882 reviews for:

The Square of Sevens

Laura Shepherd-Robinson

4.13 AVERAGE

emilyholyoake's review against another edition

3.5

challenging mysterious medium-paced

kimmyc's review against another edition

4.0

mysterious tense slow-paced

hej97's review

4.0

emotional mysterious slow-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

outersgrace's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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At first, I was slightly disappointed by the slower pace of the first few chapters. I’d picked up this book because my friend recommended it to me, saying that there were twists and turns that made it addictive, and so I was expecting an obsessively page-turning Georgian mystery/thriller, and this wasn’t really what the first 100 or so pages were. The atmosphere was great, and the writing engaging, but I resigned myself to a book that would take me at least the next two weeks. But don’t be fooled by the set-up! After that, it really got going, as in, I was reading 150 pages a day got going.

The chapters were short and snappy, and masterfully intertwined with the square of sevens fortune of a character, each chapter corresponding to a card, and that card predicting both the plot of that chapter and overall fate of the character, which I thought was pretty masterful and gave the reader a sort of detective role if they chose (which I did!).

I predicted a few of the twists, but many came as a complete surprise, and I was CERTAINLY completely shocked by the final one.

Red had us all fooled, her memoir had served its propaganda purpose well, even on us readers!

. I also loved the literary device of

a book within a book

and even more so because it was drawn from real research and history, as she describes in the author’s note. I think how she used that document to inform and pretty much entirely shape the bare bones of the story was so interesting!  

I was so scared

the characters weren’t going to get a happy ending

because, despite their flaws, I’d grown so attached to them! Especially Lazarus,

I was absolutely devastated when I thought she’d killed him off, and I wanted him to be Red’s father so badly!! He really grew to care for her and I felt, despite her lying and manipulation in the end lol, that she deserved that. Because despite the lies, the undercurrent of her story and her reasonings were true, and tbh, that family deserved all they got. Archie was a massive shock, because I had been rooting for him too, yes, admittedly, I was certainly blinded by his good looks and charm like Red was😭

.

Overall, I feel like this book manipulated me in all the best ways! I was completely under Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s thumb. I didn’t feel anything that she didn’t want me to feel, and almost entirely believed what she wanted me to believe. I’m not really a thriller/mystery person, but I am a mysticism and historical fiction person, and the fortune-telling elements and Georgian setting really did it for me. I would compare it a little to the Night Circus by Erin Morganstern, but with less magic, beauty, and romanticism, and more darkness, death, and manipulation lol. Only thing stopping this from being 5 stars is that Red started to annoy me slightly towards the middle as she

got taken in more by the money and started abandoning her friends and making stupid decisions

but thankfully that passed and tbh, was probably quite a realistic reaction anyway, and the excellent ending made up for it.

c_marie_is_just_reading's review against another edition

5.0

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This book started slow but I’m so glad I kept reading. I didn’t solve the mystery which made the book even more enjoyable.

vegiyogi's review against another edition

3.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I really hated this book. It was slow-moving and achingly boring until a sudden twist at the end that I honestly didn’t need. Not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest

hannahs_shelf's review against another edition

4.0

mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

omnomarchaeo's review against another edition

5.0

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

jenniewoo's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 37%

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Unauthentic historical novel, the speech and vocabulary wasn’t right  and it was really irritating. Lots of repetition and is so long I couldn’t face any more…

sunriseoversea's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Painfully long and involved, but at its heart an excellent story. I almost gave it up several times, but I’m glad I didn’t.