Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 The Virgin in the Ice November 10, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
It's 1139 and winter in Worcester on the border between England and Wales. Two orphans in the charge of a Benedictine nun fleeing the internecine war between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda have disappeared into a blizzard. Enter a mysterious stranger (gasp!) in search of them and Brother Cadfael temporarily abandons the cloister to take up again the sword of the crusader he once was to go in aid. A you-are-there setting, unexpected plot turns, and characters minimally drawn for maximum effect, Ellis Peters ends The Virgin in the Ice with the best sword fight since Captain Blood: "Now have ado with a man!"
This is my favorite of the Brother Cadfael series, but more, reading these novels is a twenty-lesson tutorial in writing superbly to formula. There is always murder most foul, young lovers in peril, repulsive villains, confounded authorities, and Cadfael triumphant, and it all works, every time.
 Cold comforts February 5, 2006
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
In the severe winter of 1139, the civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud is still in progress with refugees fleeing from the sacked city of Worcester, and marauding bands of robbers taking advantage of the situation and preying on the weak. At Bromfield Abbey, 20 miles from the Shrewsbury Abbey home of Brother Cadfael, a visitng monk has been savagely beaten and left for dead. As his condition worsened, the Abbot sends for Cadfael with his greater knowledge of defence wounds and their treatment. Deputy Sherriff Hugh Beringar has also been informed that the two teenaged children of a nobleman are missing, en route to the safety of the Abbey, accompanied by a young nun. After listening to the feverish ravings of the sick monk, Cadfael searches for and finds the body of the nun, frozen in a pond. Hugh and his men hack the block of ice containing the body, free and upon the ice thawing, Cadfael finds that the nun has been savagely raped and smothered. The young missing travellers are found and, in his methodical fashion,Cadfael, with his knowledge of affairs of the heart and awareness of human failings, helps to unravel several mysteries which beset the teenagers, as well as unravellling a mystery of his own former life as a crusader. It's a simple read of an age in which violence is no stranger to everyday life, and where the powerful hold sway over the lives of the ordinary people.
The Hawk vs the Lion--a Secret kept even from Hugh! January 29, 2003
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
SPOILER WARNING: Do not read this review unless you have read Pilgrim of Hate or Brother Cadfael's Penance! Unlike Brother Cadfael, who hugs his precious secret and private joy to his thankful breast, I can restrain my "pen" only with the greatest difficulty. I want to publish the news abroad, but also have an obligation not to spoil the thrill of future discovery for readers who will follow. All Ellis Peters' movels in this fabulous series offer excellent mysteries per se; indeed, many offer overlapping crimes by multiple malefactors. Yet to my medievally-inclined mind, the most satisfying are those novels which reveal more fascinating details or penetrating insight into the psyche and active past of our favorite monk-turned-sleuth. For Cadfael has been a soldier, sailor, sinner and Crusader--in his own unabashed words--in late 12th century Wales, England and the Holy Land. After 40 years of lusty living in the World, he willingly gave up arms forever, to take up the cowl and honor the cross. But the cream of Peters' novels are those in which we meet the special characters do dear to Cadfael: his Saint, his best friend, Hugh, his lost amours and now...? What a joy for readers who have grown to love and respect this dedicated monk, as he gradually reveals his personal journey into a past not so dead after all! Peters makes a great case for mixed marriage in VIRGIN, as she does for the role of a faithful mistress in LEPER. Guilty men believe they see the ghosts of their victims here, as in BONES. The murderer thinks he can slip in an extra crime amid the general carnage, as in ONE CORPSE, but luckily for justice, Brother Cadfael does not permit these foul deeds to remain unnoticed on go unpunished. Vengeance may belong to the Lord, but Cadfael hovers nearby to provide a helping hand when necessary. Don't keep your curiosity frozen in a shroud of ice along with the unnamed virgin; read this wonderful mystery and be enlightened--not to mention--superbly entertained!
Cadfael at his best November 18, 2002
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
In Ellis Peters sixth Brother Cadfael chronicle a headstrong young woman, Ermina Hugonin, her younger brother, Yves and a nun flee Worcester and head towards Shrubbery as Maude's forces overpower Stephens in the 12th century. They never arrive, concerning Cadfael and the local Sheriff. After being called to Bromfield to nurse a fellow monk to health Cadfael begins to discover the mystery of their disappearance.As is her usual style Ellis Peters makes quick work of capturing the readers interest and deftly furnishes the setting with appropriate details of twelfth century life. In this chronicle especially we learn of the dangers and uncertainties created by the great civil war between Maude and Stephen. With each book I grow fonder of Brother Cadfael, the former warrior who has become a monk. Cadfael, because of his early life experiences has a great understanding of human nature and is slow to condemn those who fail to achieve perfection. He is constantly nurturing and makes an effort to safeguard those younger and weaker than he. In The Virgin in the Ice, Cadfael truly excels and comes into his own. We see him as both an active participant in the events and one who is able to analyze and understand human nature and thus is able to unwind the mystery. For anyone who is fond of Medieval Mystery the Brother Cadfael Chronicles shouldn't be missed and this is one of the better.
First-rate Mediaeval thriller and murder mystery November 19, 2001
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
This sixth in the series of tales of Brother Cadfael is less obviously a whodunit and much more of a thriller or twelfth century adventure story. It is set in the English Marches, amidst the chaos ensuing from the sacking of Worcester by supporters of the Empress Maud against King Stephen in November 1139. The action takes place in Ludlow (mid-way between Cadfael's normal haunts of Shrewsbury, and the beleaguered city of Worcester) where our hero is ostensibly nursing back to health a Benedictine brother who has seemingly been waylaid by a band of outlaws, stripped and left for dead. Whilst in Ludlow, Cadfael also finds himself embroiled in the hunt for a party of three young persons missing after the attacks on Worcester and known to be heading for Shrewsbury, at which destination they have failed to arrive. With a bitter freeze and the winter's first snows on hand, there are grave concerns for their safety and well-being. One of the three is subsequently found dead - obviously killed and dumped in a watery (now icy) grave on the very night that the good monk's patient was attacked. Unlike many another Cadfael tale, this one moves along with a gripping sense of urgency and with a fair amount of tension and excitement building gradually as things proceed. It contains Ellis Peters' usual meticulous attention to both historical and narrative detail and constitutes as riveting - and entertaining - a story as you are likely to find. As always, Cadfael is aware of details overlooked by others and never once loses sight of the smaller issues that are wont to become subsumed into the larger, weightier ones. He (and the regular reader) is provided with an unlooked-for reward in this volume, too. This book has to be one of the very best of the Cadfael Chronicles and is unreservedly recommended for lovers of the genre. Its story line stands somewhat apart from others in the series, making it fairly unimportant where it is read in the sequence.
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