The Relic Master

A Novel

By: Christopher Buckley

Narrated by: James Langton

From New York Times best-selling author Christopher Buckley, "one of the funniest writers in the English language" (Tom Wolfe), a compelling and hilarious adventure featuring a 16th-century relic hunter and his best friend, Albrecht Dürer, who conspire to forge the Shroud of Turin.

The year is 1517. Dismas is a relic hunter: one who procures "authentic" religious relics for wealthy and influential clients. His two most important patrons are Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony; and soon-to-be Cardinal Albrecht of Mainz. While Frederick is drawn to the recent writing of Martin Luther, Albrecht pursues the financial and political benefits of religion and seeks to buy a cardinalship through the selling of indulgences. When Albrecht's ambitions increase his demands for grander and more marketable relics, Dismas and his artist friend, Dürer, conspire to manufacture a shroud to sell to the unsuspecting noble. Unfortunately Dürer's reckless pride exposes Albrecht's newly acquired shroud as a fake, so Albrecht puts Dismas and Dürer in the custody of four loutish mercenaries and sends them all to steal Christ's burial cloth (the Shroud of Chambéry), Europe's most celebrated relic.

On their journey to Savoy, where the Shroud will be displayed, they battle a lustful count and are joined by a beautiful female apothecary. It is only when they reach their destination that they realize they are not alone in their intentions to acquire a relic of dubious legitimacy. Filled with fascinating details about art, religion, politics, and science; Vatican intrigue; and Buckley's signature wit, The Relic Master is a delightfully rich and intelligent comic adventure.

©2015 Christopher Taylor Buckley (P)2015 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"[James] Langton carries the narrative portions of the audiobook well with strong projection and great pacing. His pronunciations of German, Latin, and other languages roll smoothly into the story. His character voices are unique, consistent, and well chosen in tone." ( AudioFile)

Fun

Twists and turns to the plot shot through with humor, Monty-Python-ish. It took me an hour to get into it, but then the characters came alive. Quite delightful!

Relic hunter is forced into quest for True Shroud

Christopher Buckley has a history of writing smart comic novels, usually about political subjects. But his last couple novels have fallen a bit flat. However, I still picked up The Relic Master when I saw it on sale at a BOGO sale at Audible, especially since it was out of Buckley’s normal subject area.

The Relic Master is set 500 years ago as Martin Luther was writing his 95 Thesis and the reformation was beginning to dawn. This is historical fiction that is pretty historically accurate for the known characters. There were relic fairs and prominent people did buy and sell relics, which created markets for forgers.

The main character, Dismas has attempted to be an honest relic hunter, although he is real enough to know that many of the relics being sold are fakes and real enough to know that many of the miraculous proofs are frauds and cynical enough to want out of the business. After being robbed of his savings, he decides to attempt a grand fraud to give him enough to retire to the country and become a happy, stable farmer and family man.

The fraud is caught because of the pride of the artist (Durer). Dismas and Durer’s are then forced into a quest to steal the Shroud of Chambery.

Once the book is actually set up, it goes fairly well (although it starts slow). The main story moves along fairly well, but the ending is a bit too abrupt. There are a few areas where I was pretty sure historical inaccuracies were added (one of these involves a syringe, but evidently there were early plunger syringes back to the 1st century).

I like the characters, which is important to me in Buckley’s writing. And I liked the humor, although this wasn’t as comic a novel as many. Buckley is taking fairly easy pot shots for much of his humor. So the bite of the sarcasm is also not as sharp, although that may be at least somewhat because the subjects are 500 years old.

Historical fiction can be hard. It is easy to make the characters, especially the good ones, into modern characters that happen to be in a historical period. This was somewhat true with The Relic Master, but matters of faith were mostly taken pretty seriously.

I still have not enjoyed Buckley’s recent novels nearly as much as some of his early ones like Supreme Courtship and God is My Broker. But Relic Master was far better than They Eat Puppies, Don’t They?.

This book has it all

Mix together history, a sense of humor, a bit of Mission Impossible, and a tiny dash of romance and you have this wonderful book.

OMG Brilliant

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Revives my faith in Western Civilization. Perfect blend of history, drama, erudition, and wit. Buckley shows off his formidable upbringing, combined with contemporary charm

What did you like best about this story?

The fastidious narration of foreign and obscure references

If you could rename The Relic Master, what would you call it?

I wouldn't change a thing

Indulge yourself!

Though it starts a little slowly, once the story gets going it is a marvelous tale. Set in the midst of the Lutheran Reformation it carries the listener into the world of relics and indulgences that sparked Luther into action. I loved it.
It is splendidly performed. One becomes entwined with the richly formed characters.

Enjoyed it a second time

I revisited this book and listened to it a second time. My rule is that if I listen to a book twice I have to give it 5 stars, so I upgraded my rating.

Intelligent and highly enjoyable

Funny, thoughtful, and offering a mostly credible picture of the time period. Very well done.

Rollicking fun and less than suble pokes at relics

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, and did. Good fun and a good tale.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Not any as it holds the interest well.

Which scene was your favorite?

The theft of the .... but that would be telling.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, I wanted to try and predict the next stage, unsuccessfully.

Any additional comments?

This is just fun. Even though the Catholic church gets exposed for what it was and still is in many ways, as Martin Luther arrives on the scene, a pope might find it fun too.

Always Best to Do Religious Reformations Before TV

Reformations are much too nasty for the squeamish. Had we waited there would have been no WASPs. Buckley has written a splendid lampoon of the Shroud of Turin and attempts to steal it in the early 1500s. A sharp turn near the end is a bit of a surprise.

A bit slow to start, but great fun!

A cheeky tale of a relic master, a painter, a fake shroud of Christ, another fake shroud, a quest, a maiden and a couple of bawdy soldiers. Although a bit slow to start, it's intelligent and peopled with hilarious characters. Stick with it until the quest begins and you won't regret it.