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Review
Highly original and a most enjoyable read --Tim Waterstone
Will be thoroughly enjoyed by anyone with a taste for rollicking adventure laced with a subtle dose of literary learning. --Douglas Hurd
Simon Acland's gripping First Crusade mystery thriller rivals the Da Vinci Code for interest and suspense. --Stanley Johnson
I found it utterly gripping. --Giles MacDonogh
...strongly drawn characters and impressive description, while a great deal of action keeps events moving at a cracking pace.
--Pursewarden, 30th May 2010
Will be thoroughly enjoyed by anyone with a taste for rollicking adventure laced with a subtle dose of literary learning. --Douglas Hurd
Simon Acland's gripping First Crusade mystery thriller rivals the Da Vinci Code for interest and suspense. --Stanley Johnson
I found it utterly gripping. --Giles MacDonogh
...strongly drawn characters and impressive description, while a great deal of action keeps events moving at a cracking pace.
--Pursewarden, 30th May 2010
Product Description
The true story of the Holy Grail?
The Waste Land chronicles the adventures of Hugh de Verdon, monk turned knight, during the extraordinary historical events of the First Crusade. He journeys from the great Benedictine monastery of Cluny to Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem. He encounters the Assassins, endures a personal epiphany and discovers the 'truth' behind the Holy Grail. Hugh de Verdon's tale is retold by a group of desperate Oxford professors, based on his autobiographical manuscript, discovered in their College Library. Their humorous - and murderous - story also provides a commentary on the eleventh century events and shows that they are perhaps not all they seem.
Juliette Mead "Simon Acland's debut novel is a potent cocktail: take one part First Crusade historical romance, one part modern academic satire - and add three jiggers of coming-of-age, Grail-questing, spur-winning Knight's tale. A rollicking, galloping read from a highly individual story teller."
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My nephew gave me this book for Christmas knowing that I am a devoted reader of historical fiction and perhaps too that I specialized in the Crusades for my MA degree. I was taught (amongst others) by the late wonderful Michael Maclagan.
Acland's story is set at the time of the First Crusade and tells the tale of a monk turned knight called Hugh de Verdon. Many of the characters are real people (the saintly Hugh of Cluny and Baldwin King of Jerusalem to name two).
Interspersed with the drama of de Verdun's participation in the First Crusade is another story set in an Oxford College in the present time showing the politics and rivalries that sadly typify that great institution. This works very well as a plot device.
If you are looking for an entertaining page turner like the Shardlake novels of C J Sansom then the Waste Land is for you. Much more exciting and entertaining than the oddly best-selling Wolf Hall book which I found as dull as ditchwater.
Not only does Acland write extremely well, his research is meticulous.
With George W's inane remark about the Crusades, this
topic is now fashionable again and anyone who wants to understand the politics of the middle east should spend a bit of time learning about them. The Waste Land makes for an excellent light introduction.
I would have liked more on the Lazarus heresy. As a non-theologian, I was left wondering why it was quite so shocking but perhaps more on that in Acland's sequel?
Rather brilliantly, he includes very helpful maps and a list of the real characters both of which helped me navigate the excellent and compelling plot.
Acland describes the book as 'an entertainment' and that it is.
Acland's story is set at the time of the First Crusade and tells the tale of a monk turned knight called Hugh de Verdon. Many of the characters are real people (the saintly Hugh of Cluny and Baldwin King of Jerusalem to name two).
Interspersed with the drama of de Verdun's participation in the First Crusade is another story set in an Oxford College in the present time showing the politics and rivalries that sadly typify that great institution. This works very well as a plot device.
If you are looking for an entertaining page turner like the Shardlake novels of C J Sansom then the Waste Land is for you. Much more exciting and entertaining than the oddly best-selling Wolf Hall book which I found as dull as ditchwater.
Not only does Acland write extremely well, his research is meticulous.
With George W's inane remark about the Crusades, this
topic is now fashionable again and anyone who wants to understand the politics of the middle east should spend a bit of time learning about them. The Waste Land makes for an excellent light introduction.
I would have liked more on the Lazarus heresy. As a non-theologian, I was left wondering why it was quite so shocking but perhaps more on that in Acland's sequel?
Rather brilliantly, he includes very helpful maps and a list of the real characters both of which helped me navigate the excellent and compelling plot.
Acland describes the book as 'an entertainment' and that it is.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is terrific! And the author plays the cello. How much cooler can you get! Immensely good read. My only complaint is that the novel had me enthralled from start to finish and seriously hindered my work and sleep. Even dreamt the bloody thing when I conked out. It played out like a movie in my mind as I read it and I highly recommend screen producers to leap onto this. The characters are so vivid, and the promise of a sequel in 2011 is an agonising wait. Get it! Marvellous!!... and another ! for good measure.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Waste Land, which certainly is 'An Entertainment', cleverly combines two plots.
It is terrific read, and clearly very well researched. The main plot provides a fun way to brush up on your crusade history. The characters, based mainly on real people (very helpful list at the front) come to life and engage you. The author's descriptive prose is hugely effective - I felt positively claustrophobic during our hero's efforts to escape his rock prison, the battle scenes were very evocative, and as for the raunchier bits ... enough said.
Although the junior plot by length, the St Lazarus College story is just as skillful. It is a brilliant and mordant sketch of the senior common room. The author bounces the different characters and their self-interests off each other, presenting a witty view on the mechanics of plot development whilst staying absolutely true to the historical facts.
This will make a very good movie. Nearer term, I can't wait for the sequel, to learn of our hero's fate and also more of the mysterious, 'disfigured' Research Assistant at the centre of it all.
It is terrific read, and clearly very well researched. The main plot provides a fun way to brush up on your crusade history. The characters, based mainly on real people (very helpful list at the front) come to life and engage you. The author's descriptive prose is hugely effective - I felt positively claustrophobic during our hero's efforts to escape his rock prison, the battle scenes were very evocative, and as for the raunchier bits ... enough said.
Although the junior plot by length, the St Lazarus College story is just as skillful. It is a brilliant and mordant sketch of the senior common room. The author bounces the different characters and their self-interests off each other, presenting a witty view on the mechanics of plot development whilst staying absolutely true to the historical facts.
This will make a very good movie. Nearer term, I can't wait for the sequel, to learn of our hero's fate and also more of the mysterious, 'disfigured' Research Assistant at the centre of it all.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Waste land or wasted opportunity?
I learned good deal about the First Crusade by reading this book but found it somewhat wanting as a novel. Read more
Published 6 days ago by R. Dipple
The Waste Land...
Simon Acland's debut novel The Waste Land is an impressively scholarly and original book that brings the First Crusade to life through the eyes of the monk-turned-knight Hugh de... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Hugh Seymour
Even a knight who says 'Ni'
Simon Acland's cleverly devised historical novel is set during the First Crusade and is filled with literary delights.
The Waste Land has everything. Read more
The Waste Land has everything. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Alistair Forrest
A great read and very informative
I really enjoyed this book. It kept me engrossed throughout and I sped through the story wanting more at the end. Read more
Published 21 months ago by henridavies
Not a Waste at all
Underneath the title of this book on its front cover are the words An Entertainment. The reader is therefore given a clear message that this book is meant to be just that, perhaps... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Elaine Simpson-long
Aargh! what happens next? Can't wait for the sequel
This book managed to pull off a double that most thrillers fail to achieve - it was both extremely gripping and well written. The brutality of the first crusade felt very true. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Shirley Valentine
Thrilling First Crusade Adventure, Recommended for all!
A fantastic novel.
Historical fiction is not my usual genre of choice and therefore it is a testament to the author that the book had me completely hooked (and now... Read more
Historical fiction is not my usual genre of choice and therefore it is a testament to the author that the book had me completely hooked (and now... Read more
Published 24 months ago by Mystery Reader
Rivetting!
I enjoyed reading this book a lot and it reminded me of so many acquired and almost forgotten knowledge from my French Literature degree... Read more
Published on 25 May 2010 by Pelagius
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