Jerusalem

Rating:
Summary: Holland's Best Work
Review: This is probably Cecela Holland finest work of historical fiction with a riveting cast of characters. Her central figure, the Templar Ranulf Fitzwilliam is a compelling character who will linger in your mind after you finish the book. Her protrayal of the Templars is reasonable accurate, and certainly the involvement of her main character in the central events of the time is not unbelievable. After all the Templars were the central figures of the time. Her tale of events leading to the fateful Battle of Hattin is execellent and I think she has placed the blame for the defeat there where it belongs -- squarely on the head of the Grand Master. The homosexuality among the Templars was no unknown and deserves to be mentioned. I believe her portrait of Saladin squares with the views of the those who fought him. After all this is a book whose viewpoint is that of the Templars, not the Arabs.