Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
Aug. 25th, 2006 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The Blurb On The Back:
July 1209: in Carcassonne a seventeeen-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 in 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.
I'll cut to the chase. I hate this book. I really, completely, utterly hated this book. In fact, it was a chore to have to continue through all 694 pages of leaden, plodding, sub-par Mary-Sue fiction and I blame Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code for opening the door to this kind of pseudo-literary dross. There are so many things wrong with it that it's difficult to know where to start, but let's begin with the characters.
Alais/Alice are Mary-Sues. Practically perfect in every way, they need constant rescuing, have no real explanation for the supposed reincarnation link between them (other than it's necessary to link the plots) and are stupid unless it's contrived for them to show a hint of intelligence or common sense. In Alais' favour, her marriage to Guilhelm may be two-dimensional (with Guilhelm having all the magnetism of a plank of wood) but at least it's more believable than Alice's Kismet Relationship of Contrivance with Will The Token American (who is supposedly the reincarnation of Guilhelm, but never acquires his two-dimensional status). The villainesses of the piece, Oriane/Marie-Cecille can't even manage one-dimension. Think Cruella De Ville stripped of her terrifying characteristics and you get these two. They're dull, lazily written and scream "I'm EVIL" from the moment they enter the page.
The plot itself intertwines two story arcs - Alais's discovery of the true grail and the books and Alice's retracing of her steps, each pursued by the villainess who wants the books for herself. You wouldn't imagine that this would need almost 700 pages, and yet it does and in fact, if it wasn't for Mosse truncating the last third of Alais's story, it would probably come in at over 1000. Frankly, all the verbiage isn't needed and the only reason it's there on the page is because Mosse is anxious to show how much research she has done on 13th century France and the treatment of the Cathars. As research goes, it's impressive (although we really don't need to see the Cathar language being used in dialogue and then translated next to it as well as a separate glossary at the back setting out all the Cathar words and their meanings). The problem is that the research comes at the expense of the plot and in this respect, Mosse would do well to learn from other historical fiction writers such as C. J. Sansom who can get in the detail by making it add to the atmosphere and the tension of the piece.
I know this made Richard & Judy's 2005 reading list and I suppose that it is the sort of thing that would please the easily impressed. For those people who read a lot though, there's nothing in here (besides its size) that makes it stand out. Most of it is rehashed ideas that are done better by other authors and it's blatantly riding the coat tails of The Da Vinci Code. It's chilling that pap like this is given credibility by the literary establishment.
The Verdict:
To paraphrase the review: it was a chore to have to continue through all 694 pages of leaden, plodding, sub-par Mary-Sue fiction and I blame Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code for opening the door to this kind of pseudo-literary dross. If you like well-written, engaging and well-paced fiction, avoid this book like the plague.
July 1209: in Carcassonne a seventeeen-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 in 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.
I'll cut to the chase. I hate this book. I really, completely, utterly hated this book. In fact, it was a chore to have to continue through all 694 pages of leaden, plodding, sub-par Mary-Sue fiction and I blame Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code for opening the door to this kind of pseudo-literary dross. There are so many things wrong with it that it's difficult to know where to start, but let's begin with the characters.
Alais/Alice are Mary-Sues. Practically perfect in every way, they need constant rescuing, have no real explanation for the supposed reincarnation link between them (other than it's necessary to link the plots) and are stupid unless it's contrived for them to show a hint of intelligence or common sense. In Alais' favour, her marriage to Guilhelm may be two-dimensional (with Guilhelm having all the magnetism of a plank of wood) but at least it's more believable than Alice's Kismet Relationship of Contrivance with Will The Token American (who is supposedly the reincarnation of Guilhelm, but never acquires his two-dimensional status). The villainesses of the piece, Oriane/Marie-Cecille can't even manage one-dimension. Think Cruella De Ville stripped of her terrifying characteristics and you get these two. They're dull, lazily written and scream "I'm EVIL" from the moment they enter the page.
The plot itself intertwines two story arcs - Alais's discovery of the true grail and the books and Alice's retracing of her steps, each pursued by the villainess who wants the books for herself. You wouldn't imagine that this would need almost 700 pages, and yet it does and in fact, if it wasn't for Mosse truncating the last third of Alais's story, it would probably come in at over 1000. Frankly, all the verbiage isn't needed and the only reason it's there on the page is because Mosse is anxious to show how much research she has done on 13th century France and the treatment of the Cathars. As research goes, it's impressive (although we really don't need to see the Cathar language being used in dialogue and then translated next to it as well as a separate glossary at the back setting out all the Cathar words and their meanings). The problem is that the research comes at the expense of the plot and in this respect, Mosse would do well to learn from other historical fiction writers such as C. J. Sansom who can get in the detail by making it add to the atmosphere and the tension of the piece.
I know this made Richard & Judy's 2005 reading list and I suppose that it is the sort of thing that would please the easily impressed. For those people who read a lot though, there's nothing in here (besides its size) that makes it stand out. Most of it is rehashed ideas that are done better by other authors and it's blatantly riding the coat tails of The Da Vinci Code. It's chilling that pap like this is given credibility by the literary establishment.
The Verdict:
To paraphrase the review: it was a chore to have to continue through all 694 pages of leaden, plodding, sub-par Mary-Sue fiction and I blame Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code for opening the door to this kind of pseudo-literary dross. If you like well-written, engaging and well-paced fiction, avoid this book like the plague.