Florence King of The New York Times reviewed the book negatively, criticizing the plot and Neville's writing. The Washington Post Book World called it 'a feminist answer to Raiders of the Lost Ark'. The Eight received positive reviews from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times Book Review. Neville based her concept of the chess set on similar sets described in medieval romances, such as the 'Legend of Charlemagne', and the Charlemagne chessmen.

The story describes how the Montglane Service received its name after it was given by Charlemagne to a loyal friend who controlled the Montglane region of France, and who later willed it to be protected by the nuns of Montglane. The weight and size of each piece is quite large, with pawns starting at about 3 inches high and kings and queens at 6 inches.

Its design is of early Indian influence and it is created from solid gold and precious gems. In The Eight, the set was once owned by Charlemagne. The Montglane Service and Abbey are the creations of Katherine Neville. As she learns the story of the Montglane Service, she begins to realize that players of the Game may plan their moves, but their very existence makes them pawns as well. When she is requested by an antique dealer to recover the chess pieces, she unwittingly enters into a mysterious game that will endanger her life. In 1972, Cat Velis faces a similar atmosphere of conspiracy, assassination and betrayal. She comes to realize she must rely on her own intuition and tenacity to accomplish her goal. However, when Valentine is brutally murdered in the Reign of Terror, Mireille is thrown into the midst of men and women who would pursue power at any cost, including Napoleon, Robespierre, Talleyrand, Catherine the Great, and more. In the throes of the French Revolution, Mireille and her cousin Valentine must help in dispersing the pieces of the chess set to keep them out of the wrong hands.

A gift from the Moors to Emperor Charlemagne, these pieces have been hunted fervently throughout the years by those seeking ultimate control. The fates of both characters are interwoven as they try to unravel the mystery behind the Montglane Service, a chess set that holds the key to a game of unlimited power. The second is set in the 1790s and revolves around Mireille, a novice nun at Montglane Abbey, in the French Pyrenees. The first takes place in the 1970s and follows American computer expert Catherine 'Cat' Velis as she is sent to Algeria for a special assignment. The Eight features two intertwined storylines set two centuries apart. It is an adventure/ quest novel in which the heroine, computer whiz Catherine Velis, must enter into a cryptic world of danger and conspiracy in order to recover the pieces of a legendary chess set once owned by Charlemagne and buried for one thousand years. The Eight, published 1988, is American author Katherine Neville's debut novel.

Catherine neville the eight