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A review by brittany_tellefsen
The Last Equation of Isaac Severy by Nova Jacobs
3.0
After famed mathematician Isaac Severy dies by apparent suicide, his family converges to mourn is loss.
Among them, is Hazel, who was Isaac's adopted granddaughter. She received a cryptic message from Isaac, making claims that a pivotal equation of his was being sought by dangerous people, and that she needed to find his work, deliver it to one specific person, and then destroy the rest. But as she is one of the only people not mathematically inclined in the family, she has a problem solving the puzzling clues left for her.
But soon realizes she is not the only one desperate to find Isaac's work, and if his work were to fall into the wrong hands, it could be catastrophic so she is determined to unravel the mystery he left behind.
Also involved are follow various other members of Isaac's family and we learn of their role within the story and in mystery that Hazel is trying to solve.
This was one of the very first books I ever ordered from Book of the Month and, as I am trying to cull down the oldest books on my physical TBR, it was time to tackle this one. Sadly, I didn't find it to live up to the expectations I'd set for it.
I would like to insert the caveat that I found the concept of this story to be very clever and it had quite a bit of potential. The execution; however, left a lot to be desired in my opinion, which is why this is only garnering a three stars from me.
This story fell into the same trap that many books I rate three stars do: It tried to fit too much in too few pages, there was very little character development and it was told in third-person omniscient, which only ensures you will not be able to connect to the characters or care about their fate.
Since this is ultimately the story of the Severy family, we are meeting them all but directly following four: Hazel, her brother Gregory, their uncle Phillip (Isaac's son), and Alexis, another of Isaac's grandchildren.
We follow their individual stories and exactly how they are connected to the secretive equation that Hazel is trying to locate.
As you can imagine, there were quite a few characters throughout this book we had to keep straight. Even if we were not given a direct perspective of them, they were still mentioned and we had to keep their relations overall. Because there were so many people involved, not to mention the short nature of the book, it was impossible to truly know and connect to any of them. which made it difficult to tether myself to the story.
Additionally, it could sometimes be hard to follow the overall plot, as many of the storylines woven throughout one another in one form or another, not to mention all of the mathematical language involved.
Ultimately, this had a great deal of potential, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I can almost guarantee I will never think about this book again, nor will I remember anything about it after a length of time has passed. It seems yet another book doomed to be abandoned in the catacombs of lost memory.
Among them, is Hazel, who was Isaac's adopted granddaughter. She received a cryptic message from Isaac, making claims that a pivotal equation of his was being sought by dangerous people, and that she needed to find his work, deliver it to one specific person, and then destroy the rest. But as she is one of the only people not mathematically inclined in the family, she has a problem solving the puzzling clues left for her.
But soon realizes she is not the only one desperate to find Isaac's work, and if his work were to fall into the wrong hands, it could be catastrophic so she is determined to unravel the mystery he left behind.
Also involved are follow various other members of Isaac's family and we learn of their role within the story and in mystery that Hazel is trying to solve.
This was one of the very first books I ever ordered from Book of the Month and, as I am trying to cull down the oldest books on my physical TBR, it was time to tackle this one. Sadly, I didn't find it to live up to the expectations I'd set for it.
I would like to insert the caveat that I found the concept of this story to be very clever and it had quite a bit of potential. The execution; however, left a lot to be desired in my opinion, which is why this is only garnering a three stars from me.
This story fell into the same trap that many books I rate three stars do: It tried to fit too much in too few pages, there was very little character development and it was told in third-person omniscient, which only ensures you will not be able to connect to the characters or care about their fate.
Since this is ultimately the story of the Severy family, we are meeting them all but directly following four: Hazel, her brother Gregory, their uncle Phillip (Isaac's son), and Alexis, another of Isaac's grandchildren.
We follow their individual stories and exactly how they are connected to the secretive equation that Hazel is trying to locate.
As you can imagine, there were quite a few characters throughout this book we had to keep straight. Even if we were not given a direct perspective of them, they were still mentioned and we had to keep their relations overall. Because there were so many people involved, not to mention the short nature of the book, it was impossible to truly know and connect to any of them. which made it difficult to tether myself to the story.
Additionally, it could sometimes be hard to follow the overall plot, as many of the storylines woven throughout one another in one form or another, not to mention all of the mathematical language involved.
Ultimately, this had a great deal of potential, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I can almost guarantee I will never think about this book again, nor will I remember anything about it after a length of time has passed. It seems yet another book doomed to be abandoned in the catacombs of lost memory.