I felt that the one redeeming feature was that much of the novel was drawn from historical detail. However, in her afterword, what Mosse actually reveals is that she has made everything up. Twisted facts entirely for her own purposes and played God with history to such an extent that nothing can be said to be even vaguely based on what was really occurring during this epoch. I had not read any other of Kate Mosse's work prior to reading Citadel so I was unsure of what I was getting into. After reading this novel, which I ended up enjoying at the very end, I do not think I will continue to read her novels.

The story itself has potential as it charts the development of a group of women who come to run a Resistance movement named Citadel in Southern France during the Nazi occupation. This could have been a fascinating story. However, rather than simply dealing with this, Mosse chooses to interweave the most ludicrous plot about a Codex. This Codex, hidden by a former monk, is sought after by a leading Nazi supporter Chief Authie for its heretical properties and the Resistance groups for its ability to raise a ghost army. Ridiculous. Not only is this sub plot a distraction from the more credible one concerning the female resistance movement, but it simply does not make sense. 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. Meanwhile, the Resistance knows where the real Codex lies, but are too busy with pamphleteering to go and get it despite its potential to save their country. Then when it is finally used, it saves a small number of villagers and has no real impact on the war itself. In short, it is just silly. Source: Free advanced reader copy from William Morrow, and France Book Tours, in exchange for a review. At last, I got my mitts on a copy of the final part of Kate Mosse's Languedoc trilogy. Citadel was published by Orion in October, it's been a long 5 year wait for this one. Historical fiction has never been my first love, and I'll admit that the first of the series; Labyrinth, sat on my shelf for a long time before I actually read it. I was amazed by the writing, by the story and how Mosse manages to captivate the reader with her complex plots and engaging characters. Labyrinth was followed by Sepulchre in 2007, and again, I loved it and have anticipated the release of Citadel for such a long time.

Publication Order of The Burning Chambers Books

Seventeen-year-old Léonie Vernier and her brother abandon Paris for the sanctuary of their aunt's isolated country house near Carcassonne, the Domaine de la Cade. But Léonie stumbles across a ruined sepulchre - and a timeless mystery whose traces are written in blood. Constantia Gifford stands alone and doesn’t believe in such superstitions. She is 17 and lives with her father, the taxidermist, in the remains of what was once Gifford’s world famous museum of taxidermy.

Kate Mosse is an English author specialized in novels, short stories, non-fiction and broadcasting. She was born in 20 October 1961. She is well-known for writing Labyrinth which has been translated into more than thirty-seven languages. 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. Also featuring is Arinius, a monk living in 342 AD. Arininus is desperately trying to find a hiding place for the forbidden 'Codex', which is said to have the power to raise a 'sleeping army of ghosts'. And new heroes and heroines, Raoul, Sandrine, Lucie, Marianne, too many to name all related somehow to the story of the characters of the previous book like a cycle.Sam is an ordinary teenager who has built her life through friendship and a special bond with her twin sister through entertainment and schoolwork. The novel revolves around an adopted twin whose sister has died for her real parents.