Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I told you you would get the review soon, you did not expect to get it so soon, did you? Well I did not expect it either...

I really liked this book.
It centers around to women, Alice and Aläis, who live and love in two different times and are connected through the ancient and secret trilogy of the Labyrinth.
When Alice visits, in 2007 one of her old friends in France and helps out at a archaeological excavation she finds the entrance to an old cave. Things are send in motion that will lead Alice to the discovery of a century old secret and she has to finish something her ancestor Aläis started in the 13th century when war and betrayal brought her life in great danger... (Just read the summary on Goodreads, I am bad with summaries :D)

I love history. I really really love history. And this was a book that, for the half of it, was "real" living history. The part that took place in the 13th century was so vivid and well researched that I did not only learn a lot about this time period in France I also felt like I was really there.
The part that took place in 2007 was action packed and left me turning the pages desperately wanting to find out what happened next.
The characters were really well written I just had the feeling that the antagonists were not so three-dimensional than the protagonists. Though some parts of the story were told through their point of view I could not understand a lot of their motivation and background. I for example did not know why (view spoiler)[Oriane even knew about the Labyrinth trilogy. Her father never told her, how did she come to know all those things? Why did Francoise betray his own master? (hide spoiler)]
But that is really the only bad thing that comes to mind when thinking about this book.

The plot was well developed and the brakes between the different time periods were at the right places for most of the book. One of the reasons the ending was so exciting was that the story kept switching between Aläis and Alice whenever the storyline hid a high.
The romance story of Aläis was romantic and understandable, the romance of Alice felt more forced and rushed, but only a little :)

Everything, plot, characters, setting, action, love, was good and well written :) I enjoyed the writing style it was readeable and pictoresque in the same time.

Though this book was so good and had many pages my review has only some paragraphs. There is not much to say about this book besides that it was able to leave me with that good feeling I have whenever finishing a lovely book and wanting more. I will definitely pick up the second volume and encourage everyone who is interested in historical fiction to pick up this book as well.

Love and Words
KJ
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