Review of The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner

A mysterious gypsy boy, Yann Margoza, and his guardian, a dwarf, work for the magician Topolain in 1789. On the night of Topolain's death, Yann's life truly begins. That's when he meets Sido, an heiress with a horrible father. An attachment is born that will determine both their paths. Revolution is afoot in France, and Sido is being used as a pawn. Only Yann will dare to rescue her from a fearful villain named Count Kalliovski. It will take all of Yann's newly discovered talent to unravel the mysteries of Sido's past and his own and to fight the devilish count.

The greatest thing about The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner was the cover. You’ve got pretty hair and a pretty dress, clearly the book must be good, right? Wrong, this book was horrible! Plus, the premise sounded really promising. The Red Necklace is set during tbe beginnings of the French Revolution. Two lives intertwine, those of Yann and Sido. Yann is a gypsy boy who can throw his voice and read minds. Sido is an aristocrat with a limp. They come together in strange circumstances and their lives are forever changed by meeting each other. Will Sido and Yann meet again? Will they fall in love? (I feel like I just wrote a crappy soap opera while writing the premise LOL)

The writing was disjointed. Something would happen to one of the characters, such as Sido, and instead of developing what happened, the chapter immediately ended and would switch to the other character, Yann. Also things would happen out of nowhere, like all of a sudden we find out the “dwarf”, could perform magic. I seriously said WTF out loud several times while reading this book.

I feel like The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner was awkward. One thing which really bugged me was the narration, in the beginning it went back and forth one chapter would focus on Sido, the next would focus on Yann. Then, partway through the book, there were three chapters focusing on Sido, then one on Yann, then one on Sido, then two on Yann. That’s awkward,  pick a style and stick with it. Either you do alternating chapters or you don’t it’s that simple.

If you’ve read my reviews before, you know that characterization is very important to me. The Red Necklace was pretty disappointing in the way of characters. Sido and Yann were fairly flat, they were cliched good guys. Sido’s father, the marquis was a douche with zero redeeming features. The bad guy, Count Villovski was just a bad guy with no humanity. I mean, if you really want me to care about your characters, make them human, make them relatable. Honestly, Sido’s main defect/life problem was that she walked with a limp. Are you serious? Gardner is writing about the French Revolution and the worst flaw she can come up with is a limp? Ahhh, seriously people are rioting over goddamn bread,and we are expected to care about an aristocrat with a limp?

The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, not by a long shot. But it’s in my top 10 awkward books. I hear I, Corriander by the same author is really good, so if this review puts you out, then maybe you should check out I, Corriander instead. Also, this book reminded me of soda which has gone flat. Soda’s got the potential to be really great despite the calories, but when it’s flat it’s not worth drinking unless you are dying of thirst, and in that case you should probably drink water instead!

Other reviews of The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner:

Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog – “But I was really disappointed by the characters.”

Em’s Bookshelf – “The Red Necklace is wonderful in so many ways.”

Bookish Hobbit – “The story had potential, but I found it to be ultimately unfulfilled.”

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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