The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner
(Book #1 of the French Revolution series)
Rating: 🍁🍁
Overall: An entertaining, but ultimately unsatisfying story of love, magic and revolution. And it was narrated by Tom Hiddleston.
The Good Stuff:
1) I'll repeat: it was narrated by Tom Hiddleston. The man could probably read 1 Chronicles and make it sound fascinating. Setting my inner fan-girl aside, the quality of his performance took the book up at least half a leaf. I actually felt chills run down my spine at one point when the villain was whispering menacingly to the heroine. Each character, no matter how minor, has their own distinct voice, all of them set against a wonderfully smooth, rich, easy to listen to narration.
2) I liked the concept of the magic as it was presented in the story. I can't say too much about it without giving away what I think might have been a plot point (more on that later), but it was interesting.
3) Sido is a wonderful character. Trapped by her circumstances in so many ways, she demonstrates real nobility and strength of character. I truly enjoyed seeing her come into herself.
The Not-so-Good Stuff:
1) Despite being an interesting concept, the magic felt contrived. It wasn't necessary to the plot, and didn't even really add to Yann's true character, as far as I could tell.
2) It becomes clear pretty early on that none of the revolutionaries are good people, which is kind of ridiculous. They're all portrayed as a mindless, greedy, opportunistic mob in power only because it outnumbers those who traditionally held authority. While it's undoubtedly true that there were people who took advantage of the chaos of revolution for their own gain, by painting all revolutionaries with the same brush, the opportunity to explore the richly nuanced reality of the period is sadly lost.
3) What is up with the awkward timeline? Random amounts of time seemed to pass, with no real explanation. Why, for example, did we suddenly jump two years into the future after Yann found a tutor?
4) All. The. Plot holes. At least, I think they were plot holes. There were so many unexplained or unnecessary events, it was hard to tell. Take the discovery of Yann's tutor as a case in point. We spent a great deal of time finding him, and then never see him again. We don't even find out what he taught Yann, other than that he took him to the theatre a lot. This was just one of many such rabbit trails that served to confuse the overall story.
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