Download Now Keeper Of The Grail (The Youngest Templar, #1) Articulated By Michael P. Spradlin Accessible As Hardbound

this book left me really conflicted, because there were somethings I liked about the story, Enough that I will be reading the rest of the series, This is actually a guilty pleasure book of mine, I like it, even though I know I shouldn't for the way it basically spits on history,

Kinda like "the house of night" series by P, C. And Kristian Cast. I know it's terrible and have serval ranting reviews over on its books, But I've still read most of them at leastortimes apiece, Sometimes, the critic in you can know something is bad, but still like it anyway, You know what I mean

Despite its many faults, and it's low rating, "keeper of the Grail" is actually a pretty fun little story.


So! before i start ranting and screaming as much as is possible on a computer about what I DIDN'T like.
i am going to list what I DID enjoy about "Keeper of the Grail" bookof "the youngest templar trilogy.
"

. the writing style, action, and violence were well written for the intended age group, older kids and preteens. that was nice.

. I liked Robard. he had a good back story and a bitterness towards all things Royal and noble that just worked really well for a young Robin Hood in the making.
:D He hates King Richard! with good reason, the man was a battle hungry sociopath! those Hoods are few and far between, am i right

.
the author, Michael P. Spadlin, gets bonus points for creating such an original Maid Marian, i've seen lots of Marian's dressed as boys, plenty as kickass fighters. tons who just sit embroidering in the corner waiting to be rescued, this one, however, is the first Muslim Marian i've come across,

. Robard and Marian's i like that spelling better, relationship. their dialog is funny. and i'm sure the dynamics of there little group with totally appeal to young fans of the harry potter books.
tristan and these two totally have a harry, ron, and Hermione thing going for them,

. the cliffhanger ending was good, i really wanna know what happens, even though we all totally know he lives, can't kill the main character in the kids' book, can we

And those five things, my followers, are the parts I enjoyed.
Now, the meaner, more critical part of me, demands that I tell you all about the bad parts! :

So now it is time for my list of Rants.
YAYZ! i'm going to stick my very loud opinion out onto the internet for about two or three people to read.
:D i hope you enjoy, :D

A list of huge problems with "Keeper of the Grail, "

. THE BATTLE OF FUCKING CYPRUS! this is main the reason i couldn't give this book three, Because Again, it was a fun book, Just far from perfect. this is as bad as not knowing there are no potatoes in middle ages england, the author ignored the BATTLE OF CYPRUS!!!!!!!!!! gt:C can anyone tell just how overly disgusted i am this is about as bad as having three kids and only buying Christmas presents for two of them.
I understand that this is a children's story, i understand that must kids aren't going to give a damn about Richard pettily taking over an island.
they just want to enjoy Tristan's quest,

well, i am sorry not really but i just can't do it, I'm a freaking Hoodie. i love Robin Hood with a passion, i love Medieval History and warfare, i love learning about King Richard, Prince John, the Crusades, And i cannot ignore such a stupid, stupid blunder, i get that it's historical fiction, but you can't just write out a major battle, you know, in the back of my book is a little author's interview were he says that he did at least a couple years worth of research for this series.


gt:C and i'm a green dragon that shoots rainbows out its ass!

anyone who did their research over the third crusades had to have at least STUMBLED across something about Cyprus! a map, a paragraph, a footnote, something! it's not okay to just rewrite history and leave that out.
Especially when it could have been used to show King Richard in a more rounded, realistic way,

you know, the author tried to freakin justify the fact that a lot of his research didn't make it into the book because he was so focused on the characters and their adventures.
gt:C i'm barfing now, i might be more forgiving if our hero, Tristan, had actually benefited from this, But he didn't.

again, YOU CAN'T FUCKING GO AROUND CYPRUS!

and if anyone doesn't know what i'm freaking out about and any diehard Hood fans should i invite you to go google this.
go ahead, i'll wait. go search king richard and the battle of cyprus, or at least look at a map of the holy lands and find the island of cyprus, all historical accuracy aside, it's just stupid strategically, And King Richard, for all his insanity and rashness blood thirstiness, was not stupid, even a fake, nice Lionheart would no better than to go around such and important spot,

. Tristan's judgement. Oh. My. Fucking. GOD! this boy is so fucking stupid! all through out this story i wanted to jump into the pages and jut deck him.
he has got to have the worst judgement skills of any character i have ever met in my entire life.
really. i mean god, his logic is just painfully wacked, "Gee, i wanna explore and see the world because i've never been more thanmiles from the church.
i think i'll go to war with these knights i just mer yesterday and know nothing about, " . . really i pray to god that even the kids reading this understand just how stupid this is, i can understand that there aren't a lot of other options for seeing the world at this time period.
but this was just about the worst thing he could've chosen to do! the story's just riddled with him making the worst choices possible.
of course, it could be blamed on his upbringing, you know, that he's this sheltered kid who's been taught to see the good in humanity, and that he's naive and just doens't know any better.
well, i'm just not that nice of a person, this boy is as dumb as a bag of rocks, but a least a sack of rocks would be useful, the Templars could have thrown them at the turks, he breaks rank in battle, and, worst off all he didn't kill an enemy that NEEDED to be killed, Robard was going to and Tristan jumped in front of the arrow, See STUPID! everyone know's you NEVER let an enemy live! yeah it's awful, but it has to be done.
bad guys can't follow you if they're dead, then he gives them back their weapons! :C i wasn't even angry at that point, just sad, because he had to have been dropped on his head when he was a baby to be this fucking dumb.
what sort of idiot choses to trust the person that just tried to kill him SERIOUSLY!!! there's lots more stupidity from our young "hero" but i won't spoil anymore for you.


. Sir Thomas's judgement is almost as bad as Tristan's, they're in a great big battle, the're losing. the city's about to be taken, so what does thomas do, this great, smart, brave, Knight that Tristan loves and respect so bloody much.
gives thisyear old boy the holy grail and tells him to take it back to england, alone. no help. no protectors. not one single other Knight or even a squire to help him, . not okay. okay everyone, lets save this one stupid ass kid and a cup but no one else! and we'll send him out all alone with it into enemy territory and pray for the best! a five year old could understand just how WRONG this is! enough said.


. back to tristan! alone with his stupidity! we have to deal with him being a fucking Mary Sue/Mary Stew.
he's a poor little orphan with no knowledge of his past but lots of others seem to know what's going on.
he's great with animals. after just a couple of months of training he's suddenly able to hold his own in a battle.
he was never once injured in one either, even when he directly disobeys the simplest orders, his head should've got lobbed off by a Saracen, that would have sent him to the afterlife to forever think about just how stupid his choices are.
he's got insane luck he has no right to, everyone either loves or hates him after having know him for just a few minutes, and he's got a special magical thing holy grail to help and protect him on his quest, it's just horrible. i'm sure if i put him through one of those Mary sue tests online, he'd fail epically,

. the bad guy, Sir Hugh, there is nothing interesting about him, he's just bad for the sake of being bad, because someone has to be an ass to our "hero", that's just how it is, no really need to ever explain why he's an ass, that's not as important as him bullying tristan, actually i though Hugh had a pretty good point whenever he was smacking the kid around in the practice yard, but that's just me.


. Marian. i don't see the point of her yet, i thinks she's supposed to be a bad ass assassin chick, but i just can't see it, :C she get's hurt with it five seconds of showing up and i'm supposed to believe that she's bad ass.
i don't even know WHY she's an assassin, we get know back story on her whatsoever, all i know is she's from a city that had a convenient sprinkling of English speaking merchants so she can talk to our heroes.
WTF did her assassin friends know she was a girl did they let girls be warriors nothing at all was explained about her.
guess i will have to get the next book, huh i hope SOMETHING is explained to me, because despite her cute little thing she's clearly got going with Robard, i'm just not impressed with this character yet.
And i really don't think our author understands how arrow wounds work either, just saying.

. tristan be special! ULTRA SUPER MEGA SPECIALS! People follow him and whisper about him and tell him they know stuff about him.
. we spend the whole first half of the book dealing with this and it's really overdone, i got it the first time, dude, Tristan specialz. we don't need

it shoved down our throats, alright i can freaking guess what it is anyway, all the adults reading this can, i'll bet all my Robin Hood books, plus my Harry Potters books that i'm right,

Over all, I honestly think the Keeper of the Grail's main problem was Tristan, :/ hopefully he gets better in book, It wasn't bad. Just not great. I do look forward to book, :D I do recommend particularly for younger readers who might want to try Robin Hood books, Older readers might not like it quite as much, but if you can get past the much, there is some good here.
This is an action packed book that's sure to please kidsand as a bonus there's no objectionable matter that would worry parents.
I'm already waiting for the second one in the series! The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail
Michael P.
Spradlin

Tristan has only known life in the monastery where he was found as an infant.
Although he was raised by monks, he has never had the desire to become one, so when a group of Knights Templar stops there on their way to fight in the Third Crusade, he accepts the offer to become a squire to one of the leaders, Sir Thomas.
Unfortunately he also makes an enemy of the other leader, Sir Hugh,

When they reach the Holy Land, Tristan soon discovers that fighting and killing are not much fun, and unfortunately there is plenty of both.
When Acre is attacked and it is apparent that it will fall to the enemy, Sir Thomas entrusts Tristan with the greatest treasure of Christendom the Holy Grail and tells him to take it to a church in Scotland.
Tristan must make his way through the Saracens and past Sir Hugh and hope to get safely out of the Holy Land.
Hell find a couple of companions along the way, and encounter more trouble than he ever bargained for.


I didnt find Keeper of the Grail to be great historical fiction, but it was fun to read and I think it will be popular to many of my boys.
It reads like many of the Dan Brown like adult adventure novels, but without so much explanation about every facet of the story.
While I was glad about this last part, I do wish there were a little more explanation about the Crusades, because I fear that many of the students who are going to attempt this novel will know nothing about them.
Im a big fan of authors notes either at the beginning or ending of a novel, explaining the historical setting of the novel.


I found the characters of Tristan, Robard, and Maryam to be likable but I thought Sir Thomas and Sir Hugh were fairly onedimensional characters.
This is the first book in a series, and the second book is already out,
Debo decir que he disfrutado mucho leyendo El guardián del Santo Grial, Recordaba haberlo hecho años antes también, cuando por mi edad formaba parte del público objetivo de este middlegrade, pero en esta ocasión no me han gustado menos la aventuras de Tristán ni tampoco me han enganchado menos.


El autor se ajusta de forma muy clara al modelo que establece Joseph Campbell en su obra El héroe de las mil caras, y es aún más flagrante la cantidad de clichés en los que cae la historia, como la orfandad de un protagonista adolescente de moral irreprochable, Mary Sue en toda regla, que acaba saliendo de la mayoría de sus desventuras por la oportuna aparición de un personaje que lo rescata.
Tampoco pueden atribuírsele la profundidad psicológica del resto de personajes, casi siempre marcados por un claro maniqueísmo, ni la complejidad en la trama, cuyos giros suelen ser previsibles para el lector.


A pesar de todo, estoy convencido de que nada de lo anterior resultó ser prioritario para el autor de esta novela.
La historia se constituye a través de una línea de aventuras que parece no tener fin, y que en todo momento se hace amena, entretenida e interesante.
Las descripciones son las justas para no perder el ritmo que la caracteriza y, además, ante la necesidad de tal brevedad, el autor ha sabido seleccionar con destreza y maestría aquellos matices que captan los ojos de Tristán para embellecer el relato lo máximo posible.
De esta manera, el libro se convierte en un reclamo indispensable para todos aquellos que estén interesados en introducir a cualquier preadolescente en el bello mundo de la lectura.


Y aunque tal vez sea prematuro juzgar que esta historia tuvo un fuerte impacto en mi gusto por la literatura, no es menos cierto que cada vez que desviaba la mirada a mi estantería y mis ojos se encontraban con el lomo de esta novela, no podía evitar recordarme a mí mismo lo mucho de disfruté de leerla, así como que el cliffhanger del final me afectó tanto como me ha afectado ahora.
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