Kate Mosse promised but didn't deliver
On the back of the book, the author writes: "The Grail legends are usually about men with swords and women getting rescued. I thought, 'You know, I want the women to have the swords.' It's all about them doing their things, they get lots of sex..."This motivated me to read the book, but the author didn't deliver. The women are constantly getting rescued from their impulsive decisions. However, they get equal opportunity for torture, abuse, and gruesome deaths. There is *not* lots of sex. There is virtually no consensual sex. What there is is a derivative present/past narrative where the present day characters are physically identical descendants of their medieval selves. I thought it was well differentiated from the DaVinci Code, and sure, the French setting was well detailed, but generally it left a sour taste in my mouth. If you like war and violence with a dash of romance and mysticism, this book is for you.