A Review for Immortal Sacrifice (The Curse of the Templars #4) by Claire Ashgrove
Even though I have loved each and every book in this series, Immortal Sacrifice is in a class of its own, the best yet and definitely my favourite. If you are a fan of the series then you will have been waiting for this Knight to find his Seraph and be saved……..because Carodoc is about to find his jewel
Whence comes the teacher, she who is blind shall follow.
The one who digs in dust precedes the finding of the jewel.
And she who understands the sword precludes the greatest loyalty.
When darkness rapes the land, the seraphs shall purify the Templar
and lead the sacred swords to victory.
- Ancient Prophecy of the Knights Templar
Three years ago, before the seraphs arrived, Carodoc of Asterleigh spent a blissful three weeks with a woman that he thought would always hold his heart. With the arrival of the seraphs came the knowledge that one day, his would come and he would have to give up this lady – Isabelle Speranza – and rather than drag out the inevitable, with a heavy heart, he chose to leave her. Little did he know, that she wasn’t all he left behind….
Fast forward three years and along with Gareth & Tane, Caradoc is in Sicily to attend an auction event that holds many holy relics that the church wants back in its possession and none more so important that a diamond necklace that holds the tears of Christ. He isn’t the only one interested however; Isabelle Speranza is in Sicily on business too, acquiring antiques for buyers is her livelihood and knowing she has unlimited funds for one specific purchase is going to make this a piece of cake…..until the phone call that changes everything, until the dreams that have been plaguing her for months, until she casts eyes on him again…..Caradoc, the man who broke her heart.
Carodoc is stunned to see Isabelle again, not a day goes by that he doesn’t think of her and he’s about to find out why…. Because Isabelle is his Seraph….but will this revelation change things when Isabelle can’t let go of the past or reveal the secrets closest to her heart?
As I mentioned above, I seriously loved this instalment, it’s like Claire Ashgrove actually went in my head and plucked some of my favourite plot details and stuck them in this book. At the prologue - I was interested…chapter one - I was amused….chapter two – I was hooked! In a big way because what happens is one of my favourite plot lines EVER and guaranteed to be a page turner, I can’t even mention it because it would spoil the surprise but let’s just say, something very special has been kept from someone & is put at risk as Azazel ups the stakes again and proves why he holds his crown as evil incarnate. It was great to finally get to Carodoc’s book, he has made an impression from book one and was on my list of favourites so when I saw his name, I read it with a smile and that just got bigger as the story went on especially when we meet Isabelle and find out that he knew her and they had already had a relationship. It brought something new to the book that hadn’t been done in previous books and there was no awkwardness about getting the lady to love the Knight because the history was already there so it was just a matter of discovering each other again and reconnecting, not that that came without complications because Carodoc did a lot of damage when he left. I always love the clash of old fashioned views & modern ways but I didn’t even feel it this time, Carodoc came across as well adjusted to women of the modern world with only minor problems. They made a lovely couple though, it was so easy to connect to their characters, particularly Isabelle because of the turmoil she was going through and as always, I was routing for them at every turn.
The storyline was awesome! Yes, it was about protecting the relic from reaching Azazel’s hands and yes, it was about the pairing of a Knight & his Seraph to save his soul but the getting there was fraught with a rollercoaster of danger, risk & emotion that made one hell of a ride. It’s so hard not to spoil it for anyone because this plot is very much based upon one huge secret, so to give that away would really spoil it. I will tell you that I loved that the danger became more sinister, that the stakes were more personal, I loved that our couple had history, I loved Isabelle’s gift and how that played into the story and even though she had some huge skeletons in her closet, I loved that too because they were the best kind of secrets and she wasn’t the only one keeping them. We are even kept up to date with all of our favourite Knights & Seraphs, revealing some happy insights and some startling insights which will definitely be felt throughout the whole order and we even get to see the Knights & Seraphs working together in the field, which I had been hoping for since the Seraphs arrived. It definitely had a different feel to it, like things are changing, it feels like the Knights are ‘finding their feet’ and gaining ground against evil – tentatively - but at the same time, evil is upping the stakes and you can feel it all heading towards a critical point where the prophecy becomes real and Azazel’s power play is thwarted and I personally cannot wait! 5*s
Ps - It always amuses me how all of the Knights retain their original accents and even though it’s centuries later I can personally attest to the fact that people still do talk similarly, particularly when Caradoc says ‘aye’ for yes because that’s what I say where I’m from and also Declan, a lot of his broad Scottish words are still used today so for all it may seem old, it has stood the test of time.
