Faulks is one of Britain's most popular writers. I have had a mixed relationship with his works. Human Traces, Engleby and A Week in December were excellent, but I have little time for his perhaps more famous war novels, which border on mawkish sentimentality. The Seventh Son came highly endorsed by respectable sources such as The Financial Times and The Times, but just did not do it for me. Set in the near future and based around consequences (intended and unintended) of genetic manipulation, I found its premise tenuous and the characters shallow, predictable and underdeveloped. To its credit, The Seventh Son is incredibly readable, but ultimately unmemorable. To the charity shop, 4/10.
Reading archive
The Seventh Son
by Sebastian Faulks
- Form
- fiction
- First published
- 2023
- Edition
- Penguin, 2024
- Read
- April 2025
- Rating
- 4/10