to find his own ease of heart.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: original good vs. evil tale
Review: Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury did not die a martyr's death in 1170 as the history books proclaim. At the last minute, he decided to escape and an innocent monk named David willingly gave up his life for the cause. As his punishment for his overwhelming pride, Sir Becket was granted eternal life so he could atone for his sins.

In the present, he is living in Temple Manor in Glastonbury guarding one third of the Holy Grail. His path crosses that of Maggie Sinclair and Rose Kildaire who, along with Scotsman Mick Dewar, are the key to finding the stone, the second part of the grail. On the eve of the new millennium these four reluctant warriors are enjoined by the Lady to unite the book to the stone and the cup to ensure another millennium of life for humanity. Trying, to stop them is Robin Fitzroy, a being who long ago allied himself with the dark principalities. If Robin can stop them, the world will enter the End Times.

LUCIFER'S CROWN uses the archetypes from many different cultures, legends, and myth to create an original good vs. evil story line. The characters are what make this plot so unique because all the protagonists are fatally flawed yet reject evil again and again even when they are tempted beyond measure. Hearts will go out to Becket, a man who has lived eight centuries and never loses faith even though he has yet to find his own ease of heart.

Harriet Klausner