Reviews with content warning for Murder - The London Séance Society

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner

93 reviews

cpachet's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I read and enjoyed Sarah Penner’s Lost Apothecary book and London Seance Society didn’t disappoint. Her attention to historical detail is excellent and her characters are well developed.

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asanders88's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Very captivating look back to a time when spiritualism was taking over London. The author really painted the picture and drew me into the story. I love a dual point of view as both characters work to solve murders and you wonder about their connection. Very well written!

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whimsylee's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Loved the Victorian spiritualism and the sapphic romance. The mystery pulled me in and compelled me to keep reading. Some of the writing was redundant and I personally disliked the use of misogyny in this book. If you like spooky/historical mysteries and sapphic romance, I recommend this book.

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cassie7e's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No

2.5

Best thing about this book is the gay and bi rep. Too slow and somewhat predictable for me, often re-explains points already shown in the scene, and was really not into how big a role predatory men played in the plot.
Not a bad book, just didn't grip me and I finished out of obligation.

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ailiscr32's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Lenna is irritating and quick to jump to conclusions, often wrong ones. Vaudeline seems to lack personality at any moment that Lenna's ability to come to erroneous conclusions relates to her. Mr. Morely is bland until the end where he suddenly has some type of personality.

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emilywemily6's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This one is kind of hard for me to rate, especially because I loved Penner’s first book! The writing at the beginning was hard to follow and so I was confused for the first half of the book that the beginning seance was Evie’s. The first half was kind of slow while the second half got more interesting and definitely picked up speed. I feel like these characters were overly sexualized and the focus on lust detracted from the story and from the other personality traits of the characters- literally everyone is obsessed with sex in this book. I found the society’s secrets very intriguing and how the scandal kept growing, though some of the “twists” were very predictable. I also feel like the ending wrapped up too nicely because of the paranormal being able to do things these characters could not. Lenna did some stupid things and often didn’t even try to fight her way out of tricky situations. I would have appreciated a bit more effort on her part. This book feels different than Penner’s previous and while I generally enjoyed it, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.

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