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A review by amandalorianxo
The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
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
3.75
Re-read in November ‘23 - I would rate this around 3.5/3.75 now. Some parts were still a little obvious and could have been cleaner (the sudden romantic feelings between two characters still didn’t feel 100% believable to me nor did the ability for someone of 35 to be so swayed by a barely 20 something) but this is leaps better in terms of plot & writing compared to the debut.
So I believe that the author possibly listened to a lot of the feedback or read the reviews from her previous book about keeping her storyline to center around one timeline alone. So I did like that Penner kept this to the past again but focusing only on one time period. The two POV’s were well written and I did learn more about seance’s than I had before. My main reason why I gave this a three is mostly due to my concerns with pacing / keeping my interest. The first 20/25 % were intriguing. But the middle had me a little bored and the last 10% was what brought me back.
So I believe that the author possibly listened to a lot of the feedback or read the reviews from her previous book about keeping her storyline to center around one timeline alone. So I did like that Penner kept this to the past again but focusing only on one time period. The two POV’s were well written and I did learn more about seance’s than I had before. My main reason why I gave this a three is mostly due to my concerns with pacing / keeping my interest. The first 20/25 % were intriguing. But the middle had me a little bored and the last 10% was what brought me back.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Lesbophobia