This is the story of Catholic vs. Huguenot in 16th century France, specifically Carcassonne and Toulouse. Throw in a missing/stolen shroud, romance, and the Inquisition and it should make for a great read. However, with a plethora of characters it was often difficult to keep up with who's who. There was a very much used and needed list of characters in the front of the book. Difficult to flip back all the time when using an ereader. This was just a difficult read, not content wise--not sure why. This was book 1/3. I may seek out book 2 in the distant future. 592 pages ( )

3.5* ( )

The Burning Chambers is set against the wars of religion in France during the sixteenth century. We follow two main characters Minou, a young Catholic woman with a secret she doesn't even know, and Piet a protestant former soldier.

If you've read Labaryth then the general plot line will be familiar, our heroine and her family are dogged by a secret and an obsessive dark enemy. Along the journey she meets Piet, who has his own secret and his own enemy.

It's not a bad book, but it did feel rather contrived and forced in places. This is the first of a trilogy, but there was nothing which engaged me to want to read the next two books. ( )

Kate Mosse gets an A for historical setting and research. The divide between the Catholics and the Huguenot in France is well told, and filled with important historical characters. Mosse captures the Languedoc and makes me want to visit Carcassonne. But her attempt to interweave a romance between Catholic Minou and Huguenot Piet detracts from the rest of the book and weakens her history of the Wars of Religion. ( )

In 1562, religious tensions between Catholics and Protestants are increasing, and the situation is volatile. Against this background, a secret about Minou's origins start to surface, although she doesn't understand what's happening at first, as there are disturbances in Carcassone, and her father sends her and her brother to Toulouse to live with her aunt. Toulouse is boiling with religious tensions, and although she has no desire to get involved, her prominent Catholic relatives and her tentative friendship with Piet Reydon, entangled with the Huguenot resistance, makes it impossible for her not to stay aside completely. Then the two of them escape the city, looking for the objects they had rescued from their hiding places in a church and sent out with Minou's brother.

There are twists and turns in the story, and it kept me curious to the end. ( )