ailsaod's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book was OK, though I suspect some people would very much enjoy it. I have never read any of the original Sherlock Holmes stories so I cannot verify the blurb's claim that the stories here are "of the sort loved by true fans of the greatest of all detectives". If these stories are like the works by Sir Conan Doyle then I think I am too accustomed to more modern interpretations with more action and more emphasis of the relationship between Sherlock and Watson.
This author's version of Sherlock is rather out of character in comparison to what I have previously encountered, being mostly polite and enthusiastic - though he is suitably dramatic about revealing the truth behind each case. On one occasion Watson says that his experiment smells and Sherlock is apologetic rather than abrasive which was unusual but not necessarily a complaint. Watson however, was sadly rather characterless (which is not unexpected given that Sherlock is the focus of the story but I still would have preferred to see more of him than the fleeting glimpses at the start of the stories).
I am not an experienced reader of mysteries but I would judge those in these short stories to be a mixed bag. Some - often but not necessarily the shorter ones were not as good - and one in particular gave me awful secondhand embarrassment at the predicament the victim ended up in. However a couple were quite enjoyable and one even contained a sword fight!
There is a singular bizarre passage in one of the later stories where completely out of the blue the reader is told at length of how the appearance of a women at a gathering is "odd and unsettling" and has "a mysterious species of magnetism". I am very puzzled by why this passage is there as it quite disrupts the narrative and is presented as a highly relatable experience but I suppose from now on I must endeavor to do my best to induce feelings of uneasiness and horror in men when at gatherings.
This author's version of Sherlock is rather out of character in comparison to what I have previously encountered, being mostly polite and enthusiastic - though he is suitably dramatic about revealing the truth behind each case. On one occasion Watson says that his experiment smells and Sherlock is apologetic rather than abrasive which was unusual but not necessarily a complaint. Watson however, was sadly rather characterless (which is not unexpected given that Sherlock is the focus of the story but I still would have preferred to see more of him than the fleeting glimpses at the start of the stories).
I am not an experienced reader of mysteries but I would judge those in these short stories to be a mixed bag. Some - often but not necessarily the shorter ones were not as good - and one in particular gave me awful secondhand embarrassment at the predicament the victim ended up in. However a couple were quite enjoyable and one even contained a sword fight!
There is a singular bizarre passage in one of the later stories where completely out of the blue the reader is told at length of how the appearance of a women at a gathering is "odd and unsettling" and has "a mysterious species of magnetism". I am very puzzled by why this passage is there as it quite disrupts the narrative and is presented as a highly relatable experience but I suppose from now on I must endeavor to do my best to induce feelings of uneasiness and horror in men when at gatherings.
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