Apparently Kate Mosse always includes a supernatural twist to her novels and this is why she had to force this storyline in for the trilogy to make sense. Like their ancestors who fought to protect their land from Northern invaders seven hundred years before, these women—code-named Citadel—fight to liberate their home from the Germans. Labyrinth was concerned with the Albigensian crusade and the destruction of the Cathar heresy in the 13th century, weaving historical truth with the legends of the holy grail that flourished after the final massacre of the Cathars at their fortress of Montségur. Although I found the simplistic way in which Mosse presents their decisions somewhat irritating, I really enjoyed how various characters, like Luce, rationalized their collaboration. I did not find the characters strong enough although the love story was very tender and I did find myself welling up in the end!

their hearts burn with passion, there is much gazing at the stars, there is a Jewish lover, who is, of course taken and so and so on. Revelation 1:1 announces both the book's title (it is a 'revelation') and its divine author ('Jesus Christ'). It's not that Kate Mosse does anything badly in this book, she just doesn't do anything well enough to keep me involved. Packed with some terrifyingly realistic action scenes, portraying the horrors of war and the evil that men can do to each other, it is also at times, gentle and down-to-earth - portraying the small French town and it's folk with incredible realism.I've read through non-fiction books, France, is not open and free with all their paperwork on those who were involved in the Resistance, nor in French citizens who were involved with the Nazi's. But smuggling refugees over the mountains into neutral territory and sabotaging their Nazi occupiers is only part of their mission.

This mixture of Nazis, ancient Christian artefacts and the supernatural is more than a little reminiscent of the Indiana Jones franchise, and Otto Rahn, the real-life medievalist turned SS officer who is said to have been the inspiration for George Lucas's films, is even referred to in the novel. So I was very excited to get Kate Mosse’s new book, ‘Citadel’, which is a lovely, big, thick thwack of a book. The interwoven story of the Codex seemed to me to be superfluous, and diverted from the tale of genuine heroism, on the part of the protagonists. Kate Mosse is the multimillion selling author of four works of nonfiction, three plays, one volume of short stories and six novels, including the New York Times bestselling Labyrinth and Sepulchre.The complex history of the Languedoc has proved fertile territory for Kate Mosse in her recent trilogy of adventure novels, beginning with the phenomenally successful Labyrinth in 2005, shortly to be a mini-series, and now reaching its conclusion in Citadel. Citadel is probably best described as a 'time-slip' story, with the main part of the novel set in France during the German occupation in 1942 - 1944.

She has a particular knack for creating vivid action scenes — the blood, debris and panic of a bomb attack, or a skirmish – but she describes with equal precision the small, daily hardships of life under occupation: the endless paperwork, the difficulties of communication, the twitching curtains next door. Really, the book could have done without the Codex - the story of the brave women Resistance fighters is strong enough to stand on its own. Authie believes he has his hands on the Codex, but hands it over to his superiors who also want to use it to gain power despite his obsessive desire to destroy.There were moments of disappointment but, for the most part, Mosse succeeded in sustaining my attention and creating a story indicative of the wonderful imagination for which she is known. Yet despite this, Mosse still sees fit to skip forward some 2 or 3 years in the middle of the novel and ask us to believe that very little of significance occurred in this time, despite the plethora of events that occurred in the times before and after. In the fourth century a monk, Arinius, has been taxed with saving a document that the Christian leaders have decided is heretical.

There were too many characters without fully fleshed out personalities or descriptions, so it seemed a bit tedious.

A spirited and courageous young woman, Sandrine, finds herself drawn into the world of the Resistance in Carcassonne under German Occupation. A superb blend of rugged action and haunting mystery based on real-life figures, Citadel is a vivid and richly atmospheric story of a group of heroic women who dared the odds to survive. Don't let my comments put you off starting the series, I recommend the first two books to all, you just might not have the stamina to finish the third.