A nice, big historical novel about the Knights Templar. It mostly follows Rannulf, a low-born knight who is a capable and dedicated member of the Order, but who is not very well-liked, and a young, high-born new recruit to the Order, Stephen, who finds that his particular 'sin' is not as easy to avoid in this company as he had hoped.
The book has plenty of action and intrigue, but unfortunately, none of the main characters are very likable, and most of the secondary characters are very one-dimensional. ( )

Frustrating, in that if it had shaken off its conventionalities a little more…
Still, an emotional experience I’m lucky to have once a year with a book. Rannulf was an extraordinary character although he might sound like your well-known anti-hero. He made me reminisce of Clemence Housman’s Aglovale, who is a quiet cult (Life of Aglovale de Galis: just because very few have read him, doesn’t mean he isn’t a cult. Right?). His nickname’s Saint; few look past his lack of social graces; he struggles with his God. His love for the leper king’s sister Sibylla comes out in violent urges – it’s unhealthy, but he’s ultra-Templar, he’s refused to look a woman, which isn’t healthy either. He reminded me of Grettir too – The Saga of Grettir the Strong – ah outsiders – though not a criminal, too often. Like Grettir and Aglovale, those few who know him love him – which includes King Baldwin, the leper, who was the other most intimately-drawn and moving person in this book for me. I like my Leper King truly heroic and noble; Saint thought so too.

I postponed this because of reviews that say there’s nobody to like, it’s nasty, dreary. In a way I understand, since I can’t for the life of me read her Mongol book: I like nobody and I’m dispirited by the entire affair. But here, I found she paid attention to the idealism of a fair number of these folk, even with her trademark realism.

The dirty characters were a trifle too dirty, I admit: this includes Raymond of Tripoli, Reynald of Chatillon, Salah al-Din, each of whom I’d like to see done with more levels.

Sibylla became interesting as she progressed, which I guess is the point. She did avoid several character-traps for historical princesses. – I felt this novel had a real power, a novelist’s vision, you know? and just wanted it to throw off the ropes a bit more.

Least swallowable were those moments when Salah al-Din succumbs to Templar mystique: those Templars just have the psychological knuckle on him; and Rannulf outwits him, too clever by half for a Saracen. Get over yourselves, guys, I wanted to tell the Temple. Still, there was a scene where a Muslim had religious feelings, amidst the religious experience of Christians – it stuck out as unusual, in Crusader fiction in general. The other tormented interpersonal contact is between the faiths, a nephew of Salah al-Din and a Templar knight.

In memory of Rannulf, for whom I wept, and not at Hattin either: five stars. ( )

I found this novel about the medieval kingdom of Jerusalem to be dull. Medieval Jerusalem, the Crusades, and a clash between European and Islamic culture are all fascinating topics and I have the feeling that this novel could have been so much better. However, Cecelia Holland fails to develop her characters enough for the reader to have a vested interest in their fates. At the novel's dramatic conclusion, I felt little for how the characters faired. Overall, this novel was a good idea with an interesting background but poorly executed. ( )

Jerusalem is a story of the Knights Templar in the Holy Land in the 1180s. The story centers around Rannulf Fitzwilliam, a Norman knight who, like many of the Templars, has a Past and has come East to do penance. The story is set in and around Jerusalem and Damascus, as the King of Jerusalem struggles to keep the monarchy intact, even as the Saracens threaten to attack from without.

Rannulf isn’t exactly a likeable character—I didn’t like him much, and he wasn’t much liked by his comrades. He’s stoic, almost to the point of coldness, and so he doesn’t often show emotion—and when he does, it almost seems forced. For example, take Rannulf’s attraction to Sibylla—I’m not sure that he’s in love with her so much as in lust, given his past behavior. I liked Stephen a whole lot better, struggling as he does with temptation. Actually both characters struggle with it, but Stephen’s struggle is much greater, because the waters, so to speak, are much more muddy.

The tone of the book, as other readers have mentioned, is grim. There are some fantastic descriptions of the battles the Templars fight in against the Saracens (that scene at the end is one of the most suspenseful battle scenes I’ve ever read), and I always got the sense that disaster was just around the corner, both for the Templars and Jerusalem. As a reader, you really get a “you are there” feeling when you read this book—from the sweat and blood of the battle to the saddle sores, its all in there. The feelings the Christians and Muslims had towards each other are also well depicted. Although I had reservations about the main character of this book, I’d still recommend this one to anyone who’s looking for a good novel about the Crusades and the Knights Templar. ( )

Why didn't I like this book more? Everything seemed to be in place. The story is unusual, and the internal struggles of Rannulf Fitzwilliam, a Templar knight, was exceptional. Holland's descriptive settings gave the feeling of place and it's time.

Perhaps it was that I didn't like the female protagonist, Princess Sibylla. Perhaps I have become spoiled by Bernard Cornwell's Historical Note afterwords and want to know the intersection of fact and fiction. Holland's safe "all characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or used fictitiously" did not satisfy--particularly since this is an era about which I know little.

This I do know. Before I had gone too far into the book I flipped to the last page--something I rarely do. Once I got to the middle of the book, I scanned the remainder and was content to slow down only to read the passages which concerned Rannulf. ( )