Templar, Call to Arms: A Review

'If the past had been different' is how "Templar, Call to Arms" begins. It's a theme that many authors and many books have explored, but none have taken the reader back to a point so far into the past. The idea is that King Philip IV didn't destroy the Templar Knights at the end of the fourteenth century, instead they helped him launch a final crusade that was successful in winning the Holy Land. This obviously changed our world beyond all recognition, allowing the holy orders of the church to survive to this very day.This is a very interesting idea that I'm surprised has never been explored in the past by the multitude of similar books and movies. Rather than spend page after page detailing the events in this new history the author, Adam Green, concentrates on the protagonists predicament in the setting of the novel. The book is a retelling of the destruction of the Knights Templar, setting their demise in 'our' modern world. The world itself, while vastly different from our
own, is startlingly similar in many ways. A financial war grips the world, America has taken the role of France, setting the president in place of King Philip, and a holy war rages with China, among other striking elements.The novel itself is wonderfully structured, gently introducing the reader to both protagonists and antagonists alike. These characters are wonderfully detailed and familiar in many respects. The symmetry between our world and theirs is crafted with care and utmost consideration to what may have been.Our heroes are typically well crafted for a novel of this genre. Placing 'Holy men' in a world so similar to ours presents them with many problems, but each protagonist attacks them with thought and care. The Antagonists are equally as terrible, as the heroes are heroic. The basis in history perfectly forms these villains, proving that history is often more thrilling than fiction.The pace of the story rattles along at a breakneck speed, never allowing the read
ers interest to dwindle. Each of the relatively short chapters ends with a suitable, heart wrenching climax. The speed of the story and the pace perfectly serves the story, allowing a reader to become easily caught up in the tale that's told.After the book is finished you'll only want more, dreaming of where the story could take you next. It's lucky that there are more books planned. Two to be precise, forming a trilogy of thrills. These books could well form one of the great trilogies of recent years.I cannot recommend this book enough. It thrilled me, excited me, and entertained me more than anything I have read for a long time. The symmetry between this world and our own is stark and horrifying, and will only intrigue a large base of avid readers.

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