Review: A Song in Stone

A Song in Stone by Walter H. Hunt doesn’t cover much new ground, at least not to anyone who has read Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code or any other of the many Holy Grail books. But it is a thrilling read that I didn’t want to put down.

In A Song in Stone, Scottish TV personality Ian Graham passes out in Rosslyn Chapel, only to wake up in 1307 as a Knights Templar initiate on a pilgrimage. As characters from his past (future?) pop in to rather cryptically give him clues about his journey, Ian struggles to figure out why he’s there and how to get home. The only thing that Ian knows for sure is that he’s the only person who can hear “the music.”

I found parts of this book pretty confusing—I never really did get what the music was and how the composer couldn’t hear it, but Ian could—but it all went so quick, it was easy to keep reading and get caught up in the story without getting bogged down in the details. I liked the characters quite a bit, especially the supporting cast of Rob and Rodney, which helped. Ian was a bit of a whiner, but who am I to judge, having never been forced to go back in time 700 years? There’s also a strong theme of faith in this book, in addition to the New Age ideas, that I thought was interesting.

The biggest weak spot was, for me, the ending. I just didn’t buy the secondary character’s motivation, much less the deus-ex-machina plot point that brought him there. The book ended too quickly and could have used a more in-depth look at the quest’s outcome.

Criticism aside, anyone who liked The DaVinci Code (or even mystical time travel á la Outlander) will certainly enjoy this fantasy.

Thanks to the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program for the opportunity to read this book.

Buy A Song in Stone on Amazon.

PS: Here's an interesting side note for those of you who are as nerdy as we are at my house. A Song in Stone is published by Wizards of the Coast Discoveries, the book publishing arm of the famous role-playing game maker.