#BookReview: The Last True Templar by Boyd Morrison and Beth Morrison

Middle Ages Mediterranean Adventure. One of the interesting things for me when reading this book is that David Wood released his book Baal just a couple of weeks before this one came out, and both books are rather similar at the highest of levels – in that both are adventure books touring the Mediterranean Sea region in search of lost treasures. Separated by a few hundred years and thus with completely different specifics as far as character motivations, transportation, weapons used, cultures, etc. And to be clear, with Beth Morrison – an apparently renowned Medieval period scholar – as coauthor here, the actual historical aspects – from the various factions involved to the different cultures of the various Italian cities to even exactly how different things worked and who would have what skillsets, are apparently spot-on, so best as I could tell anyway. Paired with her brother Boyd’s action story sensibilities, once again the two create a spectacular historical fiction tale that anyone interested in any modern action/ adventure tale can also love – and showing those who “only” read historical fiction that modern tales can also be just as great. Overall truly an outstanding book, and I hope these siblings can continue to work together for many more books to come. Very much recommended.

This review of The Last True Templar by Boyd Morrison and Beth Morrison was originally written on September 28, 2023.

#BookReview: The Last Odyssey by James Rollins

Good Change Of Pace After The Last ‘Trilogy’. The prior three books in the Sigma Force series proved to be almost an in-series ‘trilogy’, with a lot of events playing directly off prior events. Here, we get a good change of pace – Kowalski actually starts the tale, and he has some major things going on. Gray and Seichan come in later, when things get a bit more hairy, and Kat and Monk, and even Painter, are barely mentioned at all after playing major roles in the prior books. The actual story here is one of the more intriguing in the series, particularly with more modern findings establishing that at least parts of the Illiad and Odyssey may have been factual. Rollins then does his thing with combining history and science into fascinating “what-ifs”, with plenty of action and drama and double crossings to boot. If you’re reading these – or virtually any – action/ adventure books expecting 100% realism… well, you’re probably *really* fun at parties, aren’t you? (/sarcasm) For the rest of us looking for a few hundred pages of fun escapism… let’s go on a romp from one end of the Mediterranean to the other, with a couple of stops in some other places to boot, shall we? Very much recommended.

This review of The Last Odyssey by James Rollins was originally written on July 1, 2023.

Featured New Release of the Week: Gold by Steven Savile

This week, we feature a book that produced a longer wait between books than even George R. R. Martin is infamous for. This week, we feature a book that I have waited more than SIX YEARS for, and other fans have waited over SEVEN YEARS for. This week, we feature Gold by Steven Savile.

Roughly six years ago, I was introduced to a “Secret World” Facebook book club by an author friend of mine who it turns out I gave the first review of his first book. In this new world, I met several authors and fellow readers alike, and have developed strong friendships with some of them, which is how I met Savile. At the time, one of the main books he was talking about was called SILVER, a story of a diverse team of spies, assassins, and soldiers came together outside the bounds of MI-6, similar to the crew in Mission: Impossible – but even more deadly and with even higher stakes.

SILVER, to this day, remains one of the best thrillers I have ever read and completely changed how I greet news of a new Papal election. It is HIGHLY recommended reading – but not the actual subject of this post.

But after reading SILVER, I wanted Savile to release GOLD post haste. I wanted to see how this story ended, dangit! And I would ask him about it quite frequently at first, petering out over the years until it got to the point where I never mentioned it.

Two weeks ago, Savile made a surprise announcement: GOLD was coming in just two weeks! SEVEN YEARS after the publication of SILVER, the Ogmios team was finally going to conclude their adventure. I was quite shocked to be offered an ARC, but hey, I never turn down those kind of opportunities – particularly not when it is THIS ARC, one of the ones I had hoped to be able to read for so long and was FINALLY getting a chance to.

And y’all, this book has lived up to the anticipation. As good as SILVER was – and it was truly phenomenal – this one may be even better. It has one particular scene in two parts that is the most horrifyingly beautiful scene I have ever read, bar none. It picks up with the fallout from SILVER, and the threats made in SILVER plague our heroes throughout this book as they fight to end this threat once and for all and save as many lives as possible – even as the odds are stacked ever more against them.

I don’t say this often, but this is truly one of those “drop whatever you’re reading and read this book” level books – it is *that* good.

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon and YouTube reviews after the jump.
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