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Adept #2
The Lodge of the Lynx
The immortal Adept, disguised as psychiatrist Adam Sinclair, once again transcends the dimension of time to fight the powers of Darkness that have manifested themselves in an unholy cult using an ancient Druidic artifact to threaten all of Scotland. Original.
432 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1992
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422 people want to read
About the author
Katherine Kurtz
93 books743 followersKatherine Kurtz is an American fantasy novel writer. She is best known for her Deryni series. She currently lives in Virginia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
April 16, 2020
This is the first of my "Lockdown 2020" rereads that has been a disappointment.
The plot itself is still good and interesting, but I struggled much more with the writing around it, and ended up doing some skimming while muttering "blah, blah, blah".
I wasn't in the mood for all the ritual description, but I'm willing to call that one "it's not you, it's me" given my current health and state of mind.
It felt like all the characters, who I've enjoyed reading about before, felt full of pomp and privilege in a way that hadn't bothered me before, or in other books. I'm wondering if the real world setting has made all the titles, and grand houses, silverware and monogrammed slippers a bit much given the time we're in now. I don't mind it in an alternative world, if that's the one I've dipped into, but it feels like exceeding frippery at the moment.
There are also an awful lot of Freemasons in this book and, like the titles and the posh cars and horses etc, all the significant ones are important, high-powered and invariably good men. They, too, read like the perfect, fantasy sect version of a real life institution and I'd rather have them in a true fantasy setting where I can suspend my belief to accept that as read, than in the real world, where people aren't perfect and no-one is automatically good.
So I think a combination of time and current reality have got to this one. It's a pity, but I suppose hoping for 100% hit rate on old rereads was unrealistic.
The plot itself is still good and interesting, but I struggled much more with the writing around it, and ended up doing some skimming while muttering "blah, blah, blah".
I wasn't in the mood for all the ritual description, but I'm willing to call that one "it's not you, it's me" given my current health and state of mind.
It felt like all the characters, who I've enjoyed reading about before, felt full of pomp and privilege in a way that hadn't bothered me before, or in other books. I'm wondering if the real world setting has made all the titles, and grand houses, silverware and monogrammed slippers a bit much given the time we're in now. I don't mind it in an alternative world, if that's the one I've dipped into, but it feels like exceeding frippery at the moment.
There are also an awful lot of Freemasons in this book and, like the titles and the posh cars and horses etc, all the significant ones are important, high-powered and invariably good men. They, too, read like the perfect, fantasy sect version of a real life institution and I'd rather have them in a true fantasy setting where I can suspend my belief to accept that as read, than in the real world, where people aren't perfect and no-one is automatically good.
So I think a combination of time and current reality have got to this one. It's a pity, but I suppose hoping for 100% hit rate on old rereads was unrealistic.
Read
February 7, 2012Excellent read; and in the future I will read it again. Ronald D. Lee
August 7, 2015
Upon a re-read, I'm kicking it down a star. (again, I'd like to half half-star capacity here! C'mon, Goodreads!)
These are fast reads, fun adventures that don't go terribly far into the psyche of the lead characters, for whom there aren't a lot of moral conflicts. These books deal much more in black & white than any shades of gray which is one of the things that keep them in the "fast and fairly light" category. The leads (Sinclair, McLeod, and Lovat) are capital "H" heroes, good guys to the core, and their enemies are black-hearted villains of the nastiest kind.
That's fine, and both Kurtz and Harris know how to organize a plot and keep the action moving to make this an entertaining read. There's also some distinct axe-grinding on a few causes inter-woven in these books that leaps out more clearly in the re-read on how the authors want them seen in a positive light: the Templars and their history, hypnosis and its therapeutic use, and Freemasonry. It's not a huge deal, but there are a few "dude, we get it!" moments and the occasional "didn't we already seen this scene". The latter may be a choice borne of the serial, and an assumption that readers may not have read the earlier book. I understand the choice, but I'd argue it's a mistaken one. The repetition isn't necessary to comprehension for one thing, and the odds are high most readers invested in book one.
The Pictish lore is interesting here, and Kurtz and Harris once again have a strong handle on their Scottish history and lore. That's where a lot of the fun of these books lies, especially with the esoteric investigation into these hidden paths. A few more supporting characters rise up here, and frankly they are all interesting enough that I wouldn't have minded more depth and attention given to all of them. Sinclair is a fine hero, but his utter perfection (always calm, gentle, understanding, knowledgeable, etc) still makes him a slightly dull choice of leads.
Still and all, these are holding up fairly well in the re-read, which is nice because nothing current I have has been grabbing my attention AT ALL right now. revisiting an old friend like this series is worth the relaxing trip.
These are fast reads, fun adventures that don't go terribly far into the psyche of the lead characters, for whom there aren't a lot of moral conflicts. These books deal much more in black & white than any shades of gray which is one of the things that keep them in the "fast and fairly light" category. The leads (Sinclair, McLeod, and Lovat) are capital "H" heroes, good guys to the core, and their enemies are black-hearted villains of the nastiest kind.
That's fine, and both Kurtz and Harris know how to organize a plot and keep the action moving to make this an entertaining read. There's also some distinct axe-grinding on a few causes inter-woven in these books that leaps out more clearly in the re-read on how the authors want them seen in a positive light: the Templars and their history, hypnosis and its therapeutic use, and Freemasonry. It's not a huge deal, but there are a few "dude, we get it!" moments and the occasional "didn't we already seen this scene". The latter may be a choice borne of the serial, and an assumption that readers may not have read the earlier book. I understand the choice, but I'd argue it's a mistaken one. The repetition isn't necessary to comprehension for one thing, and the odds are high most readers invested in book one.
The Pictish lore is interesting here, and Kurtz and Harris once again have a strong handle on their Scottish history and lore. That's where a lot of the fun of these books lies, especially with the esoteric investigation into these hidden paths. A few more supporting characters rise up here, and frankly they are all interesting enough that I wouldn't have minded more depth and attention given to all of them. Sinclair is a fine hero, but his utter perfection (always calm, gentle, understanding, knowledgeable, etc) still makes him a slightly dull choice of leads.
Still and all, these are holding up fairly well in the re-read, which is nice because nothing current I have has been grabbing my attention AT ALL right now. revisiting an old friend like this series is worth the relaxing trip.
July 6, 2020
Another enjoyable entry in this series. I fun mystery with just enough magic and danger to make it a page turner. A good way to idle away a few hours and not tax your brain too much. A sort of mental vacation of a book. Compares well to other modern fantasy novels.
May 28, 2024
Magnificent as Always
Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris never fail to deliver magic and mystery. The Adept series is one I can read over and over again. I always come away with new perceptions.
Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris never fail to deliver magic and mystery. The Adept series is one I can read over and over again. I always come away with new perceptions.
February 23, 2012
More of the same. This is basically the same thing as watching a BBC show with people that would be otherwise insufferable.
June 2, 2019
Great Book
Air Adam and the rest of the Hunting Lodge are great. All books in the series are a must read.
Air Adam and the rest of the Hunting Lodge are great. All books in the series are a must read.
May 10, 2020
A nice reread to.visit old friends
January 2, 2021
Excellent
October 31, 2024
I'm hooked on this series. In this second installment, we already know the characters and their situations, so the story continues and there are fewer "cozy" moments and a higher percentage of action and plot advancement.
While in the first installment the motivation and actions of the villains had a certain logic, the truth is that this time everything is much more questionable. Neither the why nor the how, nor the timing, nor anything makes much sense.
Everything is getting crazy and, in addition to evil sects, we have Masonic lodges, Nazis, ancient cults, and ritual sacrifices. I love it.
It still takes me back to my childhood. The same innocence and the same abandonment to simple and carefree enjoyment.
While in the first installment the motivation and actions of the villains had a certain logic, the truth is that this time everything is much more questionable. Neither the why nor the how, nor the timing, nor anything makes much sense.
Everything is getting crazy and, in addition to evil sects, we have Masonic lodges, Nazis, ancient cults, and ritual sacrifices. I love it.
It still takes me back to my childhood. The same innocence and the same abandonment to simple and carefree enjoyment.
July 9, 2020
This was another interesting book with tons of details of ceremonial-ish magic, with the same characters as the previous book in the series, and it seems to start within the month of the previous book ending. There was a lot of explicit crime detail, including all kinds of murder etc., and that got a little tiring for me after a while. The crime and mayhem factor went way up from the previous book, mugh higher body count. Amusingly, the one time that any character seemed to have a hot date that may include sex, the authors veer towards it and then 'the next morning' they went and did businessy things and there was no talk at all about if it happened, if it meant a frigging thing to either of them, etc. I will read the rest of the series, and hope that it doesn't just increase in crime detail, while still keeping the intreresting meditative and magical detail and decent people.
April 27, 2020
Somewhat darker than the previous book, but also more suspenseful, I thought, especially with regards to the plot for killing Adam. I don't know if I enjoyed it quite as much as the first book, perhaps in part just because it is a sequel and doesn't have the "novelty" factor, but also because the arch-villain and his scheme seemed a bit over the top. But as with the first one, I enjoyed the mix of fantasy with modern life, and the mix of myth, and ideas from different spiritual traditions, with an emphasis on the reality of the spiritual world, which is so often ignored or denied by many people today.
April 17, 2018
I own the series, so am re-reading to determine whether to keep or not (probably not at this point) but am in a way fascinated to see how many tropes or cliches are added to the stories... Basically standard fantasy revolving around the mythology of the Templars, with Druids, magic, angels and much more thrown in.
May 31, 2017
E continuano le avventure esoteriche di Pendergast....
August 16, 2024
2nd book in the Adept Series pits Adam Sinclair & friends against the remnants of Hitler's esoteric society. Well written & well researched.
August 12, 2014
Slightly better than the first book in the series. Still want to shit in Sir Adam's boot.
Good: Actual female characters. (I was really disappointed that there were zero notable female characters in the first one, especially as it's written by two women.) The plot of this one didn't shatter my suspension of disbelief as much as the first one did. And it's always fun to read books set in Scotland while I'm actually living here and know exactly where they're talking about when they talk about the Edinburgh police headquarters, the old cemetery by Calton Hill, etc.
Bad: Doctor Sir Adam Sinclair, benefactor of the Royal Opera, collector of sports cars, equestrian, psychic, accomplished psychiatrist, antique collector, reincarnated Templar Knight and High Priest of Ra, is still an absolute fucking Gary Stu and I really want someone to take a shit in his expensive leather riding boots. The best part of the book was when someone shot out his tire and he rolled his Range Rover and broke a few ribs. So much time is spent making it clear that he is the perfect, rich, genteel Scottish laird. He can't just walk into his library. He has to stroll into his library, with its restored mahogany panelling and sumptuous blue and gold brocade hangings, to pick up one of the - gasp! - paperbacks he has started to collect along with his additions to the large and valuable collections of antique leather-bound first editions lovingly curated over decades by his grandfather and father before him. Of course, he remembers a key piece of information from a book review he skimmed in a newspaper 5 years ago, cracks the actual book for the first time and has solved a mystery in about ten minutes of research, because he's Sir Adam Sinclair, Insufferable Twat.
At one point in the book, the villain sneeringly insinuates that Sir Adam and his psychic-artist sidekick Peregrine are a gay couple. THAT WOULD HAVE MADE IT SO MUCH BETTER.
Good: Actual female characters. (I was really disappointed that there were zero notable female characters in the first one, especially as it's written by two women.) The plot of this one didn't shatter my suspension of disbelief as much as the first one did. And it's always fun to read books set in Scotland while I'm actually living here and know exactly where they're talking about when they talk about the Edinburgh police headquarters, the old cemetery by Calton Hill, etc.
Bad: Doctor Sir Adam Sinclair, benefactor of the Royal Opera, collector of sports cars, equestrian, psychic, accomplished psychiatrist, antique collector, reincarnated Templar Knight and High Priest of Ra, is still an absolute fucking Gary Stu and I really want someone to take a shit in his expensive leather riding boots. The best part of the book was when someone shot out his tire and he rolled his Range Rover and broke a few ribs. So much time is spent making it clear that he is the perfect, rich, genteel Scottish laird. He can't just walk into his library. He has to stroll into his library, with its restored mahogany panelling and sumptuous blue and gold brocade hangings, to pick up one of the - gasp! - paperbacks he has started to collect along with his additions to the large and valuable collections of antique leather-bound first editions lovingly curated over decades by his grandfather and father before him. Of course, he remembers a key piece of information from a book review he skimmed in a newspaper 5 years ago, cracks the actual book for the first time and has solved a mystery in about ten minutes of research, because he's Sir Adam Sinclair, Insufferable Twat.
At one point in the book, the villain sneeringly insinuates that Sir Adam and his psychic-artist sidekick Peregrine are a gay couple. THAT WOULD HAVE MADE IT SO MUCH BETTER.
February 22, 2013
Having recently reread the first book in the Adept series, I immediately got the itch to reread the other books, so I pulled them out of the boxes they had migrated into (including the two hardcovers), and set them aside. I like reading in the bathtub, so if I am reading large books or ebooks, I used the second book in the series for the tub.
It's shortly after the machinations of the Lodge of the Lynx failed in their attempt to capture Michael Scott's spellbook, leaving his current incarnation, a young girl, in a coma. Now they are playing with lightning, and killing Freemasons. And as they become aware of Sir Adam Sinclair, they also try to kill him. The last leads to a nice side effect of getting Adam a girlfriend (the doctor who patches him up after the first attempt).
As for Peregrine Lovat, the artist with psychic abilities who meets Adam in the first book, his training is progressing, and he is becoming a full-fledged member of Adam's Hunting group, which protects society from evil magic-users.
This book also starts to suggest a link to the second world war, and the Nazis, in the Lodge. There is also hints of a link to an earlier Katherine Kurtz novel, Lammas Night (a favorite of mind), which involves the death the King's brother during WWII.
The plot in this book was a little... mushier than the previous book of the series, and suffers a little from the sort of problems that second books in series tend to, but I still enjoyed it, and will be rereading the rest through this year.
It's shortly after the machinations of the Lodge of the Lynx failed in their attempt to capture Michael Scott's spellbook, leaving his current incarnation, a young girl, in a coma. Now they are playing with lightning, and killing Freemasons. And as they become aware of Sir Adam Sinclair, they also try to kill him. The last leads to a nice side effect of getting Adam a girlfriend (the doctor who patches him up after the first attempt).
As for Peregrine Lovat, the artist with psychic abilities who meets Adam in the first book, his training is progressing, and he is becoming a full-fledged member of Adam's Hunting group, which protects society from evil magic-users.
This book also starts to suggest a link to the second world war, and the Nazis, in the Lodge. There is also hints of a link to an earlier Katherine Kurtz novel, Lammas Night (a favorite of mind), which involves the death the King's brother during WWII.
The plot in this book was a little... mushier than the previous book of the series, and suffers a little from the sort of problems that second books in series tend to, but I still enjoyed it, and will be rereading the rest through this year.
February 12, 2017
Interesting Masonic ties. A good adventure.
February 12, 2008
Adam Sinclair, Master of the Hunt, is back in a second adventure. Picking up immediately after the 1st installment in the series (The Adept), our friends are put on notice of the deeds of the dark side (The Lodge of the Lynx -- a very powerful enemy who have something not very pleasant in store for the world) when out of nowhere, a part of Balmoral Castle is blown up. The good guys, led by Sinclair, must try to stop whatever evil plans they have and round up as many allies as possible.
There are some fine moments in here, but what gets me is how stupid Adam Sinclair can be for someone who's supposed to be a master adept and often works on his intuition. On the plus side, this book is a fun and fast read that keeps you going from the beginning of the story and does not let up. Don't look for something deep and powerful in here...just read it for its fun quotient.
read: 4/02/2006
There are some fine moments in here, but what gets me is how stupid Adam Sinclair can be for someone who's supposed to be a master adept and often works on his intuition. On the plus side, this book is a fun and fast read that keeps you going from the beginning of the story and does not let up. Don't look for something deep and powerful in here...just read it for its fun quotient.
read: 4/02/2006
October 15, 2021
Like #1 in the series, I was feeling we were off to a slow start; but by the end I couldn't turn pages fast enough. I love how real-world places are incorporated into the story: it lends credence to the fantasy (and makes me want to go back to Scotland!).
October 25, 2012
Tales of hunting lodges were all the vogue in the UK occult community during the 1980s and here Kurtz and Harris spin a credible tale of Sir Adam and his friends.
Again, this is a novel I read some years ago and so have had to made an educated guess as to when. I enjoyed all of the series that I read and would certainly recommend it to those interested in the subject. Kurtz is well versed in the history of the esoteric in the UK during the period and so writes with authority.
Again, this is a novel I read some years ago and so have had to made an educated guess as to when. I enjoyed all of the series that I read and would certainly recommend it to those interested in the subject. Kurtz is well versed in the history of the esoteric in the UK during the period and so writes with authority.
February 26, 2015
I really want to like these! But, I find reading this one was like trudging the trough mud. The authors go on for days about details that add nothing to the story, but make them sound up tight & "putting on airs." I have the 3rd one, but I don't know if I care about the final outcome. The authors haven't done anything to make me care about any of the characters!
December 2, 2015
This is the second in the series and I am enjoying it. The intrigue and human story is fun to read and very enjoyable. I don't know why but I find these types of books are interesting in that they are all about the good vs. evil and yet they will go ahead and describe what the man was wearing at the time!! (My own little aside.)
January 30, 2012
Continuing my reread of the Adept series. This one deals with some of the fallout of the previous book and introduces us to Adam's love interest. I wish we saw more of Ximena throughout the series. Also continues Kurtz's fascination with Hitler and the occcult.
Read
April 23, 2016Good character development - especially Peregrine. A bit annoying with all the produce placement references .. always referring to the brand of the car. Not sure the ending held totally together but still a good read. As with the first - good enough to make we want to read the next in the series.
March 29, 2023
Having already read all the books in this series at least a half a dozen times, I am still enthralled with the stories and characters! To me this is the hallmark of an excellent storyteller whose gift of words is amazing!
February 4, 2012
The second in this series released in e-book reprint by Event Horizon EBooks
September 15, 2013
A good read, but I enjoyed the first one more.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews