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A review by darkskybooks
The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
3.0
Read as part of my Goldsboro Prem1er subscription.
Square of Sevens revolves around a succession mystery, who should have inherited an estate. The cast is full of manipulative characters all of whom are slightly suspect in their motivations, but the ultimate culmination of the story is a somewhat dry court case, which is about as exciting as it sounds. It is a bit of a shame as a lot of the characters have been painted in interesting shades of grey. The vaguely villainous nature of all the central characters and the corrupting nature of money and power provide a central thrust to the narrative.
That said, there are some definite weaknesses to the setting as well. To be honest, I am kind of bored of gypsies and freakshows in historical fiction. It seems like every Regency/Victorian historical fiction novel I have picked up recently has a plot revolving around this very niche aspect of 18th and 19th century life. It is actually kind of distracting to the story.
Ultimately the denouement to the plot was cleverly enough worked, but the story did drag quite a bit for me. The whole thing felt a bit long winded.
Square of Sevens revolves around a succession mystery, who should have inherited an estate. The cast is full of manipulative characters all of whom are slightly suspect in their motivations, but the ultimate culmination of the story is a somewhat dry court case, which is about as exciting as it sounds. It is a bit of a shame as a lot of the characters have been painted in interesting shades of grey. The vaguely villainous nature of all the central characters and the corrupting nature of money and power provide a central thrust to the narrative.
That said, there are some definite weaknesses to the setting as well. To be honest, I am kind of bored of gypsies and freakshows in historical fiction. It seems like every Regency/Victorian historical fiction novel I have picked up recently has a plot revolving around this very niche aspect of 18th and 19th century life. It is actually kind of distracting to the story.
Ultimately the denouement to the plot was cleverly enough worked, but the story did drag quite a bit for me. The whole thing felt a bit long winded.