Sepulchre (The Languedoc Trilogy) Paperback – Illustrated, March 3, 2009

Many years after reading the first in this series, I finally caught up with this sequel (and then the third in the Languedoc series), and really enjoyed all of them. I give this book a big recommendation for fans of historical fiction, fans of books that have parallel stories in different eras, and fans of books with slightly supernatural overtones.The book begins in Paris in 1891, with 17 year old Leonie Vernier attempting to meet her brother Anatole at the premiere of Wagner's "Lohengrin," when French nationalists storm in with violent intent, and Leonie and Anatole barely escape with their lives; circumstances force them to run south to Rennes-les-Bains in the Languedoc region to stay (or hide) with their aunt Isolde in the mysterious estate known as Domaine de la Cade. The parallel story is set in 2007, with Meredith Martin traveling to Paris to gather information for her biography of Claude Debussy, when a clue sends her, also, to Rennes-les-Bains and Domaine de la Cade, since Leonie's time converted into a hotel resort, but with some strange connections to Meredith's own family. Both young women are caught up in discovering the existence of a mysterious Tarot set, realizing the cards' dangerous powers, and protecting the set from mysterious and nefarious antagonists.The plot was thoroughly enjoyable, showing the uncertainties, strengths, and bravery of young women, complete with impulsive choices followed by determined regret and learning from prior mistakes, and plot points were reached with regularity, so the book was engrossing as well as literary. Mosse has a real talent for detailed, literary descriptions of surroundings in all scenes, but especially of the geography, architecture, and feel of the Languedoc area of France. While I'm a fan of full fantasy novels, I know that some readers of historical fiction can be put off by including supernatural elements in otherwise mystery/thriller books, and while there were certain parts of this book that took on heavy supernatural overtones, readers should not be put off by that, as it mostly reads as a dual-timeline search for treasure and fight against criminal opponents. There were some plot points that I thought were overused (the "secrets = plot" trope, wherein main characters keep plot-generating secrets from each other for no good reason other than it creates plot) or out of place (Leonie forgetting her family's predicament and falling into puppy love upon one single meeting with the antagonist of that timeline, the otherwise well-constructed sociopath, Constant). But overall, the writing and the plot were a joy to read, and despite the length of the book, I made short work of it because it truly caught my attention.As a whole, the mechanics of the writing were exceptional, with a few errors that were glaring precisely because the rest of the writing was so good: some minor comma issues and split infinitives; the overuse and inconsistent use of either "couple/couple of" and "awhile/a while;" one particularly egregious use of "if the worst came to the worst." As a whole, though, Mosse's writing is top-notch, both in plot and in grammarian edits.I really liked this book, as well as its precursor and the third in the series. Big recommendation for fans of historical fiction with slightly supernatural elements.

Fusion is the current buzzword implying a blending of essences, be it people, places, religion, music, food, etc. Other such words include cusp, transition, morphing, etc. So fusion is a good word to describe this book: the spirits of characters across centuries are combined; times of days are often at sunrise or sunset; seasons are changing from one to the next; French and English are combined to produce Franglish expressions; you get the drift for this book. Now, did I like the book? I personally loved it! Not great literature, if you're looking at semantics, but it is a great story, featuring two sets of characters from two different time periods, but the same locations (predominately Paris and the Carcassone region of France). My problem with the book is this: I wish editors would include illustrations, where appropriate, for adult novels because this book really needs them. One of the main ideas of the story is the use of Tarot cards and its influence on others, if they believe in Tarot or not. Now, I happen to follow Tarot, and I believe the author did a commendable job of discussing Tarot in her story. But if you, the reader, know nothing about Tarot, you might just blank out at the passages that contain references to it. Now, if the author/editor/publisher, whoever, included the illustrations for the cards, the meaning might have been a lot clearer. In any case, for me it was a page turner.

For those that have an interest in Tarot, history, the Church and the Cathars, this is a marvelous read. There is a dual storyline - following a sister and brother in the 1890's, and a young American graduate student in current times.I found the characters to be multi-dimensional, believable, and true to their times. So true, that there were some very scary moments in this book -scary because of the action, and scary because of the mindset of the people involved.I was impressed with the use of Tarot as a device to act as a cohesive element between the two timelines. The story begins with a Tarot reading, and the gift of a deck. It becomes magnified with strange books found in a family library, and the painting of a Tarot deck based on material in one of those books.Part of what kept me glued to this book was that it was based in France for both timelines. The French terms were not familiar, but they flowed so well that it didn't matter.In fact, the one character that I could not seem to connect with was the American graduate student. Her character was well rounded, but just did not ring true for me.I loved the Tarot and esoteric content that was brought into this work, and highly recommend it. I am certain that I will read this book many times more - it takes me into a world that, while not all peace, is a fine place to be.

I read the first book, Labyrinth, and looked forward to this one. This follows a similar manner of following two story lines at two points in history, and includes familial ties to both timelines. This one has a few sections where the story line jumps off track and seems to try and tie into the earlier book, but seems forced. I read her first one several years ago, so perhaps a more recent read would have made those points more clear to me, but having been so long ago, or even to a reader who had not read Labyrinth, these few parts seem to come out of left field with no tie in to the current read. The story quickly takes a predictable course, but is engaging enough to make the time spent interesting.

Like most second-rate novelists who have a lucky hit, Mosse rehashes elements of 'Labyrinth' in this follow-up. It purports to be part of a trilogy but in reality only the location and the cameo appearance of some characters from the first novel link them.One of the book's problems is that the main characters are simply annoying, Leonie pathetic, Anatole unpleasant, Hal boring and Meredith a Debussy bore, while the syphilitic villain is a rehash of the Catholic bigot from the first novel.Obviously told by her publishers to make the heroine American to up sales in the US Mosse goes further and couples her usual repetition of phrases in foreign languages with the use of Americanisms, in the narrative: 'gotten', 'cell' etc , rather then just in Meredith's conversations. I can only presume that this is to appeal to the semi-literate average American.Dross of the first order.

There are so many plots going on here it's just confusing, while the Tarot stuff is about as enthralling as reading an encyclopaedia. I wouldn't say it is poorly proofread, it simply hasn't been proofread, there are so many misplaced hyphens it is really sloppy. This was my first Mosse read, she writes beautifully in places, but I found myself going crosseyed by the time I put it down.

Having read the first book of the series a few years ago and really enjoying it, I was pleased to see this on the Kindle store! I'm a fan of period novels and find Kate Mosse has a fantastic way of bringing the past to life. I enjoy the way she has two related stories running in parallel and the way she paints the past affecting the future. I must say that I enjoy the historical story more than the modern day, although that may be because of my affection for period stories - although I get the impression with the way that they are written the author also enjoys them more too!I do find the addition of French words littered throughout a little frustrating as I don't know much french at all, although the addition of being able to look them up on the Kindle app gave me more understanding than when I read the first book in paperback form.I was pleased with the length of this novel too, I find many a little too short to really get an in-depth understanding of characters and their motivations, but I found in this novel I got emotionally involved with the characters and cared about what happened to them.

I recently took this book with me on a trip as it would be several hours trapped on a bus cross country. It's a meaty novel at over 700 pages and some might say a little slow going in places but I thoroughly enjoyed it. 1891, Carssaconne, France, finds Leonie and Anatole, brother and sister running from a vicious enemy where they take refuge at their mysterious Aunt Isolde's mansion, the Domaine de la Carde. Whilst there things arn't quite what they seem to Leonie and as she discovers an ancient Sepulchre hidden on the grounds high in the woods which leads her to the mysterious Tarot cards, she soon realises the house holds secrets reaching back into her own family history. 2007, Meredith, searching for clues to her heritage whilst reaserching a book, has her Tarot read for fun only to discover she too is caught up in an ancient legend surrounding the fall of the infamous Domaine de la Carde which could lead to her distant relatives' involvement indirectly with the events when the Domaine was raised to the ground a century ago. It's an involving novel, very atmospheric which is a forte of Ms Mosse and I would recommend it if you can spare the time to read such a long book. I thought it imaginative and very detailed and so interesting, especially if you have an interest already of Tarot cards and their history.

I loved this story. Mosse obviously loves this area of France and she writes about the villages and landscapes very vividly. So much so that I found it difficult to close the book and turn the light off to go to sleep.The story is set in two time frames - 1891 and 2007 - and while some sort of genealogical link is evident between Meredith Martin and Leonie Vernier from early on in the novel (and the plot moves beautifully between these two protagonists), Mosse creates a gripping and pacy tale as all of the puzzle pieces are finally revealed. It's wonderful stuff.