Yet another 'Templars In America' Novel

[Nautonnier]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/re ... le1568835/

Kent Stetson’s brings the Knights Templar to the new world in a novel about the mysteries of exploration
Reviewed by Cori Dusmann
Published on Friday, May. 14, 2010

Kent Stetson is moving in a new direction. The accomplished and much celebrated playwright (he won the Governor General Award in 2001 for The Harps of God) has just published his debut novel, The World Above the Sky. Loosely based on his 1999 play, New Arcadia: A Grail Romance, it's the first novel in a planned trilogy; unfortunately it’s not a particularly strong start.

In 1398 Prince Henry Sinclair of Scotland, one of the last Knights Templar, makes his way to the New World with a fleet of 12 ships. He is accompanying and protecting Eugainia St. Clair Delacroix, the 17-year-old Living Holy Grail, and they are seeking the Well of Baphomet and the Stone Grail, which they believe was brought over a hundred years earlier by a band of Knights Templar.

Eugainia’s ancestry can be traced back through the time of Christ, and beyond – she is only the most recent manifestation of the Goddess, an avatar with a lineage that includes Christ, Muhammad, Krishna and Buddha. Eugainia is also in search of her earthborn God, whom she has seen in visions, to fulfill her destiny in the time of the Two Made One.

Arriving in the New World, landing in what is present-day Nova Scotia with a fraction of the ships and men that began the voyage, Eugainia and Henry are met by The People, a clan of Mi’kmaq. Mimkitawo’qu’sk is a young warrior and future chief, and Eugainia recognizes in him her earthborn God. Their destiny is not an easy one and they leave their friends and family behind as they continue the quest for the Grail, forging their own bonds as their spiritual paths converge.

The World Above the Sky is a tale of journeys and quests. While the main storyline is that of the overarching search for the Holy Grail, within this quest the characters make their own explorations, singly and together. Delving into the mysteries of God, the Goddess, the People, the Worlds above and beneath them, these travels take a myriad of forms, from purely physical means on foot and by boat, into spirit worlds through dreams, visions and spiritual out-of-body journeys.

Stetson has done much research into both the history and the mythology of The Knights Templar, the Grail quest, the first European explores and the Mi’kmaq peoples, pulling the various strands into a cohesive storyline. Much, of course, is based on conjecture and varying theories, particularly around the Grail and the Knights Templar. This works well enough in a work of fiction; however, significant assumptions are made that the reader will have a working knowledge of much of the history that Stetson races through. His greatest detail lies in the daily activities, rituals and beliefs of the Mi’kmaq peoples.

It is easy to see Stetson’s background as a playwright at work. His dialogue and monologue scenes are typically precise, crisp and active, but they are separated by long passive stretches in which much information is relayed in a simple recitation of details and facts, indicating a passage of time and occurrence of events that are never actually experienced by the reader. Despite his obvious, and frequently excessive, love of descriptive language, much of the colourful mythology and history, and the detailed intertwining of the two cultures’ experiences – particularly in the scenes involving visions and dreams – are reduced to pages of flat narration. The reader is thus kept at a remove from the story, and this lack of engagement results in a dispassionate, occasionally tedious reading experience.

It’s not that The World Above the Sky is a bad book, but it is something of a disappointment. With the richness of the subject matter – Templars! Grail! Quests! Holy bloodlines! – one can’t help but feel that the book should have been more involving, more satisfying at a narrative level. It’s important to remember that this is the first novel in a trilogy, and it may be redeemed by the later instalments, but viewed on its own, it feels like a missed opportunity.

Cori Dusmann is an educator and writer living in Victoria.