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cmandler's review against another edition
3.0
This book is a slow start. I've probably started it at least 5 times before finishing it this time. The last 250 pages are where it gets really interesting. An interesting premise for a Grail story.
katheady2009's review against another edition
4.0
In the pretty good category. I learned a lot about the Languedoc region of France, and the persecution of "heretics" in the 12th century. I would recommend it. Good story set in both present day and the past.
kaos127's review against another edition
3.0
Sluggish at the start, but OK at the end. Shouldn't be read with longs gaps in between--too much to keep track of, even for me--and I tend to like twisty, complicated plots.
Alice Tanner is an amateur archaeologist. Working in France, she stumbles on a cave with skeletons, artifacts, and a labyrinth. The discovery attracts the wrong kind of attention, and Alice is hunted, people are vanishing, and all is not well.
Parallel to Alice's story is that of Alais, living during the Cathar crusade and eventual Labyrinth Guardian.She follows in her father's footsteps, which infuriates her sister, who hunts her down.
Past and present parallel in the hunt to understand the Labyrinth. Alice is both Alais's descendant and Alais reincarnated. The skeletons are Alais and her husband. The secret does not fall into the wrong hands.
Alice Tanner is an amateur archaeologist. Working in France, she stumbles on a cave with skeletons, artifacts, and a labyrinth. The discovery attracts the wrong kind of attention, and Alice is hunted, people are vanishing, and all is not well.
Parallel to Alice's story is that of Alais, living during the Cathar crusade and eventual Labyrinth Guardian.She follows in her father's footsteps, which infuriates her sister, who hunts her down.
Past and present parallel in the hunt to understand the Labyrinth. Alice is both Alais's descendant and Alais reincarnated. The skeletons are Alais and her husband. The secret does not fall into the wrong hands.
ankyslibrary's review against another edition
4.0
Short Blurb:
In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a volunteer at an archaeological dig, stumbles into a cave and makes a startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth. Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade that will rip apart southern France, a young woman named Alais is given a ring and a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father. The book, he says, contains the secret of the true Grail, and the ring, inscribed with a labyrinth, will identify a guardian of the Grail. Now, as crusading armies gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take a tremendous sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe.
Cover Review:
The cover is something I'd love to include in my bookshelf. It looks really beautiful, not to mention artistic. It has a certain 'old book' charm to it.
Review:
I'm not sure whether I really liked this book or not. There were certain times when I really loved the novel, and others were I got so bored. Maybe that's why it took so long for me to finish reading it.
It was good enough that I didn't want to completely drop it. The writer managed to write in two different time frames quite smoothly, using different styles for both the time frames.
On the other hand, I found the descriptions too lenghty. Five to six pages describing the atmosphere of Carcassonne after the war? Uh-oh. I skimmed most of those pages, noting that there was nothing worth bothering about there.
The plot of the book was quite interesting, and the suspense held on till the end, but sometimes the story got too slow paced.
Labyrinth gets 3.5 Stars, and credit goes to the beautiful cover, and the suspense that managed to build up, despite the slow pace.
In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a volunteer at an archaeological dig, stumbles into a cave and makes a startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth. Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade that will rip apart southern France, a young woman named Alais is given a ring and a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father. The book, he says, contains the secret of the true Grail, and the ring, inscribed with a labyrinth, will identify a guardian of the Grail. Now, as crusading armies gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take a tremendous sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe.
Cover Review:
The cover is something I'd love to include in my bookshelf. It looks really beautiful, not to mention artistic. It has a certain 'old book' charm to it.
Review:
I'm not sure whether I really liked this book or not. There were certain times when I really loved the novel, and others were I got so bored. Maybe that's why it took so long for me to finish reading it.
It was good enough that I didn't want to completely drop it. The writer managed to write in two different time frames quite smoothly, using different styles for both the time frames.
On the other hand, I found the descriptions too lenghty. Five to six pages describing the atmosphere of Carcassonne after the war? Uh-oh. I skimmed most of those pages, noting that there was nothing worth bothering about there.
The plot of the book was quite interesting, and the suspense held on till the end, but sometimes the story got too slow paced.
Labyrinth gets 3.5 Stars, and credit goes to the beautiful cover, and the suspense that managed to build up, despite the slow pace.
jeanvabu's review against another edition
4.0
I was sent this book from a survey program I belong to and had to wait to read it until grad school was finished. It is similar to The Divinci Code in that there is a religious mystery throughout. The book was suspenseful enough for me to not want to put it down. Having a knowledge of French was helpful and I wondered if some of the phrases would be challenging for those who do not have those language skills.
tonisut's review against another edition
1.0
WAY too much of a romance novel for my taste. Couldn't make it through it.
msalornothing's review against another edition
1.0
Oh this book. OH, this book. Would i recommend this book? No. No I would not. Oh, dear lord, it was dire. I found so many problems with this book but I've forgotten some of them because of how long this book goes on for. That's one of the problems, by the way.
The author tells, she recounts, to a degree that you don't always need. At the same time, she also skipped some things that could have done with a fuller explanation.
The french everywhere was a bit jarring. I know Parfait as a food. Didn't know it was a type of Monk. It's nice that there's an exposition of the backstory of the cathars, for us people who don't actually know their religious history all that well, but it's near the end of the book. If you're like me and stubborn, you'll no doubt go along before that point hoping that you'll understand what it all means by context alone. Well, good luck with that one. I ended up giving up and googling it, so that I could understand the book better. By the time it came up in the book, I was already informed by Google and Wikipedia.
Then we have the sex scenes. Were they necessary? I mean, were they really necessary? I know i'm a ~fade to black~ kind of reader, so maybe I'm just being biased, but considering there's other parts of the story were the author just skimmed over a summary instead of delving once again into the nth detail, I really don't see why they were needed when a sum up of an extra marital affair would have done the same job.
And then, Then, we have the weird ~lets throw that in there~ romance. Will, a randomer Alice had met once before, years before, meets her again, they might have been in each others company for four hours, and he's pining after her and stroking her face and kissing her and Interrupting her when she's actually asking a very important valid question? He spent more time unconscious than he had in her company!
And last but not least is the ending. I don't know if a book can jump the shark, but just after what I'll spoiler-freeingly call The Mirror Scene, a dying character spends what is the reading time equivalent of fifteen minutes explaining his life story. So many words, so much purple prose, and so much time to get out of there and seek medical attention. But nope.
Just. Nope.
And that's the crux of this review, really. "Nope".
The author tells, she recounts, to a degree that you don't always need. At the same time, she also skipped some things that could have done with a fuller explanation.
The french everywhere was a bit jarring. I know Parfait as a food. Didn't know it was a type of Monk. It's nice that there's an exposition of the backstory of the cathars, for us people who don't actually know their religious history all that well, but it's near the end of the book. If you're like me and stubborn, you'll no doubt go along before that point hoping that you'll understand what it all means by context alone. Well, good luck with that one. I ended up giving up and googling it, so that I could understand the book better. By the time it came up in the book, I was already informed by Google and Wikipedia.
Then we have the sex scenes. Were they necessary? I mean, were they really necessary? I know i'm a ~fade to black~ kind of reader, so maybe I'm just being biased, but considering there's other parts of the story were the author just skimmed over a summary instead of delving once again into the nth detail, I really don't see why they were needed when a sum up of an extra marital affair would have done the same job.
And then, Then, we have the weird ~lets throw that in there~ romance. Will, a randomer Alice had met once before, years before, meets her again, they might have been in each others company for four hours, and he's pining after her and stroking her face and kissing her and Interrupting her when she's actually asking a very important valid question? He spent more time unconscious than he had in her company!
And last but not least is the ending. I don't know if a book can jump the shark, but just after what I'll spoiler-freeingly call The Mirror Scene, a dying character spends what is the reading time equivalent of fifteen minutes explaining his life story. So many words, so much purple prose, and so much time to get out of there and seek medical attention. But nope.
Just. Nope.
And that's the crux of this review, really. "Nope".
nikkitastic's review against another edition
3.0
Good story, but the overall composition was a bit jumpy. There seemed excessive detail in some parts of the story and not enough explanation in others.
dogearedprints's review
4.0
The concept of this book was the first thing that attracted me. I loved the idea of parallel stories being told generations apart. The only thing was I didn't really feel like the medieval storyline (that originally grabbed me) was the whole story, and there was a lot of information I found myself wanting to see or hear about that got glossed over, and then the rest of the medieval story was told to the character in the present but we didn't really get to see a majority of it. That was a little bit of a let down. With that being my biggest gripe, I really did enjoy the story. I enjoyed the writing and the history packed into this book. I loved the female leads. I just felt like I wanted a little bit more to it. I wanted more explanation I think, and a little clearer information on how everyone in the present related to those in the past (like some of the villains in the modern era - were they actually related to the big bads in the medieval story?) The writing was very descriptive for the stories we got to witness, and I could easily lose myself in the book. I would have loved a few more translations of things (like the Occitan lullaby!) but in general a wonderful read, with just enough excitement to keep you guessing.