Kate Mosse

July 1209: in Carcassonne a seventeen-year-old girl is given a mysterious book by her father which he claims contains the secret of the true Grail. 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 2005: Alice Tanner discovers two skeletons in a forgotten cave in the French Pyrenees. Puzzled by the labyrinth symbol carved into the rock, she realises she's disturbed something that was meant to remain hidden. Somehow, a link to a horrific past - her past - has been revealed.

Labyrinth

Sarah Sammis

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse was a book club selection. It's an archeological mystery in the present day and a 13th century historical fiction linked. The two plots are linked together by location and both have female protagonists with names beginning with the letter A.

In the present day Alice Tanner finds a potential tomb site inside a cave while helping with an archeological dig. Afterwards she begins to experience lapses in memory. A body is found near the site and she becomes the primary suspect. With her spotty memory she has trouble defending herself.

In the past Alais is given a ring by her father and told to protect it with her life. It holds the key to the Grail's secret hiding spot. It must be kept hidden at all costs.

Alais's story takes up two thirds of the book. I wish it were only a third of the total story because the historical melodrama got old fast. She's supposed to be a strong character, full of conviction but she is basically a pawn of the plot. To get through the book I had to skim through most of Alais's parts.

Vilde

An archaeological mystery novel, featuring dual-time and story-lines; all the elements that I'm a sucker for. It is engrossing novel with its well-convincingly narration of the historical factions of the story, which outweighs its flat narration of the characters.

Sarah Escorsa

This lengthy read (over 600 pages!) was quite disapointing... I was given this book as a gift and am not sure I would have bothered to buy it, since I'm getting really tired of all the "grail novels" out there.

The book lacks originality and the ending is particularly bad! On a more positive side (and despite the number of pages), there's quite a lot of action going on at all times so I can't say the book is really boring in that sense. It's just that I was not interested in the story since I felt I'd already read the same thing in several other books...

Gemma Reilly

I always feel like I’m cheating when I add a book that I haven’t finished to my read list, but damnit, 407 pages out of a 700 page book is enough. I started this in 2018 and if I haven’t finished it yet I never will.

Labyrinth

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