Labyrinth Reviews

This was a good fictional account of the 13th century Albigensian Crusade (also known as the Cathar Crusade) in which the French Catholics in the northern part of France attacked the Cathars, a Christian sect, in the Languedoc in the south. I liked how these events were portrayed in the lives of Alais, her sister Orianne, her husband Guilhelm, and her father, Bertrand.

The 21st century scenes were not as good as the 13th century ones. I wanted to know more about how various characters were counterparts to the 13th century ones and many characters had similar names which added to the confusion. Still, I liked how Alice discovers the truth about her ancestor, Alais.

An engrossing thriller that consists of two tales - one set in modern day France and one in medieval France. The two female protagonists seem to share a spiritual connection of some kind.. The story is basically another one about the search for the mythical holy grail of Christianity and as just that is not an extraordinary one. The real worth of this book lies in it's development of the two female characters and it's tight interweaving with the history of the region it is set in (southern France, primarily Carcassonne.)

The main historical events are the religious persecution of the Cathar sect that flourished in southern France by the Roman Catholic Church that called for a crusade to wipe out what it considered as heresy. This eventually led to the destruction of the distinct culture that prevailed in southern France till that time. Kate Mosse clearly loves the region and it's history, and it shows. Her enthusiasm for the region is contagious. Her plotting for the medieval story is excellent and well researched. However, she only does a mediocre job with the modern storyline but it's not a fatal flaw. The quest for the Grail also feels secondary to the adventure in the plot, which feels like a good thing once you're done. I love books that respect the history they are trying to write about and this one succeeds admirably and that for me is the biggest selling point, the other being the two strong female characters.