I was down in West Palm Beach, FL this past weekend and went to the local Barnes & Noble to find an audiobook to listen to on my 11.5 hour drive back to Biloxi, MS. The bargain bin at that particular store was rather sparse, but I did find Steve Berry's The Templar Legacy and it seemed fairly interesting, plus it was only $14.99. In the end, this turned out to be another one of those Da Vinci Code bandwagon jumpers that's going to make Christians very angry.

The story here is about lost Templar treasure that is hidden away using some ancient hidden codes and the treasure hold some secret that could destroy Christianity and make everyone reevaluate their beliefs. Haven't heard that one before, have you? A group of so-called Christians think they are doing good by killing people who get involved, and some others are just seeking the truth no matter how it might impact the world. It's a formulaic copycat plotline.

As this completely unoriginal story unfolds, the good guys start finding some errors in artwork from centuries before, and they think these errors may contain clues as to the whereabouts of this Templar treasure. The errors include misspelled names on tombs, dates and words written upside down in artwork, and so on. It goes back and forth with finding clues and the good guys running for their lives until the inevitable scene where they figure everything out and have a lengthy discussion of what means what and how they will locate the treasure. The last act is a lot like a National Treasure movie where they face a few traps to get to the treasure.

In case you were wondering, this book tries to invalidate Christianity by saying that Jesus never rose from the dead or ascended, and that his bones were hidden away to preserve the lie that has been the basis of faith for two millennia. Basically, they are looking for proof that he was just a man.

I am a Christian and I realize that if you go into most books and/or movies expecting some kind of Christian message, you're probably going to get disappointed a lot. That being said, I did like The Da Vinci Code for the complicated tale that it wove, although I am bothered by how many people thought it was real. What really irks me is how many books just like it sprung up after Dan Brown's novel sold its millionth copy. The main reason I didn't like this story was not because of the way it tears down Christianity, but simply because it's unoriginal. This book is a complete and total rip-off of The Da Vinci Code. It saddens me to see copycat stuff like this make it to print while so many other original story ideas are rejected.

The bottom line here is that you shouldn't waste your time or money on The Templar Legacy.

(495 words)

Recommended: No