What appealed here was the French backdrop and the labyrinth puzzles. when you go back and forth in time periods, cover adventures, try to connect ancient peoples to someone current, find devastating secrets, a little bit of romance. It was one of the earlier books I read in the adventure genre, around the time I got hooked on the Da Vinci code book and series. Many people felt it was a bit boring and inconsistent. 4)She's a good writer, one who doesn't rely on cliches and cheap narrative tricks.Īll in all, a good read, one that has got me digging through my old Medieval history books.ģ.5 of 5 stars to Labyrinth, the first book in a three part series entitled 'Languedoc,' written in 2005 by Kate Mosse. 3)I got the feeling that Mosse knew the locales in which she set her story. (I always thought the Da Vinci Code's protagonist was a bit thick.) 2)Mosse doesn't make careless, glaring factual historical errors.

I wasn't able to guess what was going to happen three chapters ahead. I'll mention four: 1)Mosse does a good job of maintaining a sense of suspense. The Labyrinth dealt with many of the same themes as The Da Vinci Code, but it was superior in so many ways. In both stories, the protagonist is trying to figure out what these treasures can be, along with how to stop the villians, without getting killed in the process. In these parallel stories, bad people with suspect motives are searching for the treasures that embody the secret wisdom of the Cathars (symbolized by a labyrinth). Mosse combines two stories: a historical fiction, set against the invasion of the Pays d'Oc the other, a modern thriller set in the Languedoc region of France. In the 13th century, Catholic churchmen and French nobles led an invasion of the Pays d'Oc and a bloody suppression of the Cathars, whom they regarded as heretics. What is known is that the Cathars rivaled the established church in parts of Western Europe. Several legends have been told about the Cathars, including that they practiced ancient mystical rituals and that they were the guardians of the Holy Grail.

This book focuses on the Cathars, a gnostic sect centered in the Pays d'Oc, (modern southwestern France).

Still, I gave this book a chance, as I'd been impressed with Kate Mosse's work as an interviewer on the BBC's Radio 4. For a long time, The Da Vinci Code put me right off books about the Cathars or the Holy Grail, so I was hesitant to pick up Kate Mosse's book.

Kate mosse labyrinth series