What do you think?
Rate this book
Atta Olivia Clemens #2
Crusader's Torch
Crusader's Torch is the second of Yarbro's novels about Olivia, the Roman woman who becomes the Count Sanct' Germain's truest love. In the year 1189 AD, battle rages on the islands of Crete and Cyprus; Saladin sits in Jerusalem, threatening Antioch and Tyre alike; Richard Couer de Lion rules England and France; and the Pope talks of preaching a new Crusade. Olivia lives in Tyre, but dares not face its occupation by Islamic forces. She is determined to return to the city of her birth..and death: Rome, the Eternal. Accompanied only by young Valence Rainaut, a Knight Hospitaler who much against his will has fallen in love with her, she makes her desperate way by land and sea through a world ruled by Death..and by men whose bloodlust runs stronger than her own.
Hardcover
First published November 15, 1989
About the author
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
218 books484 followersA professional writer for more than forty years, Yarbro has sold over eighty books, more than seventy works of short fiction, and more than three dozen essays, introductions, and reviews. She also composes serious music. Her first professional writing - in 1961-1962 - was as a playwright for a now long-defunct children's theater company. By the mid-60s she had switched to writing stories and hasn't stopped yet.
After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers.
She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law. She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories.
In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award. In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009. In 2014 she won a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention.
A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco.
She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress. The rest is catch-as-catch-can.
Divorced, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area - with two cats: the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two. When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera.
Her Saint-Germain series is now the longest vampire series ever. The books range widely over time and place, and were not published in historical order. They are numbered in published order.
Known pseudonyms include Vanessa Pryor, Quinn Fawcett, T.C.F. Hopkins, Trystam Kith, Camille Gabor.
After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers.
She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law. She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories.
In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award. In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009. In 2014 she won a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention.
A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco.
She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress. The rest is catch-as-catch-can.
Divorced, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area - with two cats: the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two. When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera.
Her Saint-Germain series is now the longest vampire series ever. The books range widely over time and place, and were not published in historical order. They are numbered in published order.
Known pseudonyms include Vanessa Pryor, Quinn Fawcett, T.C.F. Hopkins, Trystam Kith, Camille Gabor.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 21, 2009
This is the second of three books featuring Olivia Clemens; they're a spin-off of Yarbro's Saint Germain series. It's set in 1190 AD, when Olivia has been living in Tyre in the Holy Land, which is being invaded by Crusaders. This is the story of her harrowing journey home to her native Rome.
It's apparently difficult for a widowed noblewoman to get permission to leave town, but she eventually embarks with the escort of a sullen, guilt-ridden Knight Hospitaler. They're cozy at first, but things go badly awry when he begins to show signs of a disease mistaken for the dreaded leprosy. Various forms of adventure and peril follow.
The book was quite dull in the beginning, but it improved when Olivia stopped trying to play by the rules and started doing whatever was necessary to get herself home. She's a more spirited character than Saint Germain. I steadily disliked the Hospitaler even when he became an object of pity, and I never felt any of the attraction between him and Olivia.
I must say that Olivia encounters the kindness of strangers more often than does Saint Germain. In the last Saint Germain book I read, when he sought shelter in a village the natives locked him in a building and set fire to it. Whereas in this book there are several people who go out of their way to assist Olivia, most notably at the miraculous little haven for travelers she stumbles across in the woods.
I was a bit irritated by the supposition that Richard the Lionheart was so gay that he fought in the Crusades primarily in order to avoid his wife Berengaria.
It's apparently difficult for a widowed noblewoman to get permission to leave town, but she eventually embarks with the escort of a sullen, guilt-ridden Knight Hospitaler. They're cozy at first, but things go badly awry when he begins to show signs of a disease mistaken for the dreaded leprosy. Various forms of adventure and peril follow.
The book was quite dull in the beginning, but it improved when Olivia stopped trying to play by the rules and started doing whatever was necessary to get herself home. She's a more spirited character than Saint Germain. I steadily disliked the Hospitaler even when he became an object of pity, and I never felt any of the attraction between him and Olivia.
I must say that Olivia encounters the kindness of strangers more often than does Saint Germain. In the last Saint Germain book I read, when he sought shelter in a village the natives locked him in a building and set fire to it. Whereas in this book there are several people who go out of their way to assist Olivia, most notably at the miraculous little haven for travelers she stumbles across in the woods.
I was a bit irritated by the supposition that Richard the Lionheart was so gay that he fought in the Crusades primarily in order to avoid his wife Berengaria.
October 9, 2008
Another wonderful Olivia book. In some ways, Olivia is the more approachable character; she seems more human, more flawed as well. This is a good historical fiction; all the characters are drawn well. On a side note, it is interesting the Olivia books to watch how her male lovers disbelieve or doubt the vampire story and compare that reaction to the Count's women.
January 16, 2016
An OK historical fantasy story. I just don't seem to be a fan of this writer's works. Recommended
May 24, 2023
4 stars
This has some really beautifully romantic prose! More so than the previous book. I feel bad for Olivia that she keeps falling in love with these tragic, depressed guys who push her away, though.
The plot kinda got lost in this one, I thought. There was the whole b story about the sea captain that ended up amounting to nothing. And it just felt like a lot of waiting around.
This has some really beautifully romantic prose! More so than the previous book. I feel bad for Olivia that she keeps falling in love with these tragic, depressed guys who push her away, though.
The plot kinda got lost in this one, I thought. There was the whole b story about the sea captain that ended up amounting to nothing. And it just felt like a lot of waiting around.
November 3, 2025
I first read this series in high school and thought this type of vampire was more approachable, more human than what humanity was portrayed in the history it follows. Olivia is a believable, relatable strong character in the times that forced women to be little more than kept pets and a woman alone was worse than a heretic.
December 31, 2013
The first book of 2014 starts with a bang.
Keep your sparkly fanged ones or your wannabe gangsta vamps with their cutesy-spelled names, I've got Atta Olivia Clemens the resourceful widow and 500 year old vampire who is far more humane than those who would kill her. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro writes historical fiction with the best of them and the fact that her main characters are vampires doesn't detract from the story one iota.
This second book in the Atta Olivia Clemens series finds her in Tyre during the height of the Crusades. Olivia knows what war looks like and she wants no part of it, especially being a wealthy widow. Unfortunately her gender has become a major impediment to travel as well as determining her fate. In order to return to Rome, she needs escorts, two of the Knights Hospitaller,one who falls in love with her against his vows.
Yarbro brings this tempestuous time to brilliant life. Her characters both heroic or venal, feel like real people. Olivia herself is my all-time favorite book girlfriend.
Keep your sparkly fanged ones or your wannabe gangsta vamps with their cutesy-spelled names, I've got Atta Olivia Clemens the resourceful widow and 500 year old vampire who is far more humane than those who would kill her. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro writes historical fiction with the best of them and the fact that her main characters are vampires doesn't detract from the story one iota.
This second book in the Atta Olivia Clemens series finds her in Tyre during the height of the Crusades. Olivia knows what war looks like and she wants no part of it, especially being a wealthy widow. Unfortunately her gender has become a major impediment to travel as well as determining her fate. In order to return to Rome, she needs escorts, two of the Knights Hospitaller,one who falls in love with her against his vows.
Yarbro brings this tempestuous time to brilliant life. Her characters both heroic or venal, feel like real people. Olivia herself is my all-time favorite book girlfriend.
January 3, 2012
interesting premise. takes place just before the third crusade with a female vampire as the main character. this is either the second or third of a series with this character.
she is strong willed and not the familiar style of vampire. an interesting character study and good read. whole story moves at a good pace.
she is strong willed and not the familiar style of vampire. an interesting character study and good read. whole story moves at a good pace.
April 18, 2012
This is the best book about Olivia. Being on her own for so long was by far the best one I have read about her so far. I do have one more of hers to read that I am waiting for. I will review it then and let you know soon.
March 30, 2008
Thoroughly enjoyed this book! Olivia is an amazing and enticing leading lady!
October 10, 2013
Ancillary novels to the Saint-Germain series. Olivia is a wonderful character, and I'm glad that Yarbro wrote a series about her.
Read
March 22, 2018I LOVE COMPTE ST GERMAINE. I found Chelsea Quinn Yarbro when I was in high school and have been a fan ever since. I have met her and am always amazed by her. I love the history that follows through these books. For this book in particular, I admire Olivia. She is strong and smart but in the wrong time.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews