The Rose Labyrinth

The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie is billed as "a riddle to unravel, a legacy to unearth, a heart to mend." It appears on the bookshelf as a beautiful novel with a mystery to it that is very much like The DaVinci Code.

The plot of the book, if I could try to summarize it, is about a family that has the sole responsibility to protect a secret. As the secret is revealed to them, they try to unravel the riddle to discover why some dangerous people want to get their hands on the documents that have been handed down through generations.

Take my plot summation with a grain of salt, though. Because I don't think I understood this book, and I slept through part of it. At first I thought maybe it was just that the obscure alchemy, mythology, literature, and religious references were beyond me. But after finishing the book (which has no real resolution) and reading the reviews of other readers, I have found that it was not just me.

The story is very disjointed. So much so that I lost the thread more than once. The mystery is poorly constructed. If there was a climax to the story, I failed to realize it. The first few chapters grabbed my interest and the book had real promise. After that, it fell flat and it never redeemed itself. At the end of the book, the reader is at least hoping for the mystery to be solved. I don't believe that it was, or if what was revealed is the mystery I don't understand why it had to be kept secret under threat of life and limb for generations.

I finished the book for two reasons. The first being that it was a book club pick, so I had a duty to finish the book for book club discussions. The second being that I don't like to quit on books. It was very difficult to get through. I couldn't stay awake for more than a few sentences in the last third of the book. I really feel that this was a waste of my precious reading time, and I am anxious to pick up something light and fun after completing this boring, disappointing read.

Happy Reading (just not this novel)!