Review of Stitched Crosses: Crusade

I’ve been reading up a storm, so here is a review of Stitched Crosses: Crusade by Joshua Rothe. This is another book from Grail Quest Book. Happily it seems we’ve had a lot of these lately! This one is from 2014. I expect it will be the first of a Stitched Crosses series.

Stitched Crosses: Crusade

Stitched Crosses: Crusade first strikes you with its language. It is stately, formal. It is purposefully crafted to draw you back to the time of English knights and lords. Yet, make no mistake, each word is chosen with precision to embody the setting and further to tell a tale where words are ultimately life or death.

Markus is an English lord and a Templar in hiding. His adventure in this book takes remarkable turns, and I really admire the adept way the author drew together fact and fiction.

I will admit I had to look up Outremer in a dictionary. It refers to Christian territories held in the Holy Land during the crusades. But other than a few pauses while reading, trying to remember history learned years ago, this book was easy to enjoy. I haven’t read much historical fiction, particularly set in this time frame, but that just means that I can honestly encourage you, no matter what you typically read, to give this book a chance. The higher language gave my brain a jump start and I got used to it by the second or third chapter. Fantastical elements are present just enough to lend pop, and the exploration of Christian doubt and guilt is well worth the read.

Love and honor are certainly involved, but this book addresses issues including the role of God’s Word and what is faith in a probing but non-preachy way. As a Lutheran, I particularly appreciated some of the underlying elements and a few of the plot twists—but I won’t spoil it by giving them away!

This would make for lovely fall reading with a warm beverage at hand!

 

Happy weekend, everybody! And, remember, today is the last day to enter the Strong as Death giveaway! 🙂

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