Templar | Jordan Mechner | Book Review

Why Did I Read This Book?

Templar by Jordan Mechner appealed to me mainly because it made me nostalgic for my nerdy past. Seriously, the Knights Templar are hella interesting — even without all the conspiracy stuff and I say that as someone who was able to fill a 15 page paper on the subject of the Templars in college. #humblebrag So, yeah, I absolutely knew I needed to read this book and although it’s fiction, it was well researched and really breathed life into a fascinating bit of history. I mean, come on you guys. There’s this big huge order of knights and they are powerful and awesome, until one day King Phillip is like, oh fuck this, they have wayyyy too much power, so he puts them on trial and basically has the Templars hunted down and jailed and many executed on trumped up crimes. As a modern day reader, I am all about historical conspiracy books, even when they are clearly based in fiction. So, Templar was a graphic novel (yay pictures) that gave me a historical setting and freakin’ a HEIST. YES.

Templar by Jordan Mechner | Good Books And Good Wine

What’s The Story Here?

Basically, Templar opens with the Knights Templar being arrested. Jacques Molay is put on trial and instead of standing strong, he succombs to torture. The story then shifts over to the lower knights of the order, ordinary men who are not in the upper echelon. These men have been hiding out and sort of disguise themselves back into society. A few live as thieves. Main character Martin of Troyes tries to live on the straight and narrow and not be a thief. He took his vows to the order very seriously. Yet, when old Templar friends come calling and tell him that there’s treasure from previous missions hidden in Paris, he agrees the help find and get the treasure out of the city. From there, Mechner’s Templar turns into a heist story intertwined with a love story and you guys it is fricken AWESOME. Like, we are talking full on badass awesome complete with a MASTER PLAN. As a dork, I loved it.

How Is Templar In Comparison To Other Conspiracy Theory Books?

I think that Templar by Jordan Mechner really holds it’s own in a sea of holy grail, medieval conspiracy books. I definitely liked the main characters of this graphic novel much more than Robert Langdon of the Da Vinci Code books. Granted, this one is different in that instead of being set in present day with characters trying to unravel a mystery from the past, it is set in the medieval era and the characters are already members of the secret organization. Also, there’s no illuminati. I loved how the entire heist went down and just how many elements there were to successfully pulling it off. I also loved how Templar touched on the whole rumors of their being a big templar treasure that King Phillip wanted for himself. Pretty much this book is AWESOME in regards to that. So yeah, it does very well compared to other conspiracy theory books and I think that aside from the great characterization, it’s use of the graphic novel medium to tell the story really assists with that.

What About The Art?

Okay, do you guys remember reading Prince Valiant in the Sunday morning comics? The art in Templar really reminded me of the art from Prince Valiant and that’s a great thing, in my book. The pictures are not weird looking or hard to decipher. Although, I do have to say that if you decide to read Templar get your hands on a hard copy. I read it on my mac and honestly when I tried to zoom in to see the words it got all blurry and such. I would imagine that the print version is actually quite easy to read. SO READ IT IN PRINT. Also, the illustrators are LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland and they do a total badass job of bringing the story of Templar to life.

Sum It Up With A GIF:

Foolproof Disguise GIF

Disguises and heists, OBVIOUSLY I need a GIF from one of the most awesome modern day heist movies.

Disclosure: Received for review via Netgalley

Other reviews of Templar by Jordan Mechner:

Stacked – “great appeal to teens who love high-action comics”
Kinx’s Book Nook – “Everything about this book is amazing

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April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.
About April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

Comments

  1. Ummm, yes? Yes to all the parts of this? I’m going to see if I can get this at one of the bookstores and read it with my brother-in-law, because it sounds like we would both love the crap out of it. Especially because heist.

  2. You totally sold me on this one. I’ve always been fascinated by the Templar Knights and then to sum it all up with a gif from one of my favorite movies? Sold.

  3. This book sounds great! I love the idea of it being presented as a graphic novel and I’ve always had a fascination with the Knights Templar. I’m such a nerd I used to love the old Playstation game ‘Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars’ when I was growing up precisely because of its inclusion of aspects of the Templar’s history. *Hangs head in shame* 😛

    Really great review, April 🙂 I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it!

  4. Yes, I got an e-arc of this one, and 1st off, couldn’t get it on my tablet without losing all of the color in the art, and second off, didn’t really feel I could take it in well on the computer. So I’ve requested a copy from my library so that I’ll be able to read it in print instead. Excited for the throw back conspiracy/heist goodness!