Continuing my young adult reading Spree

The Red Necklace: A story of the French Revolution
By: Sally Gardner

Write up:

An exciting, romantic novel set against the feverish backdrop of the French Revolution.

Clever and head-turningly attractive, fourteen-year old Yann is an orphan who has been raised in Paris by Têtu, a dwarf with secrets he has yet to reveal to the gypsy boy. It's the winter of 1789, and the duo have been working for a vain magician named Topolain. On the night when Topolain's vanity brings his own death, Yann's life truly begins. That's the night he meets shy Sido, an heiress with an ice-cold father, a young girl who has only known loneliness until now. Though they have the shortest of conversations, an attachment is born that will influence both their paths.

And what paths those will be! Revolution is afoot in France, and Sido is being used as a pawn. Only Yann will dare to rescue her, and he'll be up against a fearful villain who goes by the name Count Kalliovski, but who has often been called the devil. It'll take all of Yann's newly discovered talent to unravel the mysteries of his past and Sido's and to fight the devilish count.

I saw this book at the bookstore and picked it up on a whim because of the pretty cover and the promise of some romance and magic. I did get some romance and a good bit of magic, but I think the best part of this book was the history and atmosphere. We open the book with Yann and his friends heading to a party which they were invited to by a marquis's special mysterious guest, the Count Kalliovski. Their fame as performers is wide throughout France, as is their most famous act...their talking automaton. The Count wants to see a special performance, and the marquis always gives the Count what he wants. Yann, before the party, receives an ominous warning/vision about their fate and decides that going to this party is bad news. But of course they go and when they meet the Count, Yann's companions recognize him from their past...to their own peril. After the death of Topolain, Yann and Tetu try to escape the Maquis's house though his servants quarters, and there Yann meets the marquis daughter, who he hides away because he finds her plain and annoying, Sido. She helps him escape, and from that night on their fates are intertwined.

The marquis is in debt to the Count, as is half of the French aristocracy. He gives him money in exchange for whatever he wants, usually secrets only they know. The aristocracy is just blindly going along their own way, not seeing or believing that any trouble was really brewing with the common people, and when things become plain that, indeed, a revolution is afoot...that is when the Count calls in his debts. He traps the marquis, who is forever in debt due to his extravagant parties and his expensive shoe buckle collection, and cannot pay. But he has Sido, who is left the entire fortune by her grandfather on the day she marries. The Count demands the marquis give him Sido in marriage, and complete access to her fortune..or else.

When others who owe the Count start showing up dead, we learn what the "or else" turns out to be. So we have three set of actions going on: Sido struggling with a father who does not value her and wants to marry her off, to bury his debts, to a man she fears; Yann, who is sent away to London after the death of Topolain and vows revenge for the death of his friend and the removal of the only family he knows; and we have the growing danger of the revolution slowly building in the streets. With the world falling apart around them, Yann and Sido have to find a way to not only survive France, but the schemes and manipulations of the Count, who has no mercy, as well. I thought the subtle build up and growth of the revolution was handled very well. Through the marquis we got a good idea of what the mind of the aristocrats were like and how they viewed the growing threat around them: they throwing more parties and being blindly arrogant. Through Yann and Sido, we got a good idea of how the layman felt about what was going on...so we got a good idea of how the revolution began and why...and how it went wrong. We follow Sido as witnesses the Revolution first hand. We follow her family's fall from their fancy manor to the jail cells they were thrown in as traitors to the Revolution. We see the violence that was used against many innocent people, from both ends, and got a good sense of the chaos and danger of the times. The way the story is told, you feel sympathy not only for the common people, but for the aristocrats as well...many of whom are only guilty of being born into high society., and how died for it. The terror, confusion and panic people must of felt was well presented in the book. That portion of the book felt very real. As historical fiction about the build up of the French Revolution alone, and how it affected the people without all the glory, songs myths, and legends...just reality...this book is excellent. It is the other parts of it I had some issues with.

Yann and Sido's romance to me was not really all that believable. I could understand them meeting and clinging to each other due to their shared trauma...but I thought that their relationship could have been built upon some more. In fact, I think a lot of the characters could have been built on more. They felt too one dimensional to me. Like they were paper characters...but who had not fully come alive. I wanted more depth. Because of this...I could not get too emotionally invested in the book as I could have. Also I thought the magic could have been explained a bit more. Yann has abilities, but other than being a Gypsy, there was no real talk about why? How he handles it and controls it? How it affects him? It is just there like an afterthought...so it kind of felt tacked on and unnecessary. The magic aspect of it...really was not needed, I think. Though it did add an extra menace to the Count and give the story a little more punch to appeal to me...if it was going to be in there...I think it should have played a bigger role and should have been given more focus. So, while I did like the book, some of these issues prevented me from really loving it.

Overall grade: B-