Templar's Acre

Knights Templar #32

by Michael Jecks

The Holy Land, 1291. A war has been raging across these lands for decades. The forces of the Crusaders have been pushed back again and again by the Muslims and now just one city remains in Crusader control. That one city stands between the past and the future. One city which must be defended at all costs. That city is Acre.
And into this battle where men will fight to the death to defend their city comes a young boy. Green and scared, he has never seen battle before. But he is on the run from a dark past and he has no choice but to stay. And to stay means to fight. That boy is Baldwin de Furnshill.
This is the story of the siege of Acre, and of the moment Baldwin first charged into battle.
This is just the beginning. The rest is history.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Historical Mystery, Medieval, Fiction, Historical

576 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 6, 2013

About the author

Michael Jecks is a best-selling writer of historical novels. The son of an Actuary, and the youngest of four brothers, he worked in the computer industry before becoming a novelist full time in 1994

He is the author of the internationally popular Templar series, perhaps the longest crime series written by a living author. Unusually, the series looks again at actual events and murders committed about the early fourteenth century, a fabulous time of treachery, civil war, deceit and corruption. Famine, war and disease led to widespread despair, and yet the people showed themselves to be resilient. The series is available as ebooks and all paper formats from Harper Collins, Headline and Simon and Schuster. More recently he has completed his Vintener Trilogy, three stories in his Bloody Mary series, and a new Crusades story set in 1096, Pilgrim's War, following some of the people in the first Crusade on their long pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He has also written a highly acclaimed modern spy thriller, Act of Vengeance.

His books have won him international acclaim and in 2007 his Death Ship of Dartmouth was shortlisted for the Harrogate prize for the best crime novel of the year.

A member of the Society of Authors and Royal Literary Society, Jecks was the Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association in 2004-2005. In 2005 he became a member of the Detection Club.

From 1998 he organised the CWA Debut Dagger competition for two years, helping unpublished authors to win their first contracts He judged the CWA/Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for three years.

Michael Jecks is a popular speaker at literary festivals and historical meetings. He is a popular after-dinner and motivational speaker and has spoken at events from Colombia to Italy, Portugal to Alaska.

His own highlights are: being the Grand Marshal of the first parade at the New Orleans 2014 Mardi Gras, designing the Michael Jecks fountain pen for Conway Stewart, and being the International Guest of Honour at the Crime Writers of Canada Bloody Words convention.

Michael lives, walks, writes and paints in North Dartmoor.

Reviews

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who writes reviews for a review site or their blog knows that feeling when you sit down to write and your fingers rest on the keys motionless. You write a few words. Erase them. Try again. Erase them. It is a dance I am sure the writer of novels knows only too well, especially when things are not so straight forward, and reviewers who want to write about the books they read are no different. It is a dance and I was in it when I sat down to write about Templar's Acre.

When a story, or in this case a review, is not an easy do - as in, there are some contrary and not so straight forward opinions to share – things get tough. With this book most of those opinions are positive and worthy of some wordy salutes and yet I have some gentle critique to give too. The review requires thought and so my fingers wavered and my mind stalled and the dance began.

So, how should it evolve? This contrary review. I gave the book 4 stars out of 5, not 5 out of 5. Which foot should I put forward first then? The negative that made the book lose a star from me? Or the positive that gave it a bountiful four?
As my fingers waver again, I think I need to put my negative foot forward in this, the dance and whirl of words and imagination. The reason I dropped a star.

I enjoyed the book. Enjoyed it from the beginning, but it had its ups and downs for me at first.
Michael Jecks begins the book on a high seas journey to the Holy Land with our main character Baldwin de Furnshill, who is the son of a Knight and “A man of honour and trained in the sword”.
In time, he will become familiar to you as Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, one of two main characters in Michael Jecks' 31 book mystery series, A Knights Templar Mystery. Only this one, Templar's Acre, is a prequel to that entire series. Technically it is book 32, but is a spin off of sorts called A Knights Templar Adventure and it is the most recent released to date.

So he is not Sir Baldwin the stoic and war weary character of the Knights Templar Mystery series. He is a different man, his younger, unexplored self, a youthful Baldwin the Pilgrim. And in 1290AD he is on a sea journey and under attack by Genoese pirates.

It was a fantastic kicking off point and I instantly knew that I was going to like this book. I just had to, once we got away from the sea battle and off the boat, get passed some Holy Land character set ups and scene creation that failed to really draw me in. The characters were not very exciting at that stage and there was a very mild love story that I felt nothing for. To this reader, that love story felt forced and disconnected. Included just to make an extra plotline. It improved for me later in the book, but I could have done without that storyline altogether. Others will disagree, but that was how I felt.

And then it happened. The Siege of Acre. And what a beast it was. It caught me off guard, in fact. I was kind of reading along, liking but not loving the book, and then some momentum started to build. Things started to happen. Scenes and plotlines locked into place. The book began to pull together. The characters came into their own and by the time Qalawun, then in turn Khalil, and the Muslim army marched upon Acre my eyes were wide and my pulse was actually racing.

I stood on the walls with Baldwin and the defenders of the city as they watched the Muslim army, strengthened by Egyptians and Syrians, gather and raise their siege machines across the rugged Levant landscapes beyond the confines of Acre. Here was an army well versed in siege warfare, who had taken Tripoli by siege not long before. They were driven by revenge and a passion to repel the Crusaders from the Kingdom of Jerusalem and so they built their machines, their catapults and mangonels, and they planned their deadly strikes with precision.

Men on foot and on horse back, moving about and forming up in greater numbers than the defenders of Acre could ever have dreamed of and when those mighty siege machines swung back and released upon the walls and towers of the city, Baldwin stood - I stood - watching them, feeling the thud and quake run through the stone and our bodies as they smashed and pummeled the gigantic walls of Acre to dust and rubble. Crushing the defenders, tearing the town apart from the inside out and burning its inhabitants alive with their barrage of Greek fire.

Now things were getting interesting.
Now we had ourselves a book.

If you know your history of the Fall of Acre, the last major stronghold of the Crusaders, then you know what was to eventually happen. The outcome of this battle is not written by Michael Jecks, it is written by history and the author needed only do what he knows he must. Place his characters across the battlefield in our mind's eye and hope we can see what he saw as he laid it out for us. For this reader, I believe he managed it. He harvested his years of experience as a writer, dosed it with his experience with research and threw it out across the page like the artisan of historical fiction that he is.

That was why I gave this book four stars. I took one away for the part that left me unmoved and gave him four for the craft I saw in this fictional version of the real life battle of Acre.
When I closed up the book I had one train of thought that I remember repeating to myself several times.


Write more of this, Michael Jecks. Write more of this.
Find yourself another field of play and another collection of set pieces and write more of this.





________________________________________________________________

I did an interview recently with Michael Jecks on my blog when Templar's Acre was released where he speaks of writing this book.
http://ancientandmedievalmayhem.blogs...

*Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from Simon & Schuster Australia to read and review. But my opinions of the book are my own and have ot been influenced by receiving this book for free.

[patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Jecks once more has produced a fantastic read in Templar's Acre. This tale takes to Baldwin as a young man. You read how he came to Acre and how he left. Baldwin is tempered in the fire of the final days of Outreamer. My question is what happened next that he joined the Templars? I will miss Baldwin until Michael Jecks returns to him (and Simon).

[happy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this the final? installment of the Templar mystery series, Mr. Jecks takes us back to the event that heavily affected the later life of Sir Baldwin – the final siege and fall of Acre in 1291. As readers of the series know, this event is brought up time and time again.

A word of warning – unlike the rest of the novels in this series, this entry is not a mystery. It is a straight action/adventure historical novel. We first meet Baldwin, a young 16 yr old aboard ship bound for Acre with his determination to atone for his killing of a young man, a rival for a young girl, by defending the Christian Holy Land against the infadel. By this time the Outremer consists of the city of Acre.

In the beginning of the novel, Baldwin is shown as an extremely naïve in the ways of the Middle East and also life. In the course of the novel is allowed to grow and mature. He grows both as a warrior and a man. By the time of the final siege, he is in charge of several men defending a section of the wall. He has also gained a greater understanding of the interdependence of the Moslem and Christian communities.

In the span of the novel, Baldwin is exposed the Templars and comes under there influence. While he comes to admire and respect them, he does not however join them at this time.

I thought the pacing and the battle scenes were very well done. I felt the weakest part of the novel was the love story. Baldwin falls in love with a Moslem slave of a Christian woman. To me it felt forced and really didn't help the flow of the novel. That one small quibble aside, I found this to be a very entertaining read and will miss new adventures with Sir Baldwin in the future.

I would definitely recommend this - my rating 4+ stars.

[Andrew Puckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the books I've read by Michael Jecks are good reads, but I think this is the best of them.

A young and naive Baldwin de Furnshill arrives at Acre on a merchant ship - at this time, 1291, Acre was the only city left to the Crusaders in the Holy Land. He is on the run for an impulsive killing of a rival in love, and in repentance, joins with the Crusaders in defending the city. When the fighting starts, he is forced to grow up very quickly in order to survive, and ensure the survival of those he has come to love.

The atmosphere in the doomed city is captured very well, as the Muslims first besiege and then attack. The defenders start their campaign filled with hope, which gradually fades and turns to an acceptance of their fate. The final taking of the city by the Muslims is particular well described.

This book is a departure from the Knights Templar series, on a grander scale and with deeper character development, especially of Baldwin.

[Valeska Kiloh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This pre-qual to the Templar series sets the scene for how Baldwin De Furnshill became a Templar Knight, met his friend Edgar & got the scars that are mentioned in the other stories. It also gives a vivid idea of how cities like Acre & Tripoli were lost.

[Bryn Hammond · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a free copy for review. I haven’t read any of the Knights Templar mysteries, but this prequel to them – not a mystery – easily stood alone as historical fiction on the siege of Acre. An open-endedness, possibly a dissatisfaction with the end, might be the only time you notice it’s attached to a series.

I found this a straightforward action story – action from page one, and onwards – with likeable characters. I was glad to have the quiet nobility of the Leper Knight (not a leper himself but in service with the Order of St Lazarus) Sir Jacques; I enjoyed the free blade Edgar of London, the crustily loyal old servant Pietro, the soldier Hob. Buscarel went from a bad lot’s sidekick to a comrade of our hero in Acre’s need, and the Sultan’s engineer is driven by Christian abuse from a life of peace to a war-maker.

It was let down by what I saw as hasty writing, and for me the story skimmed along too quickly. I wasn’t a great fit for this book, style-wise. I’d say it’s one for straight action fans. There were enough proofing oversights to comment on, though those don’t bother me as much as they do others.

I’m sorry I can’t be more enthusiastic. I had an obligation to review, but the book turned out to be a plain case of Not For Me -- and I’ve never been sure reviews are fair that way, since if left to my own devices I needn’t have persisted.

[Eileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The greatest book series I've read is the Knights Templar Mysteries by the superb author, Michael Jecks. The character Sir Baldwin de Furnshill is a well-rounded character who, with his faithful comrade Edgar and close friend Simon Puttock, stands for justice. I began reading this series in 1990 and was immediately drawn into the medieval era; its people, places, and politics. Jecks is also exceptionally accurate to history and the real people who also appear in the novels. In the 30+ years I've read his novels, I've also delved quite a bit into medieval history.

Alas, this is the last of the novels of Sir Baldwin and is a prequel to the series. Fittingly, it is about how Sir Baldwin came to be a Templar and the desperate battle for the last Christian city in the Holy Land, Acre. I've kept every novel of Sir Baldwin's adventures and can re-read them at any time. It's a comfort and a tribute to the author. Thank you, Michael, though the weight of Sir Baldwin's novels caused your ceiling to crash down, to my mind, it was well worth it.

The year is 1291, and young Baldwin de Furnshill is on pilgrimage to Acre to atone for killing his sweetheart's lover. On the voyage, his ship is attacked by pirates, but surprisingly, the "pirates" were Genoese, and his ship was from Venice, fellow Christians. His ship was saved by a Templar ship, and it was the first encounter with the order that would become pivotal to Baldwin.

Once in Acre, he meets a kindly knight of the Order of St. Lazarus, an offshoot of the Templars who have contracted leprosy. Sir Jacques d'Ivry, however, does not have the disease. He serves out of compassion. He will teach Baldwin many things during the novel. Baldwin has much to learn in Outremer.

All that is left of the Christian Holy Land is Acre, and the Muslims mean to have it and drive out or kill every Christian in the land. To that end, they build colossal catapults and begin to besiege the city. They make it clear that no quarter will be given to anyone, so it is a desperate fight to the death for the inhabitants. Baldwin, Edgar, and the Muslim woman Baldwin falls in love with are among them.

Many of the characters in the book are real people who fought and died in Acre. Because Acre had a harbor, some of the lucky inhabitants were able to be saved, but most died during the siege. Baldwin and Edgar were among the lucky few, though wounded and exhausted, and dragged aboard despite their objections. And so the character of the future, Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, was forged.

[Rupert Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a long and rambling novel. While I enjoyed it, I thought that it was a bit overlong for the story line. It could have been shortened a bit without losing anything.

One thing that I did find slightly disconcerting is that this book is a prequel to a series of books that I have not read. When some characters were introduced they were clearly much more important than some others in the book. I assume that this is because they are in the later books [chronologically] in the series. People who have read the books written earlier will think "Aha, I know this chap. He is the one who goes on to do whatever it is he does". But not having read the other books this was all a bit lost on me. Never mind. I guess most people reading this book will have read the other Templar books by Michael Jecks and will be fully on board with it.

The book successfully conjures up the lost world of the crusades and of the military orders. It manages to convey the contemporary attitudes to religion and religious warfare without being condemnatory [which must be a temptation] nor portraying the monastic killers as being overly heroic. We learn a lot about the attitudes of the men and women of the time - on both sides of the divide.

And it is a gripping story with numerous twists and turns. I really must look around for more in this series.

[Maurice Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a month or so back so forget some details (like names of people and places) but clearly remember my enjoyment of this realistic-seeming historical novel from the thirteenth century. There's a good balance of multiple plot lines alongside realistic battle scenes and historical detail. As with any good historical novel, it prompted me to do some research on the period and the crusades in particular. I thought Michael Jecks very balanced in his portrayal of the different factions though, as is often the case nowadays, didn't hold back on his criticsm of the Christians who often spent as much time and energy fighting one another as working together to free Jerusalem (a dubious ambition in any case).

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book well described the hope and despair in the city before its fall. Although I knew how the story will go, I felt truly sad about it, when I've reached the end. The only thing I found irritating was this silly romance plot, but it happens in more and more books lately, so I guess I will have to learn to ignore that.

[Francine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The templar knights have always fascinated me and this book was full of adventure and friendships. You don't have to read this series in order but maybe familiarize yourself with the first two books before skipping around.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good prequel story, but as this appears to be the last ever book in the series with Baldwin and Simon, the epilogue should have wrapped up their lives.
Would it have killed the author to end with "and they all lived happily ever after until the end of their days"?

[Brittney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was torn on how to feel about this book. In all, it was okay. There was a lot of battle, so much so, all else was lost on me. The ending was abrupt and just, I don’t know, cold in a way? It held my attention, but there was no happy ending, nor a well thought out sad one.

[Katy W · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book whilst driving and had no idea (until looking it up on Goodreads) that it was part of a long series.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely well written novel that had me hooked from the beginning. Michael Jecks writes with a vivid imagination that brings the Knights Templer and The Crusades to life in spectacular fashion.

[Edmund Goh · Rating 4 out of 5]

entertaining historical fiction chronicling the fall of acre

[Patrick Van de gaer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schitterend boek !

[Peter B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the best Jecks, this prequel does fill in some background for readers of the Last Templar series.

[Nancy Kendall]

no audio

[Lorraine Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

After writing 31 Knights Templar Adventures featuring Sir Baldwin de Furnhill and his sidekick, Simon Puttock, Michael Jecks has written a prequel to the series as a (temporary, we hope) farewell while he works on other endeavours which include his trilogy of Hundred Years War stories which began with Fields of Glory , published in 2014.

Templar's Acre begins with Baldwin, a seasoned warrior of age 17, wounded and on board a ship escaping the over-run city of Acre lost to the Muslims under Sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Salah al-Din Khalil ibn Qalawun. Jecks then takes us to the beginning of Baldwin's journey as he comes to the Holy Land to help retake Jerusalem to redeem himself after committing a murder at home in Devon. He loses everything to pirates as he nears his goal, is befriended by the horsemaster who supplied mounts to the Templars, and quickly in need of his protection as the naïve young man is easily taken advantage of at first. Baldwin develops some good friendships under Ivo's protection, falls in love, and develops new sword skills which will help him in the coming battle. But he also makes some serious enemies.

It's the spring of 1290. Tripoli has been crushed, and Acre is the last Christian stronghold. It is a city percolating with thriving merchants, tradesmen, peasants, taverns, churches, and people of various European cities as well as Muslims. Newly arrived pilgrims and soldiers of the cross are often undisciplined and lack an understanding of the city. They get into brawls and assume anyone with a beard, dark skin, and dressed in strange clothes are the enemy and they spread through the city leaving the carnage of Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike behind them. This is the end of an already uncertain peace with Qalawun.

The following spring, Baldwin has lost his love, the city is full of squabbles and tensions as to whether to prepare for war or to go on about their business as usual, and the city needs much reinforcement of its walls and towers. By the time the enemy comes, Baldwin is strong, brave, and now a seasoned captain of a troop of twenty (a vintaine -- love the glossary at the front of the book), knighted for saving the life of Templar Marshall, Geoffrey de Vendac, and has rescued his love, a Muslim slave who had been beaten and sent to a farm by her mistress on suspicion of telling her business to Baldwin.

This is a book of great adventure with spies, warriors, traitors, cowards, and heroes. Even among the Templars and Hospitallers, there are those with personal motives and agendas. In his many scuffles and encounters, we see Baldwin change from a callow youth to a skillful captain with an eye for strategy and a concern for his friends, men-at-arms, and those citizens in need of protection. Jecks is thoroughly versed in medieval warfare and is able to describe the war machines, and the hand-to-hand combat with all the danger and excitement they generated. We experience the sights, sounds, and smells of the massive trebuchet languidly sending its devil pots of Greek fire into the streets and its rocks pounding into the city walls with chards of rock flying everywhere. We see the terror of the knights, as well as the citizens, as the sultan's army approaches, "a seething mass of men, and horses, and machines, all crawling along from the south like a massive black centipede, seemingly flat against the ground. . . a vast malevolent creature."

Templar's Acre is a great, thick book, but it is a compelling read that took me a little under two days. It's a departure from the murder mysteries this series is known for but a departure that filled a gap and was full of a different kind of adventure in an exotic setting with strange and unusual characters, all of whom lent their own authenticity to the story. Cast of characters and maps of the city and area are included at the front. I look forward to reading Jecks' other books but will wait with some impatience for him to return to give us another medieval murder featuring Sir Baldwin and Simon Puttock.

[Helle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been enjoying this Templar series for some years now, and am really sad that it has ended. But this last installment has left me disappointed for other reasons as well.
First of all, after reading about Sir Baldwin as a slightly older knight for almost 15 years, it was pretty difficult to get acquainted with, and more importantly used to, a young and somewhat naïve crusader Baldwin.
Then there is the obvious fact that this is no mystery, which attracted me to the series in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong, Templar’s Acre is an excellent historical novel, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the series or who enjoys historical fiction in general. But for me the previous novel City of Fiends was the more worthy finale and this one is just not up to the full 5 stars I hoped for.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a prequel about Sir Baldwin de Furnshill's background before he became a Templar and a knight. It is a historical novel, not a mystery, and is excellent. I did not know much about the siege of Acre, the last city that the Crusaders held against the Muslims. Jecks explained the background and set the scene for the fall of the city while moving the action along and introducing us to the various characters Baldwin meets when he arrives as a young man eager to help protect the city. He is motivated partly by a naive desire to prove himself while aiding in the defense of the city and partly by a need to atone for the death of a man he killed in England over a young woman he desired. Baldwin grows over the course of the novel into a greater understanding of the complex nature of the political and social situation and of the people he meets from both sides of the conflict. I think that this book can hold its own with any other historical novels I have read.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have enjoyed the series. This prequel to the series will likely have me back for a re-read with 'new eyes.' Jecks never fails as a story teller using the history for the backdrop of his tales.

15 SEP 2013 -- I had to return to add this to the review. The author, Jecks, has been interviewed today (part one) and I believe the few pages of interview will give more insight to this author and why this and all of his titles are so good. Here is the link to the interview: http://www.newmobileme.com/imagochron...

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

As this story is done, "it is going to be the last of the Templar series for a while" (Jecks, Author's Note, 1), I am glad to have most of the mysteries surrounding Baldwin answered, but what a brutal story. I missed Simon's companionship, but enjoyed the companionships of Baldwin's first life, while they survived. I can not say this book is enjoyable, by any means, as I am not muslim, I know the history, and there is little in which to enjoy. With that said, Jecks crafted a well-told story. Baldwin's character was shaped at Acre, and to have witnessed that formation was enjoyable. I look with interest as to what Jecks will next turn his attention.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 32nd of these books by Michael Jecks but the first chronologically. The book is set around the siege of Acre in the late 13th century and follows fictional characters as the siege evolves. There is a great deal of blood and thunder and a good yarn if you like that. However the factual background is thinly drawn and I prefer a little more of the politics and historical background.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

This prequel to the Templar novels/mysteries was excellent. It gave insight into Baldwin`s life before he became a Templar, was exciting and interesting in its portrayal of the siege and fall of Acre.
Hopefully we have not yet seen the last of Simon and Baldwin but meanwhile how about Baldwin`s adventures on and after joining the Templars?

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those that know Michael Jecks' medieval mystery series this is the backstory for the excellent Sir Baldwin.

As you'd expect it covers the fall of Acre in 1291 in great detail and if you like sieges you'll just love this one.

Super stuff and 4.5/5.

[Russ Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

My thoughts

Another cracking tale steeped in history of Baldwin and his chance meeting with Edgar.
I thought all the characters well thought of and each interesting.
I look forward to more novels from you Micheal

[Gary Raines]

Well, this is the last of Michael Jecks' Templar novels. It will be interesting to see what he does now. I've enjoyed the run.

[Margaret]

Just couldn't get in to it. Not for me.