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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
3⭐️
This book was recommended by one of my work besties, and I had such high hopes. So it was a bit disappointing that it didn’t hook me as much as it did my friends. But then again, not all books are for everyone—and while The Square of Sevens is a great book, beautifully written, it just wasn’t for me.
That said, I found the beginning really engaging. We meet Red just as she suddenly loses her beloved father, and she soon finds herself in a new adventure among London’s elite, reading the future for some of the most prestigious people of the time—all while searching for clues about her mother: who she is and where she might be.
The ending, though? One of the most mind-blowing twists I’ve read—I absolutely did not see it coming. Pure genius.
My main issue was the pacing and the overwhelming amount of information throughout the story. Again, this is just my personal taste, and I completely understand why so many people loved it. It simply wasn’t the right fit for me.
I think I was expecting something slightly different from this book. I had the idea somehow that this was a mystery with a hint of the supernatural.
Instead, it's a gothic bildungsroman about a girl seeking to know who her parents were, and then how to get her inheritance despite the vast array of relatives seeking to get rid of her. It's also very slow paced.
This is sort of a Dickensian book with a huge cast of characters. I can usually hold my own with genealogy but this book defeated me. Despite the family tree provided, I kept losing track of who was whose child and therefore who was in line for inheritance where, and in the end I didn't care enough to keep wading through it.
It's also pretty slow. We read about our heroine as a very young girl, get walked through her youth with her benefactor, follow her as she loses everything because of the greed of her benefactor's nephew, how she reads cards and manages to catch the notice of people who she might be able to use for something later. There are dresses. There are balls for the dresses to be worn to.
In another mood I might have sunk into this and enjoyed the slow pace, the heroine's journey (with a surprise at the end). I decided the time sink was too much and bailed.
Instead, it's a gothic bildungsroman about a girl seeking to know who her parents were, and then how to get her inheritance despite the vast array of relatives seeking to get rid of her. It's also very slow paced.
This is sort of a Dickensian book with a huge cast of characters. I can usually hold my own with genealogy but this book defeated me. Despite the family tree provided, I kept losing track of who was whose child and therefore who was in line for inheritance where, and in the end I didn't care enough to keep wading through it.
It's also pretty slow. We read about our heroine as a very young girl, get walked through her youth with her benefactor, follow her as she loses everything because of the greed of her benefactor's nephew, how she reads cards and manages to catch the notice of people who she might be able to use for something later. There are dresses. There are balls for the dresses to be worn to.
In another mood I might have sunk into this and enjoyed the slow pace, the heroine's journey (with a surprise at the end). I decided the time sink was too much and bailed.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A great twisty-turny complicated and detailed plot with many layers of truth and lies woven together.
Red is a fortune teller using a method called the Square of Sevens. In 1740, in the Enlightenment, anything witchcraft or magic related can be faced with criminal charges for fraud. Experiencing a series of tragedies and set backs in her life, Red has to make her own fortune and embarks on getting her way firstly with a band of players at Bartholomew Fair and later with one of the richest families in the country.
At times the audiobook was hard to keep up with - if reading, I would have gone back to the family tree and some explanations of the connections between people, quite often.
Well-researched on the Enlightenment, London and Bath society, Catholic priest holes and a bit on Jacobites ... and there's an interesting authors note at the end about how the story was built.
Red is a fortune teller using a method called the Square of Sevens. In 1740, in the Enlightenment, anything witchcraft or magic related can be faced with criminal charges for fraud. Experiencing a series of tragedies and set backs in her life, Red has to make her own fortune and embarks on getting her way firstly with a band of players at Bartholomew Fair and later with one of the richest families in the country.
At times the audiobook was hard to keep up with - if reading, I would have gone back to the family tree and some explanations of the connections between people, quite often.
Well-researched on the Enlightenment, London and Bath society, Catholic priest holes and a bit on Jacobites ... and there's an interesting authors note at the end about how the story was built.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Incest, Mental illness, Violence, Fire/Fire injury
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Hugely enjoyable and interesting read