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Cathars, Grail, mystery, intrigue, blah blah blah. Dan Brown definitely did it better with Da Vinci Code--I know a lot of people hate that book, but it's a good story, well plotted, a lot of fun. This book had some issues. I was really into it, but now that I've finished it the more I think about it, the more annoyed I get.
The story itself wasn't bad, but there were inconsistencies that rubbed me the wrong way--for example, late in the book our heroine Alice ponders a moment that happened at the beginning of the book, and thinks, "Was it really only yesterday?" Well, no, actually, it wasn't, Alice has slept through the night at least three times since then, which the author or a good editor should have caught.
Another thing: our modern heroine Alice is the 13th century heroine Aläis reincarnated (or, at least, she's significantly haunted by Aläis, it's not specified, but the reincarnation is strongly suggested), and Alice has dreams about things that happened to Aläis. In one dream, she's being chased by soldiers, and she chooses to run off a cliff to her death instead of being captured. Alice gradually wakes, realizing that this was a dream and not happening to her but to someone in the distant past. So all through the book I was expecting Aläis to die by jumping off a cliff, which is not how she ended up dying. It's just... inconsistent. If you're going to have a novel full of intricate plotlines, you better damn well keep a good map and remember to close up all the loose ends. I mean, even little things, like, right before the ending Alice picks up a random tent peg and sticks it in her pocket. BUT SHE NEVER WENT ON TO STAB ANYONE WITH IT! Why was the tent peg even mentioned at all? That's the kind of thing you go through and clean up before you publish the damn book. Before you send the damn book to your agent!
Besides that, both Alice and Aläis both were kind of empty Mary Sue characters. They're depicted as these perfect women, beautiful and strong, instantly adored by men, etc. Both of them made some stupid mistakes, but nothing really bad results from the error, they don't really learn anything, and they're kind of insipid. The bad guys were just as blandly and simply bad as Alice/Aläis was blandly good.
Oh, and if the labyrinth grail secret was discovered by the ancient Egyptians, then why the hell is the sacred labyrinth cave in the middle of France?
It's not a bad book, I guess. But it's not a great book. A lot of inconsistencies, holes in the plot and plot lines that never get resolved, things that really bother me in a novel. If you read and liked The Da Vinci Code, you shouldn't read this book, because you'll be disappointed. If you read and hated The Da Vinci Code, you probably won't like this book either, and if you didn't read The Da Vinci Code at all, you probably don't like this kind of novel, so therefore I do not recommend it to anyone.
The story itself wasn't bad, but there were inconsistencies that rubbed me the wrong way--for example, late in the book our heroine Alice ponders a moment that happened at the beginning of the book, and thinks, "Was it really only yesterday?" Well, no, actually, it wasn't, Alice has slept through the night at least three times since then, which the author or a good editor should have caught.
Another thing: our modern heroine Alice is the 13th century heroine Aläis reincarnated (or, at least, she's significantly haunted by Aläis, it's not specified, but the reincarnation is strongly suggested), and Alice has dreams about things that happened to Aläis. In one dream, she's being chased by soldiers, and she chooses to run off a cliff to her death instead of being captured. Alice gradually wakes, realizing that this was a dream and not happening to her but to someone in the distant past. So all through the book I was expecting Aläis to die by jumping off a cliff, which is not how she ended up dying. It's just... inconsistent. If you're going to have a novel full of intricate plotlines, you better damn well keep a good map and remember to close up all the loose ends. I mean, even little things, like, right before the ending Alice picks up a random tent peg and sticks it in her pocket. BUT SHE NEVER WENT ON TO STAB ANYONE WITH IT! Why was the tent peg even mentioned at all? That's the kind of thing you go through and clean up before you publish the damn book. Before you send the damn book to your agent!
Besides that, both Alice and Aläis both were kind of empty Mary Sue characters. They're depicted as these perfect women, beautiful and strong, instantly adored by men, etc. Both of them made some stupid mistakes, but nothing really bad results from the error, they don't really learn anything, and they're kind of insipid. The bad guys were just as blandly and simply bad as Alice/Aläis was blandly good.
Oh, and if the labyrinth grail secret was discovered by the ancient Egyptians, then why the hell is the sacred labyrinth cave in the middle of France?
It's not a bad book, I guess. But it's not a great book. A lot of inconsistencies, holes in the plot and plot lines that never get resolved, things that really bother me in a novel. If you read and liked The Da Vinci Code, you shouldn't read this book, because you'll be disappointed. If you read and hated The Da Vinci Code, you probably won't like this book either, and if you didn't read The Da Vinci Code at all, you probably don't like this kind of novel, so therefore I do not recommend it to anyone.
