The Red Necklace

Hey all! This next review is on a book I'm not quite done reading yet, but I'm going to give it my best shot. It's on The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner. This book takes place in France, 1789, right before the French Revolution.

To start off, let me just give a quick summary of the story. Yann Morgoza is young Gypsy boy with the gift of reading people's minds and being able to throw his voice. His gifts are put into action while working with a rather foolish magician. This chapter of his life is over when the magician dies. But on the magician's night of death, this is where Yann meets Sido, a shy heiress whose father only cares about himself and strongly dislikes her. A short conversation between these two will influence both their paths. And while a revolution is brewing in France, Sido is being used as a pawn by her father to try to repay his debt to the fearful Count Kalliovski who is not all he appears to be. Yann will be the only one to oppose him, but what change of fate will this bring our young hero?

So, hopefully that gives you all an idea of what the book is about. As I mentioned before, I'm not done with the book yet, but I'm 148 pages in and loving it! So far my favorite character is Sido. But if you choose to read this book: BEWARE OF FEELS! I'm not going to spoil anything, but wow, there's a lot of death! Also, BEWARE OF GORE! I mean, from what I've read, it doesn't go into too much detail, but if you get sick to your stomach easily, I wouldn't suggest reading it. And, as this book takes place in the French Revolution, you ought to know that aristocrats were beheaded, so I'm guessing that is going to appear in the book. Just a warning!

So let me now talk about the author's way of writing. Gardner writes like she was there, at that moment in time! It is so descriptive! Let me just give you the first sentence of the book. "This is Paris: here the winds of change are blowing, whispering their discontent into the very hearts of her citizens."  Wow! That just described the entirety of the years leading up to the French Revolution! Now here is Gardner describing Yann: "Yann had a sharp, intelligent face, olive skin, a mop of jet black hair, and eyes as dark as midnight, with two star shining in them. He was a solitary boy who enjoyed nothing better than being left alone to explore whatever city or town he was in, until it felt to him a second skin." Gardner makes us feel like she really does know him in real life. She sure made me feel like I wanted to be friends with him!

To conclude, I want to thank TheGuardian.com for giving me some inspiration on where to start this rewiew, and to you, the readers of my blog! You're amazing! Please R&R (read and review) my latest post! Thanks!
-Carly