Estocolmo, 1789. El reinado de Gustavo III se tambalea.
Emil Larsson, un joven oficial de aduanas, vividor, bebedor y jugador, visita regularmente el exclusivo Salón de Sofía Sparrow, mujer influyente de la sociedad de la capital sueca.
La señora Sparrow ve grandes cosas para el futuro de Emil cuando decide echarle las cartas del Octavo, un poderoso tipo de cartomancia que puede ayudar al joven a solucionar su futuro si consigue averiguar quiénes son las ocho personas que se esconden tras cada uno de los personajes.
Sin embargo, Emil y Sofía pronto se darán cuenta de que tras las cartas se esconde mucho más que la felicidad del joven o su fortuna: en medio de la revolución y el caos que pueden derrocar al rey Gustavo, no se puede estar seguro de quién es amigo y quién enemigo...

This book is too long ( )

While I was immediately sucked into this book and finished it in two days, I am having great difficulty figuring out why. The main character is a bit of a non-entity, with no real distinctive personality (except perhaps a tendency towards excess) but, like the book, he's somehow endearing. The pacing was perfect, with a constant steady pace and no extraneous historical sidebars, which are often the hallmark of historical fiction and invariably disturb the narrative flow. Card playing and gambling, the art of hand fans and Sweden's political upheavals merge seamlessly with the plot, miraculously and don't feel like tacked-on details to add historical accuracy.

Highly recommended, especially to those who think they don't like historical fiction. ( )

Everything I love about a book: interesting characters, court intrigue, historical details about small objects...plus a new city to explore! ( )

“Science and magic are always close, Mr. Larsson, one chasing the other. Last year's evil is now a property of physics. The heavens that were once the realm of gods are revealed as planets and stars, moving in precise mathematical orbits. And yet people perform feats that cannot be explained: heal from deadly contagion, lift fallen trees off their comrades in battle, see visions that portent to future, die and rise again. We are wise to keep an open mind to both.”

This was a fascinating read. I'll admit to getting a rather slow start on it. Mainly because I have next to no knowledge of the history of the Swedish monarchy and even less knowledge of card readings. I spent a little bit of time with Google to familiarize myself with a few things. That turned into a rabbit hole because that's usually how that works.

For anyone interested in historical fiction without all the sleeping around scandals, I highly recommend this book. Yes there is a romantic element to it but it is by no means the star of the show. A slight knowledge of the Swedish revolution occurring during the reign of Gustav III is helpful but by no means necessary. I thought my knowledge of the French Revolution was quite vast. This book proved I still have things to learn. I know about Count von Fersen fought to save the French royal family. I had no idea that Sweden and Gustav were so tied to the French and their fate. ( )