Just Finished Reading: Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (FP: 2005)

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Due in the South of France to receive an unexpected death bequest the opportunity to take part in a friend’s archaeological dig couldn’t really be turned down. Wandering off her assigned plot Alice Tanner inadvertently starts a landslide and uncovers a cave entrance buried since the early 13th Century. What she finds in the cave starts a scramble between opposing groups who have sort its location for centuries. For in the cave is the final piece of a puzzle that could lead to the unveiling of the fabled true Grail and with its possession the power to extend life far beyond the norm. But there is much more going on than a simple recovery of ancient artefacts no matter how exotic or powerful. Alice is becoming plagued by dreams of 13th century Carcassone and the life of a young girl trapped between her duty to her father and the invading French army. As a Cathar, and as such a heretic against the power of the Catholic church, she must hold on to her faith whilst protecting the last of the three books detailing the ceremony that will bring the Grail to life before it falls into the wrong hands.

Told very much as a book in two halves – the present day and Southern France in 1209 – this was a well-constructed tale that is part historical epic and part Da Vinci Code puzzle-solving/race against time thriller. The characters in both time periods are believable, fallible, driven ones who are completely relatable to. Both Alice Tanner and her 13th century counterpart Alais are good protagonists and both drive the story forward. The descriptions of the Cathar’s and their beliefs – often completely contrary to the Catholics coming to destroy them – are fascinating and I’d be investigating them further if I didn’t already know something of them and have several books about them already in various TBR piles. This was definitely for me the strongest and most interesting part of the book. The modern day chase, intrigue, mystery solving was much less so (though still very readable) as basically we’d seen it all before and the whole thing has become something of a cliché these days. But the author, to her credit, does still manage to weave a good tale with suitably plucky heroes’ (often out of their depths) and suitably hard hearted bad guys.

Despite its just under 700 pages wrist aching size this is a real page turner with characters you care about (as well as one’s that you heartily dislike), two character driven stories, thrills and spills, plenty of death and much else besides which made me smile, laugh, gasp and raise more than one eyebrow in surprise. A highly entertaining book and much recommended.

[2015 Reading Challenge: A book with more than 500 pages – COMPLETE (14/50)]