The Templar Knight

Arn har hunnit fylla 27 och är redan en ärrad veteran bland korsfararna i Det heliga landet. Under tiden har Cecilia, hans ungdomskärlek hemma i Sverige, fött deras barn; en gosse som växer upp hos Arns farbror Birger Brosa. Cecilia ber om undret att Arn ska komma tillbaka, och även Birger som manövrerar slugt i de svenska maktstriderna, hoppas på Arns återkomst... Andra delen i Arn-triologin.

This book is in my meaning a very good, and for that matter, well written book. It is the second part of a trilogy, and it is the most exiting, and interesting of the three. The story in short is that Arn Magnusson, or Arn de Gothia as he is called in the Holy Land, has been forced into the Order of the Knight Templars to repent sins committed in his youth.He is ordered to devote 20 years of his life in the Holy Land to fight of attacks by Muslims, who tries to reclaim Palestine, and Jerusalem.During the course of the last 10 years of his services we follow him, as he climb the ranks, until he is second in command of the order. We follow him through triumphs, sweet victories, and shameful defeats. The story is extremely well written, and one can easily see that the author have done a great job with the research part. You don't really want to let the book go. It is well worth the investment, and for all you non-Swedish speakers out there... well I have heard rumors that there will be an English version release sometime soon.

Jan Guillou continues his series about the swedish knight Arn in Tempelriddaren. This part of the trilogy takes place in the holy land during the crusades. Arn has after several years in Palestine become a skilled commander and knowledgeasble in the ways of the saracen enemy. During the book Arn meets several known figures like the arab commander Saladin, king Richard Lionheart and Walter Scotts fictional knight Ivanhoe, while he waits for the possibility of returning to Sweden and his beloved Cecilia. I found Tempelriddaren an excellent mixture of swashbuckling action and historical comment. It is more enjoyable and entertaining than it's predecessor "Vägen till Jerusalem", and definately qualifies as a real pageturner. The characters are sometimes borderlining on the stereotypical, with Arn being the invincible, good hero and the bad guys having few redeeming features at all. Still, the book is a crackling good read and whets the appetite for the final installment of the series.