Labyrinth (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 2005; vuoden 2006 painos)

Interesting fantasy/romance historical novel. It was thoroughly unsurprising to read the author lives there, and there is a certain fangirlishness to the Languedoc that is both charming and frustrating. Still, a good read, and also explains what the Cathars actually were in an accessible way while dealing with the Albigensian Crusade. ( )

Discovering a pair of crumbling skeletons in the Pyrenees mountains during an archaeological dig, volunteer Alice finds herself targeted by a ruthlessly ambitious woman and a dangerously powerful man, while eight hundred years in the past, Alais, the daughter of a crusader, is charged with safeguarding the location of the Holy Grail.
This book tells two parallel stories with the same artifacts and the same character-relationship elements, separated by 800 years of history. The first story is about a secret society within the crumbling Cathar region of France as the northern French dynasties and the Catholic Church carry out a crusade against a Christian territory in an attempt to occupy the rich lands and route out the heretical elements of the Cathar faith. The second story is about the ongoing quest to uncover elements of this same secret society in modern-day.
I thoroughly enjoyed the historical aspect of the novel. I really appreciated the use of French and langue d'oc dialog to better immerse the reader in the setting. There were alot of characters and a character glossary would have been helpful. There were some occasional difficulties in the writing. It seems to alternate between third person and omnipotent point of view and understand who was narrating was occasionally confusing. So much research went into this book. I really appreciated the way the setttings were like characters too. Time was also a character which was also very cool. ( )

I know lots of people liked this book, so I had high hopes... but it didn't work out. I will admit I lost my patience with the book and didn't see it through to the end, but if I had to push through to get to the good part... Also willing to admit this negative reaction could have been due to the mood I'm in lately, so I might try it again in the future, but for now, no. This book just seemed to be trying too hard, especially with the older of the two timelines. So my reaction is generally: "meh." ( )

Interesting illumination of the past. Exciting read. Some characters are a bit lack lustre. ( )

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think Dan Brown is a better writer. Characters are a bit (okay, a lot) overwrought with bad dialogue. Nobody truly speaks in full paragraphs, do they? Maybe I just know the wrong people. ( )