by Tom Harper
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Product Description
Knights of the Cross follows Tom Harper’s critically acclaimed debut, The Mosaic of Shadows
Byzantium, 1098. Two years prior, the legions of armies of the First Crusade were called upon by the Byzantine emperor to reinforce his position as the mightiest power in Christendom. Fighting as mercenaries, and claiming no particular allegiance, their presence was strained within the city walls of Byzantium. But with their differences now settled, the armies of the First Crusade leave the emperor---racing across the vast stretch of Asia Minor, chasing the Turkish armies of the East.
As they continue to route the Turks and reclaim the stolen land for Christendom, the powerful armies are quickly halted. On the Syrian border, their advance is blocked before the impregnable walls of Antioch. As winter draws on, they are forced to suffer a fruitless, interminable siege---gnawed upon by famine, and tormented by the Turkish defenders. The perilous season leaves the entire crusade on a precarious verge of collapse.
In the midst of this freezing misery, rivalries, and divisions appear. Lines are drawn between the ruling princes; the lords and the men they command; and between the Byzantines fighting alongside the Western crusaders. So when the Norman knight, Drago, is found murdered, his lord, the ruthlessly ambitious Bohemond, charges Demetrios Askiates, unveiler of mysteries, with finding the murderer. As Demetrios investigates further, the trail seems to lead ever deeper into the vipers’ nest of jealousy, betrayal, and fanaticism that lies at the heart of the crusade.
A separate army of Turkish infidels is sent to relieve Antioch. With danger looming within the crusader ranks, and impending battles headed their direction, time is running out, and Demetrios is forced to work with Bohemond to uncover the killer. And still the walls of Antioch are locked, with no key in sight---and no assurance that once the crusaders are inside, the battles will end.
The extraordinary story of the crisis of the First Crusade---a powerful novel of intrigue, sacrifice, savagery, and holy war. An amazing sequel to the acclaimed debut, The Mosaic of Shadows. “Gripping for its portrayal of the crusader leaders . . . this is a great example from a trustworthy historian.”
---Independent
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 A nice surprise, 2007-08-09
I just picked up this book at random before my vacation. I was never particularly interested in the Crusades, but I am now! I just finished the sequel (Siege of Heaven) and it too is great. I will now read "Mosaic of Shadows" even though I suspect I already know much of its contents. So first advice: read the books in their proper order.
Tom Harper has found a way to combine a history lesson with a gripping detective story. And even the events of this latter part of the book have a historical basis. I found myself searching through Wikipedia (second advice: read the books first, then do the Wikipedia thing) to the names and events described in the book only to find that Tom Harper is not exaggerating the hardship and brutality of the whole affair in any way. I can only hope he continues the series. I would love to read about the first throughly chivalrous knight: Saladin.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Cleverly disguised commentary on current events, 2007-06-13
While subtitled as a novel of the crusades it is actually a very cleverly disguised treatise on current events; the battle of religions for control of the middle east and the world at large, how each religion that was spawned in the middle east believes in the same god but differs in the means, how politics, vanity greed and fear are used to promote wars, control a people and to gain wealth. Around this were a interwoven a sometimes clever murder mystery and the common hopes and fears of men and women in battle. The writing while tedious too often to merit my wanting to read more of his work did keep a constant style and voice. The characters ring true with surefooted research into the history of the crusades, the depths of emotions felt and expressed differently by men of war, religion, and honor and woman who love them and express their opinions in carefully chosen responses. A good read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Mystery 2 stars: Crusade story 4 stars, 2007-06-12
The main character is weakly drawn, the murder mystery not quite believable in development or finish; it does not generate any who-dunnit interest or surprise. But the author has done alot of homework to set the scene of the Christian siege of Antioch and then, through a real life turn of events, the Christian defense against a siege as they are trapped inside Antioch, all with a actually-happened miraculous ending. The grit, sweat and barbarity of the first crusade is solidly told. Interesting book for a crusade story, not much for a Medieval murder mystery, as in Cadfael or Name of the Rose.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
 Not Really a Mystery, 2007-01-09
If you are are looking for a Brother Cadfael type mystery then this is not the book for you. Actually the mystery part of it occupies very little space and is more of a sideline to the main story. This book is really about the siege of Antioch during the First Crusade. Tom Harper gives splendid character protrayals of the main protagonists of the that historical event.
The reviewer who complained about historical anachronisms just didn't know anything about the history of the Eastern Roman Empire. Let me educate him -- the Varangians were vikings who served as the guards of the Emperor in Constantinople. Look at any Historical Atlas for the period and you can see that Varangia to the inhabitants of Constantinople would have include all the lands of Greenland, Norway, Denmark -- ( i.e. lands where the vikings came from -- that was all known as Varangia. Being "schooled in" does NOT mean read or write -- it only means they could speak both Latin and Greek. And yes there were chimneys - it was something the Romans knew all about. Also female doctors were not uncommon in the Eastern Roman Empire when you remember that this was a Greek culture not a Western Medieval one. I mentions his in my review as I want people to understand how wrong that reviewer was and not to be influenced by his review.
Again this is a great novelization of the siege of Antioch and it gives you the "guts and glory" of the men of the first Crusade as well as how really almost "superhuman" their feat was. The Crusaders faced overwhelming odds and triumphed, but never made it to Jerusalem because of the green and venality of their leaders -- and the flaws of their leaders are rigorously exposed -- esp. that of Bohemond.
If anyone wants to capture the real flavor of the First Crusade then you should look no farther than this book. A great read!!
6 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
 I really, really, really wanted to like this book.....just couldn't., 2006-11-24
As a fellow writer, I have complete respect for Tom Harper. I think writing fiction is much more difficulty than non-fiction, so my hat goes off to anyone who attempts fiction.
Having said that, I was really looking forward to reading this book. I picked it up off the library shelves over a Thanksgiving weekend, looking forward to getting lost in the story....
... but I couldn't.
For a "historically accurate" novel, this book drove me crazy with....
* a Varangian (Swedish? Danish?) warrior schooled in both Greek AND Latin. Soldiers of 1098 would not know how to read.
* a female doctor performing post-mortem examinations. (The gender of the doctor seems to add little to the storyline other than a presence as the apparently requisite babe (in introducing her, the author comments on her "...robust beauty."). Personally, I'm all for female doctors and post-mortems (when necessary), but again, the likelihood of either in 1098 seems slim-to-none.
* ...and many others.
The breaking point for me was page 58, when the author mentioned "A thick plume of woodsmoke rose from the chimney, sharpening the air.". Ummm, chimneys do not seem to be recorded until the mid-1300's, so the author is providing a farm house of 1098 with technology that is easily 200-years ahead of the time, which is like talking about an SUV in an Revolutionary War novel.
These repeated anachronism felt like they kept hitting me in the face as I read (and I'm hardly a history expert).
I might have possibly excused these anachronism if it wasn't for the writing style of the book (which I hold Mr. Harper's editor more responsible for). Among other things....
* the book needs a final edit, especially with pronoun usage. There were several sentences that mentioned several men, then would use "he", and I wasn't clear which "he" the pronoun was referring to; and
* the flashback felt choppy and intrusive.
Again, I wanted to very much like this book. Instead I stopped at page 58 and the book goes back to the library today.
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