Citadel

Following Mosse's successful historical fictions, LABYRINTH and SEPULCHRE, this third in her trilogy takes us to the days before WWII and the Nazi occupation of France. Also, through shifting time lines, the story reaches even further back to 342 AD, when war is raging and a young monk searches for a safe place to hide a vitally important document. Narrator Finty Williams provides a wild ride from Vichy (code name: Citadel), France, to ancient Carcassonne and the revelation of a heretical parchment that allows the bearer to bring forth an army of ghosts. Williams delivers Nazi goons, Resistance good guys, a fourth-century holy man, and some intrepid young French women with just the right amount of understated drama. Williams's low-key performance allows Mosse's crisp prose to shine in this well-researched historical thriller. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

January 1, 2014

The final book of Mosse's Languedoc trilogy (Labyrinth and Sepulchre) is set in southern France against the backdrop of World War II. There is a large cast of strong females, including some returning characters as this installment has a parallel time line that overlaps some events from the previous books. Protagonist Sandrine, an orphaned teen living with her older sister, is rescued by resistance fighter Raoul. After Raoul is falsely implicated in a bombing, he and Sandrine must flee the region for their safety. The second story line involves a young monk who is tasked with hiding a regarded magical Codex from the church to preserve for future generations. By the 1940s, the Codex's guardian, Audric Baillard, is also being sought by opposition forces. VERDICT Very detailed and well researched, this dramatic finale is a compelling mix of romance and historical fiction that succeeds as an epic tale of mystery and adventure. Fans of the first two books of the trilogy will be satisfied. Recommended for historical fiction, fantasy fiction, and adventure/thriller enthusiasts. [See Prepub Alert, 9/16/13.]--Carolann Curry, Mercer Univ. Lib., Macon, GA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2014
Raiders of the Lost Ark meets The Da Vinci Code, with lashings of Nazis and belles mademoiselles. Yes, it's improbable in the extreme that a medieval codex should figure high on the list of priorities of both the Gestapo and the French Resistance, but, well, the Nazis were an improbable bunch, and they actually had a noted medievalist on their payroll against the odds of turning up the Holy Grail or other mysteries of the ages. Improbability doesn't get in the way of Mosse's (Sepulchre, 2008, etc.) yarn, which, though very long, is full of rousing action and intelligent character development alike. Closing her Languedoc Trilogy, she turns in a tale that begins, gruesomely, with a retaliatory hanging and moves swiftly to a firefight and a grimly delivered piece of partisan justice--and that's within the space of just a few pages. Interwoven in the tale of the doings of a girl gang of Resistance fighters in Vichy, France, code-named Citadel, are spectral events from another time, about which a curious fellow named Audric Baillard seems to know altogether too much. Tough-as-nails Marianne Vidal is one of the fiercest of the fighters; her sister Sandrine joins her as soon as she's old enough to get a driver's license. The sisters are of an ancient clan (" 'Names are important, ' Baillard said brightly"), and both are attuned to the things that go bump in the night. But can both outlast the SS thugs who are tearing around Carcassonne? Mosse slips a millennium and a half and more into the past to introduce an ancient heretical document, the Languedoc being a place notably receptive to heretical ideas, the discovery and mastery of which will allow its holder to conjure up an ancient ghost army ("You want them safely in the earth, don't you, Audric?")--not at all a bad thing to have if you're out for world conquest, that. The bad guys are bad, a local collaborationist particularly so; the ghouls are ghastly; the Nazis, determinedly Teutonic; and the filles de France, fetching. Suspend disbelief and enjoy the time travel and genre-blending.

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January 1, 2014
The third installment of Mosse's popular Languedoc trilogy takes place in WWII-era Carcassonne, in the south of France. The action revolves around a group of women who make it their mission to obstruct the Nazi occupiers and smuggle refugees across the Pyrenees into Spain. This band of female Resistance fighters also has a deeper, time-honored duty to protect a potentially explosive codex secreted by a determined monk during the late fourth century. As the stories of the women and monk run parallel, a narrative intersection is inevitable, and Mosse's trademark supernatural twist unfoldsas expectedin due course. Strong female protagonists, a fascinating historical backdrop, a bittersweet romance, and the integration of mystical elements guarantee a large crossover audience for this thrilling genre-bender.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)