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The Paper Labyrinth is suitable for all ages - adults and kids alike, but recommended for ages 11+. Hints and solutions for all the puzzles are contained within the book itself - there is no internet connection required to validate an answer or receive a key, which makes it much more useful as, well, a book, that can be taken on holiday, on the beach, or when travelling. A surprising mix of historical fiction, fantasy and ghost story all very well rolled into one intriguing novel. Alaïs finds herself caught up in the changing and challenging times when the pope launches a crusade against the Cathars, a declared heretic group who believe that while God is absolute and utmost, the work they do in their lives is by their doing and not God’s. It is a time when Christians are fighting Christians overtly because of their supposed heretical ways, but subversively because the northern French want the rich southern land of the langue d’Oc.
In the present, another woman sees the find as a means to the political power she craves; while a man who has great power will kill to destroy all traces of the discovery and everyone who stands in his way. There was a disparity of quality between the two time lines. The author is clearly in love with (and well-versed in) the history. The plotting, the immersive setting and the characterization are all far richer when we are with Alais in the 1200's. Firstly, the vast majority of puzzles in the book occupy only a single-side, meaning that there is twice as much puzzle content in the book as in many other titles (where the left-hand side is usually a QR code linking to the answer verification) I got this book in an airport and I've to say it was not the best idea. Not because it was a bad choice, but because after I started reading I couldn't stop, so I didn't sleep in the eleven hours that took to land. Needless to say, I got down the plane tired but utterly fascinated by the world created by Mosse. Crees que puedes cambiar tu destino? (...) Así es, porque si no fuera así, nada tendría sentido. Si simplemente estuviéramos siguiendo una senda predeterminada, entonces todas las experiencias que nos convierten en quienes somos (el amor, el dolor, la alegría, el aprendizaje, los cambios...) no servirían de nada."I think any archaelogist reading this would be horrified as I'm pretty sure that digs don't function in the way this one did. The historical part is full of holes, the switching centuries can be irritating and the whole plot requires a significant suspension of disbelief.
A reread, because I had forgotten absolutely everything about it. At some point I acquired the second book in the series and have yet to read it, so... You might also like: New 2022 Mystery Subscription Box Sale on Cratejoy. More Solve it Yourself Mystery BooksEs una historia de secretos y misterios centrada en la vida de dos mujeres separadas por 800 años, y aunque la trama es un tanto compleja, es fácil de seguir. Dos protagonistas a las cuales, el destino de la providencia une sus vidas conectándolas a través del laberinto dibujado en un anillo.
Paper Labyrinth" offers somewhat of a refreshing change by deviating from this approach in several respects:There is a supernatural or mystical thread running through the heart of the story that goes beyond the base Grail mythology and I am not sure it was entirely justified. Our two protagonists share a bloodline, and modern-day Alice gains some of her insight from dream memories and never-explained intuition. It felt as this was ultimately a device used to hasten exposition and draw character parallels. It was muddy and removed opportunity to liven up the modern story-line with actual research and puzzle solving. The main difference between Kate Mosse and Dan Brown is that Kate appears to have done her research. Her story's relationship to legend and even actual historical events is a little less tenuous that Brown's, her grasp of English is infinitely better (not hard), as is her grasp of basic French geography (note to Dan Brown: Try looking at a map of Paris at the very least before writing about the City. If you turn left out of the Louvre you do not … oh I digress, you get the picture, this is not meant to be "Rachel slating Dan Brown again"). Like The Da Vinci Code there are times when the bad writing style (that endless use of italics to denote a character is thinking, what's that about? I am capable of working that out for myself) is so bad you want to throw the book across the floor but sadly the plot is so gripping that you have to read it until the very end. I read this book some time ago, and have recently been reminded of its sorry existence by the fact that a dramatisation is due to be screened in the not so distant future. Personally, I am proud of having made to the end where so many others fallen in the effort. The writing was diabolical, the plot completely over-blown and all over the place, and the characters were pitifully one-dimensional. Although, I do think it takes a special kind of genius to come up with something this bad, I really do. Personal, er, "highlights" for me included, the main character (Alice) wandering around some village in the middle of nowhere only to bump into a bloke she once met yunks ago in another country. They knew each other straight away. Sure, happens all the time. Return to the Paper Labyrinth - the new 'Part Two' published autumn 2021, a direct continuation from the first part, containing more puzzles and an even more labyrinthine journey.
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