Sepulchre (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

I enjoyed Ms.Mosse's first book,Labrynth,and I checked the Amazon reviews of this current book,Sepulchre,for an indication of what to expect of it..the reviews did not do justice to the book,and I had delayed purchasing it because of them.I am now half way through the book,having stayed awake into the early hours of last night,anxious to find out what happened next..It is honestly the best book I have read,in a long time,and even the minor criticisms by other readers,such as the 'Americanisms',did not detract in any way-in fact I could not detect them at all,I found all dialogue wonderful and the descriptions very evocative but not at all flowery,or over the top.It has by turns ellicited feelings of awe,shivers,smiles,intrigue and excitement,mingled with dread-the characters are very likeable and well written,too,although Isobel has a faint,ethereal quality and ,despite plaing a central role,there is a sense of her beng in the background or on the edge of the story,but this is in keeping with her character.It was lovely to see a character I was fond of in Labrynth,re emerge as an enigmatic character in this story-quite heartwarming,although I'm still looking forward to learning what his role wil be.The theme of the Tarot was excellently devised,original and executed brilliantly,I now look at the tarot in a new light,having had little interest before.
Very much recommended-and I hope Ms.Mosse will continue to write more like it!

In many ways this was a difficult book to review.

For a start it runs to well over 700 pages and so the initial question has to be: Does it hold the reader's attention over such a marathon?

I read Mosse's previous novel Labyrinth and found it to be unnecessarily rambling and complex and at times tedious. Thankfully Sepulchre doesn't fall into this trap but it does take an effort at times to keep going.

Sepulchre is a simpler and more constrained book with less sweeping vistas than Labyrinth. The characters are reasonably well drawn and the early descriptions of Paris of 1891 are sharp. A number of reviewers have complained about the Americanisation of some of the passages, but I didn't find this a problem with the narrative flowing reasonably well.

At times my attention did wander somewhat but it would be some author that could sustain tension over such a long stretch, I still believe, however, that this book would have been better served at around 500 pages. At times background descriptions are just too detailed and lose interest. The minutae of character behaviour is sometimes over-stretched.

There are some other annoying aspects to the book. Firstly, even after 700+ pages you get the feeling that the author has suddenly decided it's time to tie up the loose ends and end the story. The conclusion therefore reads more like a report than part of the narrative.

Another annoyance is when the characters suddenly lapse into French in an attempt to make us believe they really are French. The story is in English 99% of the time but just occasionally changes track. It is the equivalent of the old boys war comics where Germans occasionally used a Germanic word such as achtung just to re-inforce the fact that they were indeed the Hun!

Annoyances aside I have to say it is not a bad read at all. There are almost two distinct stories here. One is the supernatural mystery but the other is quite a fascinating Victorian melodrama and it is possibly this that is the most effective.

The action ultimately ends in more of a whimper than a bang as if a cataclysmic climax is just too much for the author. Overall I would recommend it as a decent read as long as you aren't expecting a classic.

I read this book last year and was checking out reviews for another book by the same author when I was intrigued to read other peoples reviews about this one.
I guess if nothing else it has proved to me that we should not be to swayed by other peoples views - I found this book fascinating, spellbinding and though written in depth to make the characters and scenery so real I found it a real page turner.