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    Labyrinth: A Novel
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    Labyrinth: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Labyrinth: A Novel
    Audiobook19 hours

    Labyrinth: A Novel

    Written by Kate Mosse

    Narrated by Donada Peters

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    July 2005. 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMar 7, 2006
    ISBN9780786564156
    Unavailable
    Labyrinth: A Novel
    Author

    Kate Mosse

    Kate Mosse CBE FRSL is an award-winning novelist, playwright, performer, campaigner, interviewer and non-fiction writer. The author of ten novels and short-story collections, her books have been translated into thirty-eight languages and published in more than forty countries. Fiction includes the multimillion-selling Languedoc Trilogy (Labyrinth, Sepulchre, Citadel), The Joubert Family Chronicles (The Burning Chambers, The City of Tears, The Ghost Ship, The Map of Bones) and No 1 bestselling Gothic fiction including The Taxidermist’s Daughter and The Winter Ghosts. Her highly-acclaimed non-fiction includes An Extra Pair of Hands: A Story of Caring & Everyday Acts of Love and Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World, which inspired her one-woman theatre touring show. A regular guest on radio and television for literature, Kate hosts the pre-show interview series at Chichester Festival Theatre and is a regular interviewer for literary and arts festivals including Letters Live, the Hay Festival, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the British Library and the Royal National Theatre. Her new podcast, The Matilda Effect, will be launched in summer 2024. The Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction – the world’s largest annual literary awards celebrating writing by woman - she is the founder of the global #WomanInHistory campaign and has her own monthly YouTube book show, Mosse on a Monday. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Kate is also an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Authors, a Visiting Professor of Contemporary Fiction and Creative Writing at the University of Chichester and President of the Festival of Chichester. In the broader arts, Kate is President of the Festival of Chichester, Patron of the Chichester Cathedral Festival of Flowers 2024, Vice-Patron of the Chichester Cathedral Platinum Music Trust and Patron of the Chichester Festival of Music, Dance and Speech. She is also an Ambassador for Parkinsons UK.

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    Reviews for Labyrinth

    3.5/5

    1,601 ratings112 reviews

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    • 4/5
      "Labyrinth" was a fast-paced engrossing read. I loved the parallel narratives of medieval Alais and modern day Alice, although I did find Alaïs' story the more interesting of the two. It was obvious that the author had done her research as she managed to bring life in the 1200s to life and combined it with adventure and the Holy Grail legend. A wonderful read.
    • 2/5
      I liked a lot of the content and the writing, but the pacing for the book just seemed off. It was very slow for the first portion, and didn't pick up until near the end, and then it felt like the author was fast-forwarding through events just to have the book be done with. Would have liked it a lot more if it were evenly paced and perhaps spread out across 2 or 3 books.
    • 5/5
      i absolutely loved this book,prefered the historic parts of the story to the modern day part.I'm not sure that I learned a lot about the cathars and that whole period from this book but it did make me interested enough to want to find out more,and it's one of the few books I've kept so that I can re-read it.
    • 3/5
      Not really my cup of tea unfortunately. I couldn't warm to any of the character, even the good ones. No shades of grey here, people are definitely all bad or all good.Luckily my copy was from the charity shop, so it wasn't expensive.
    • 2/5
      I read this before it was acclaimed The Viewers' Choice in a TV Book Club shortlist at the 2006 British Book Awards but, frankly, remained unimpressed. I had high expectations for an out-of-the-ordinary modern take on the holy grail written by a successful reviewer and sponsor of new writing, but was deeply disappointed at the result.Kate Mosse has mixed up a cocktail of familiar elements (Cathar heretics, reincarnation, grail, medieval archaeology) and somehow turned it into a romance-cum-fantasy-cum-thriller of the cheapest kind. I admore her research into life in the Middle Ages, her knowledge of the French Midi (she lives in Carcassonne, 'restored' to a Victorian vision of the High Middle Ages), her attempt to make the grail a little different from the familiar holy bloodline thesis. However, her use of Hollywood-influenced magic and crude Disneyesque villains and villainesses, combined with a holier-than-thou heroine, ultimately left this reader cold. Still, I couldn't argue with 70,000 presumably satisfied readers in 2006, and probably can't now.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      Well written escapism. Mosse has done her research on the time and happenings. The story piqued my curiosity to know more about the time period and thoughts of even visiting the area. I think that is one characteristic of a book that makes it good. The characters are a bit stereotypical but real enough. The reader has to be able to suspend disbelief that this could possibly happen to enjoy the story. Mosse does seem to be taken with this subject because her latest book also deals with this time frame and geographical area.
    • 4/5
      I found it hard to put down. The history was fascinating, and I loved a woman hero in a thriller.
    • 3/5
      in the middle i got stuck, but then i was able to finish it. I wished that it would have been just a story in 1205 instead of switching in into the future. THe story was interestng but the connection to the future was for me tto far fetched.
    • 3/5
      Fun, historical fiction. I always love a good Grail story, and this one was set in France (perk!). Not terribly memorable, but good summer reading.
    • 3/5
      IMHO, Mosse tends to write characters that I don't particularly like or care about. I came close to putting the book away unfinished a couple times but it got better towards the end. Altho, again, in MHO, the ending was pretty blah.
    • 4/5
      A handsome book, my copy - 500 pages in hardback cover, with illustrations. I found myself becoming drawn easily in to the narrative, despite my reservations concerning style with occasional gaffes (a severed head falls to the ground as a 'skull') and the jumping between two different but parallel stories of past and of the present. However, given that Cathars believed - and presumably still believe - in rebirth, the literary device made sense, and enabled the tension to build effectively towards the denouement.The Cathar story is a deeply moving one, and I could not help empathising deeply with their truly awful predicament. The brutal ruthlessness of the Roman Catholics - the Crusaders - is well portrayed by the author, as is the natural beauty of the Languedoc, and the simplicity of life in those days. The spiritual qualities of the Cathars, their courage and endurance, are also well communicated, despite the author's difficulties in visualising and communicating scenes in three (or four) dimensions. The Cathars believed that the God who made the world - if there is one - is more like a demon than a God; they worshipped instead 'Le Bon Dieu' - the Good God, who is wholly spiritual, and not an entity completely outside one's own being - therefore being to some extent a reflection of Buddhism.The central image of this novel - the Labyrinth - is not fully adequate to the role ascribed to it, but Kate Moss does what she can to make it meaningful. The denouement is not entirely satisfactory but one is left with a number of helpful impressions of the author's understanding of the Grail and its possible meanings and interpretations.I have the impression that the author has done her research well. She surely finds it deeply satisfying to be living in the city around which so much revolves - Carcassonne. A good read.
    • 2/5
      This reads far too much like a The Da Vinci Code wannabe, dealing with a Grail Quest set in France and involving a Secret Society and a gal threatened by a thuggish cult. This gets one star more than Dan Brown's book because it's better written and more historically accurate--or given I'm no expert, at least more historically plausible. It's still a mediocre book at best, way overlong and overwritten. I haven't seen so much simile abuse since Raymond Chandler. Here's a typical sentence from early on: Then a drop of blood splashes onto her bare leg, exploding like a firework in the sky on Guy Fawkes night. Uhm... doesn't work for me, and yes, I know what Guy Fawkes night is. It's two books really, with linked female protagonists. The present tense prologue is set at an archeological dig in Southern France, where Alice Tanner, breaking every rule of good sense and archeological guidelines, stumbles upon an 800-year-old find in a cave. She picks up a ring near two skeletons inscribed with a labyrinth design. This particular time-frame runs along the usual popular thriller lines. Eye-rollingly cliched, and it's not a good thing when pages in, I want to slap our heroine silly. We then move to 1209 and seventeen-year-old Alais, who lives in Southern France in the land of the Languedoc. This strand is historical fiction, dealing with the Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade. The Cathars were a sect the Roman Catholic Church considered heretical and had spread throughout Southern France until the Pope called a crusade to eradicate them. Soon that same labyrinth design will figure in the medieval timeline. I wish Mosse had kept strictly to the medieval part of the tale, since I did find the Cathars inherently interesting, and the author certainly does give us a wealth of historical detail. The problem is that really good historical fiction gives me a real sense of an alien mindset, of just how different people thought then, while at the same time fleshing out characters in a way that's complex and human. Mosse doesn't do this and none of the characters ever seemed rounded and real to me. I did find Alais less annoying than her present day counterpart. It helps that when we meet her she's almost half the age of Alice at a time where women's roles were much more proscribed, so I was willing to give her more slack, but she increasingly struck me as "Mary Sue." Also, a favorite work of fiction, Robert Shea's All Things Are Lights deals with the Albigensian Crusade, and I felt this book suffered in comparison.The whole reincarnation schtick also didn't work for me. I have a friend who loves such themes in fiction, but it has to be done really, really well for me not to find it eye-rolling. This wasn't done really, really well.
    • 3/5
      creepy but decent enough read if you like that sort of thing
    • 5/5
      I just read this book for the second time and enjoyed it every bit as much as I did the first time. The author manages to pull me in and get me fascinated by subjects I generally avoid like the plague, religion and history. I find myself wanting to know more about everything the author touches on in the course of the book. An excellent read.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed listening to this book by Kate Moss. The story is interesting and unique, the characters are well enough developed to support the novel. There is an aura of mystery throughout this book, the questions abound right until the end. At the same time, the reader is able to "solve" enough of the mysteries along the way to keep a vivid interest going. I enjoyed the alternating treatment of the two main stories that make up this book. The blending of the two through an element of time "travel" was part of what kept this story interesting and active. Having listened to this, rather than outright reading it, I wonder what the net effect would be to read it rather than listen to it. Listening to it, there were parts of the story where I was a bit confused, an element that would not be there if the story was actually read. However, on the other side, there were lots of words in some sections of this story, which might have been a bit difficult to wade through if reading. All of that aside, the story was unique and interesting enough to capture me, and I found the conclusion appropriate. An improvement might have been to be more specific on the historical aspects of this novel. I did miss that, as the treatment of the historical aspects of this novel were very broad brush in nature. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys "messing with time" and enjoys a story that keeps them thinking. It was a memorable novel, one I might someday read again.
    • 4/5
      this book took me a long while to get into it, but once i did i really enjoyed it. it moved quickly. there were a lot of characters to keep track of and it switches between the past and the present, but i liked the ways the stories were woven together. an interesting read. steeped in history and myth. good stuff.
    • 3/5
      Book would have been good if it had kept to the basic story. Too many deviations and switches. Good story sacrificed to the perceived need to pad out the book. Less is more!
    • 3/5
      I have mixed feelings about Labyrinth. Overall, it was a good read, but it was also difficult to get through at times and somewhat dense. Constantly switching between parallel story lines in modern-day and medieval France, the characters and the plot seemed to blend together in my mind. Furthermore, I think more of the Grail myth should have been explained earlier in the novel, instead of reading the first three-quarters of the book wondering what is going on. I am uncertain whether I should make the effort to read the sequel at this point.
    • 5/5
      A story that had me hooked from the very first page. The characters are well formed and the storyline is intricate and complex. Labyrinth is a great combination of love, intrigue, time travel, and suspense. If you are looking for a book that is the complete package, this story will be enough to satisfy any of those cravings.
    • 1/5
      I initially thought I was really going to enjoy this one, but it was all down hill after the first few chapters. It really didn't hold my attention and fizzled out about halfway through. The transitions between the flash backs and the events of the modern day were really not very smoothe either. Really not very good.
    • 4/5
      (unabridged audiobook read by Donada Peters): A word of warning: if you're sick of books about the Holy Grail, it'd be best to skip this one. The sad part is that this really didn't need to be about the Holy Grail at all. It could have been called anything. Like so many other recent interpretations, this Grail isn't the cup of Christ, and indeed has nothing to do with Jesus at all. The closest you get is the story of the Crusaders versus the Cathars in 13th century France, whose narrative is intertwined with the modern-day tale of an English woman who stumbles upon a strange cave during an archaeological dig. That part is vivid and gripping. The mystic weirdness surrounding the Holy Grail, not so much. It is hard to follow and just a tad silly. That is not to say that this is not worth reading. The descriptions alone instilled me with a deep desire to tour France; the characters, while not especially deep, were sympathetic and easily distinguishable. The truth is, the amount of research that clearly went into writing this book is enough to convince me to pick up Mosse's next book, if only to revel in the lush details of whatever historical period she chooses.If you like historical fiction, have no qualms with loopy magical realism, and aren't too touchy about frequent jabs at the medieval Christian church, you will enjoy this book. As for me, it was a nice peek into a time and place I'd never given much thought. Hopefully Mosse's other works will make a little more sense on the miraculous end.
    • 2/5
      History interesting, writing mediocre.
    • 2/5
      I felt that I owed this book a chance, so I forced myself to see it through to the end. Highlights include a rich historical setting that captured my imagination. This was offset by a cast of characters that were not well developed and so it was difficult for me to keep them all straight as I could never figure out who was on whose side and their motivations for their actions. When I got to the end and the full tale of the labyrinth was unraveled, everyone's actions leading up to that point didn't seem quite as plausible as they did earlier.
    • 5/5
      Secrets and labyrinths!Mosse, Kate (2006), Orion Fiction, labyrinth Labyrinth tells the story of Alias and Alice, two girls with a lot of history, in1209 Alias stumbeld across the labyrinth after recieving a book from her father, knowing thet her destiny lies in keeping the labyrinth safe. Alice tanner on the other hand lives in 2005, discovers two skeletons in a hidden cave in the french pyrenees and is immediately puzzeled by a strange labyrinth symbol carved in the rock, and somehow she knows she as disturbed something that is meant to be forgotten, a link to a horific past ,her past. Labyrinth is a dazzaling story of medeval passion and conspiracy, keepin your interest throughout this worldwind book!
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed the characters. But was not completely entertained the whole time. It wasn't my favorite of the historical fiction novels. But I might try another of her novels to see if they are better.
    • 4/5
      Have been meaning to read this for ages - ever since I saw the author's name and rather stupidly wondered if it was the supermodel... Labyrinth certainly gripped me from the start, although the rather irritating and unnecessary present tense through the first chapter had me worried... The two key characters (Alais and Alice) were likable if not particularly deep, and Mosse spins her yarn in a way that keeps the pages turning.The end was something of a disappointment - not the end in the sense of what happens to the characters, which was moving if slightly predictable. Rather, the end in the sense of the final explanation for the Grail. Mosse had been building a new myth around (or underneath, or between) the existing ones, which had looked to be quite fun whilst admittedly drivel. However, right at the end it all seems to fizzle away to nothing - more could have been done with that, I feel.A good holiday read, as someone else described it. It has rather whetted my appetite to see the region!
    • 3/5
      I had a hard time getting into this book. It is written with beautiful imagery, but there were periods of pages a where it was just too dense. The plot was actually very interesting, but it seemed to take me a long time to get through it.
    • 2/5
      This was one of those books very popular a few years back that I never had a chance to read -- so I thought I would pick it up and see what it was all about. What a waste, really... a derivative "DaVinci Code" story line, a total lack of magic to make the reader believe in the connections we were supposed to swallow, and so much flip-flopping back and forth that I finally decided to just stop reading.
    • 5/5
      This was a great book. I loved the way it switched from past to present. I didn't find that to be confusing at all. Plus, I loved reading about the Cathars, a group that not too much has been written about. I could almost feel myself there in the south of France, living amongst the mountains and the castles. I really loved this book. Definitely worth a read!!