Join a book club that is reading The London Séance Society: A Novel!
The London Séance Society: A Novel
From the author of the sensational bestseller, The Lost Apothecary, comes a spellbinding gothic whodunit introducing two enigmatic women who set out to solve a most unusual mystery.
BUY THE BOOK
These clubs recently read this book...
Community Reviews
3.5 Stars, Rounded Down
I really enjoyed The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner so I was eager to get my hands on her newest release, The London Séance Society. The plot of the book instantly intrigued me - a murder mystery set in the occult-obsessed Victorian London. Sign me up!
A few things I really enjoyed about this novel:
1. The backdrop of Victorian London and its society's focus on the fascination with spiritualism. I'm far from a spiritualist, so I learned a lot reading this book. While I love most historical fiction books, this was unique in setting and subject-matter.
2. The sense of danger. My heart raced the last 75 pages or so and I really was unsure what was going to happen to our main protagonist, Lenna. This felt very similar to how I felt reading the last 100 pages of The Lost Apothecary.
Ultimately, this book fell flat in a few areas:
1. The mystery was predictable. This was my biggest qualm with the book. I figured out the "mystery" about 25 pages in. I think this was due to the duo-POV nature of the book and I think the novel would have benefitted being told solely from Lenna's POV.
2. The book seemed to repeat itself multiple times as if it needed to hammer home the most basic points. With a mystery that was easy to guess, this felt almost belittling to the reader.
3. I felt like there were forced elements of romance that weren't ever really exposed. Penner touches on some matters of sexuality but I never felt like they were fully dived into and examined. Lenna has a boy who is pinning after her despite having romantic feelings for females. I felt like her sexuality and romantic feelings for two different women read like after-thoughts and felt under-developed in a book that at times felt significantly longer than necessary.
Overall, I think this was a quick-paced mystery with a unique and intriguing setting. If you were a fan of The Lost Apothecary, I would recommend picking this up and giving it a read!
Thank you to NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy of The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner.
I really enjoyed The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner so I was eager to get my hands on her newest release, The London Séance Society. The plot of the book instantly intrigued me - a murder mystery set in the occult-obsessed Victorian London. Sign me up!
A few things I really enjoyed about this novel:
1. The backdrop of Victorian London and its society's focus on the fascination with spiritualism. I'm far from a spiritualist, so I learned a lot reading this book. While I love most historical fiction books, this was unique in setting and subject-matter.
2. The sense of danger. My heart raced the last 75 pages or so and I really was unsure what was going to happen to our main protagonist, Lenna. This felt very similar to how I felt reading the last 100 pages of The Lost Apothecary.
Ultimately, this book fell flat in a few areas:
1. The mystery was predictable. This was my biggest qualm with the book. I figured out the "mystery" about 25 pages in. I think this was due to the duo-POV nature of the book and I think the novel would have benefitted being told solely from Lenna's POV.
2. The book seemed to repeat itself multiple times as if it needed to hammer home the most basic points. With a mystery that was easy to guess, this felt almost belittling to the reader.
3. I felt like there were forced elements of romance that weren't ever really exposed. Penner touches on some matters of sexuality but I never felt like they were fully dived into and examined. Lenna has a boy who is pinning after her despite having romantic feelings for females. I felt like her sexuality and romantic feelings for two different women read like after-thoughts and felt under-developed in a book that at times felt significantly longer than necessary.
Overall, I think this was a quick-paced mystery with a unique and intriguing setting. If you were a fan of The Lost Apothecary, I would recommend picking this up and giving it a read!
Thank you to NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy of The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner.
After reading The Lost Apothecary I was very excited to get into this book. Even though the ending felt a bit rushed I thought it brought all the plot points together in a nice way. I liked the characters and was compelled by their stories the whole time.
I really enjoyed the themes in the book but it was a bit slow and the ending wrapped up very quickly.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.