Londongrey

July 1209: in Carcassonne a sixteen-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 prtoecting it. It will take great sacrifice and faith to keep the seceret of the labyrinth safe - a secret that stretches back thousands of years to the deserts of Ancient Egypt.

July 2005: Alice Turner stumbles upon two skeletons during an archaeological dig in the mountains outside Carcassonne. Inside the hidden tomb where the bones lie crumbling, she experiences an overwhelming sense of malevolence, as well as a creeping realisation that, however impossible it seems, she can somehow understand the mysterious ancient words carved into the rock. Too late, Alice realises she's set in motion a terrifying sequences of events that she cannot control and that her destiny is inextricably tied up with the fate of the Cathars 800 years before.


'Eat your heart out, Dan Brown, this is the real thing.' Val McDermid.

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You are only as dull as the light in the room you occupy, everything else is just hearsay - Me, about five minutes ago.

Stewart

What was good about it because you are recommending it without saying anything about it?

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Londongrey

What is good about it is the very high quality of the writing, the originality of the story considering it is covering a well established story in itself (not one that everyone knows but still a part of French history and myth).

Also, if you were disappointed with Dan Browns quality of writing and long for something with substance, then this book will put your optimism back into this side of the fiction genre. To me this is prose at its best just because the author really communicates well the characters and environment. In parts it even seems to be poetry simply because of the quality of the imagery. Despite all this, it is not a heavy book to get through.

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You are only as dull as the light in the room you occupy, everything else is just hearsay - Me, about five minutes ago.

Walkio

I have to disagree, Londongrey - I couldn't stand it. I gave up after 400 pages because nothing had happened. And I don't usually give up on books - the only other book I can remember abandoning is Paulo Coelho's 'The Zahir'.

Mosse CAN write - certainly better than Brown - and her characterisation and description is very nice. But it bored me so much - I really think it could have been half the size - she could easily have chopped out 300 pages or so.

But that's just my 2c

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Talia_Brie

Lots of people write better than Dan Brown, so I'm not sure of that reference. Umberto Eco also approached the Holy Grail and Templar Knights in Foucault's Pendulum, which is also superior to The Da Vinci Code.

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alisha100

I agree with Walkio, I was looking forward to this one, but had to give up around page 150 - i was just bored, so bored! Shame.

Uriah

I will have to read this, but honestly. Saying someone is a better writer than Dan Brown is no great praise. He's pretty much a hack, jus tone who recognized a great story which no one else had ever tackled.

Holy Blood, Holy Grail is still the best book on the subject, regardless.