Labyrinth - Wyrms.de

ISBN:: 978-1-4072-3882-1

(2 reviews)

Labyrinth is an archaeological mystery English-language novel written by Kate Mosse set both in the Middle Ages and present-day France. It was published in 2005. It divides into two main storylines that follow two protagonists, Alaïs (from the year 1209) and Alice (in the year 2005). The two stories occur in a shared geography and intertwine. The novel relies heavily on historical events such as the massacre at Béziers and the Crusade against the Cathars in Occitania, now the South of France, from around 1200. The text itself features many Occitan and French quotes. Ultimately the story becomes a quest for the Holy Grail. In the 2006 British Book Awards, Labyrinth was awarded Best Read of the Year. According to The Sunday Times, it was the second best selling book in the United Kingdom in 2006, after The Da Vinci Code, selling about 865,400 copies in paperback. The Guardian ranked …

Labyrinth is an archaeological mystery English-language novel written by Kate Mosse set both in the Middle Ages and present-day France. It was published in 2005. It divides into two main storylines that follow two protagonists, Alaïs (from the year 1209) and Alice (in the year 2005). The two stories occur in a shared geography and intertwine. The novel relies heavily on historical events such as the massacre at Béziers and the Crusade against the Cathars in Occitania, now the South of France, from around 1200. The text itself features many Occitan and French quotes. Ultimately the story becomes a quest for the Holy Grail. In the 2006 British Book Awards, Labyrinth was awarded Best Read of the Year. According to The Sunday Times, it was the second best selling book in the United Kingdom in 2006, after The Da Vinci Code, selling about 865,400 copies in paperback. The Guardian ranked it the number one bestseller for 2006. An extract from the novel was used in the Scottish Qualifications Authority's 2009 Standard Grade English General close reading paper.

7 editions

GnomeKing@bookwyrm.social reviewed Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

Review of 'Labyrinth' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

Oh dear me this was awful. I only picked up this book because it is hugely popular, and the series has got rather large so I thought there must be something good here right?

Things got off to a bad start, a scene where a woman has cut herself and a drop of blood lands on her leg, all quite normal for a book, but for some reason it is described as looking like a firework going off...why do we need that extra-long description? This wasn't enough for Mosse, a bigger description was needed, she specifies the day that the "blood firework" goes off. I couldn't take this book seriously after that, I kept laughing at the many extra words used...cheese kept being described as white again and again and a young lady's hair was tumbling one second and then writhing like a snake the next. The whole thing felt …

Oh dear me this was awful. I only picked up this book because it is hugely popular, and the series has got rather large so I thought there must be something good here right?

Things got off to a bad start, a scene where a woman has cut herself and a drop of blood lands on her leg, all quite normal for a book, but for some reason it is described as looking like a firework going off...why do we need that extra-long description? This wasn't enough for Mosse, a bigger description was needed, she specifies the day that the "blood firework" goes off. I couldn't take this book seriously after that, I kept laughing at the many extra words used...cheese kept being described as white again and again and a young lady's hair was tumbling one second and then writhing like a snake the next. The whole thing felt like a school kid doing an English essay and trying to get the word count up so they could go out to play.

I could see there was potential for a plot, but the book was way too slow for me to spot anything of interest happening, into the bin with it.

Chris Young

rated it

Dec. 24, 2015