Frankly, all the verbiage isn't needed and the only reason it's there on the page is because Mosse is anxious to show how much research she has done on 13th century France and the treatment of the Cathars. You wouldn't imagine that this would need almost 700 pages, and yet it does and in fact, if it wasn't for Mosse truncating the last third of Alais's story, it would probably come in at over 1000. The plot itself intertwines two story arcs - Alais's discovery of the true grail and the books and Alice's retracing of her steps, each pursued by the villainess who wants the books for herself. They're dull, lazily written and scream 'I'm EVIL' from the moment they enter the page. Think Cruella De Ville stripped of her terrifying characteristics and you get these two. The villainesses of the piece, Oriane/Marie-Cecille can't even manage one-dimension. In Alais' favour, her marriage to Guilhelm may be two-dimensional (with Guilhelm having all the magnetism of a plank of wood) but at least it's more believable than Alice's Kismet Relationship of Contrivance with Will The Token American (who is supposedly the reincarnation of Guilhelm, but never acquires his two-dimensional status). Practically perfect in every way, they need constant rescuing, have no real explanation for the supposed reincarnation link between them (other than it's necessary to link the plots) and are stupid unless it's contrived for them to show a hint of intelligence or common sense. There are so many things wrong with it that it's difficult to know where to start, but let's begin with the characters.Īlais/Alice are Mary-Sues. In fact, it was a chore to have to continue through all 694 pages of leaden, plodding, sub-par Mary-Sue fiction and I blame Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code for opening the door to this kind of pseudo-literary dross. I really, completely, utterly hated this book.

Somehow, a link to a horrific past - her past - has been revealed. Puzzled by the labyrinth symbol carved in the rock, she realises she's disturbed something that was meant to remain hidden.

July 2005: Alice Tanner discovers two skeletons in a forgotten cave in the French Pyrenees. Although Alais cannot understand the strange words and symbols hidden within, she knows that her destiny lies in keeping the secret of the labyrinth safe.

July 1209: in Carcassonne a seventeeen-year old girl is given a mysterious book by her father which he claims contains the secret of the true Grail.

Kate mosse labyrinth series