ekevka's review

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dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

1.75

Dragging and unevenly bad

marlobo's review against another edition

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3.0

2.5 stars

authorlibrarianrachel's review against another edition

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3.0

This volume is really hit or miss. Some stories hold up 50+ years later and some make me want to use their pages for toilet paper. The one about the werecar…smdh.

cmbohn's review against another edition

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3.0

This was a collection of short stories centered around the legendary detective, chosen mostly by editor Isaac Asimov. I like Sherlock Holmes, but I am not a dedicated Holmesian. Still, the idea of using a science fiction twist to examine the stories was an intriguing one and I was pleased to find this at the library.

The collection starts off with an authentic Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle, 'The Adventure of the Devil's Foot.' Then it jumps into the science fiction theme, with stories by Philip Jose Farmer, Fred Saberhagen, Poul Anderson, and one by Asimov himself to round out the book. Some of the stories were well developed along lines established by Doyle himself, but some ranged very far afield. One very brief story by S. N. Farber was little more than a long pun, but it was quite funny.

My favorite stories, besides the Farber, were 'Death in the Christmas Hour' by James Powell and 'The Adventure of the Extraterrestrial' by Mack Reynolds. I also liked 'The adventure of the Global Traveler' which starred not Holmes but Professor Moriarty in a very clever tale. I wasn't quite as happy with the ones featuring Holmes as a dog or involving robots, but the nice thing about a collection is that you are almost always bound to find one you really enjoy.

In short, a nice little collection for Holmes fans willing to stretch a little.


trin's review

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2.0

As the title would suggest, this is a collection of sci-fi takes on the Great Detective. As with any anthology, the stories varied in quality—there was, for example, an interesting story about a time traveling Moriarty and an intriguing tale about a Holmes who may (or may not) have succumbed to senility. Mostly, though, there wasn't enough Sherlock Holmes in a collection that was nominally all about him! Instead there were stories about an alien race that has modeled itself after Victorian England (including a Holmes stand-in), or a highly-intelligent dog that solves crime, or a pair of children with the power to to evoke fictional creatures like the Hound of the Baskervilles to kill their parents. Okay, fine. But what I wanted was explorations of Holmes' (and Watson's) character, through the wonderful, slightly-distorted lens that sci-fi tropes can provide. I wanted to see Holmes' wonderful mind react to time travel or alien life; I want to see his and Watson's friendship stand the test of time and space, as promised by the title. But unfortunately, this collection remained sadly earthbound.

Much better is [a: Neil Gaiman|1221698|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg]'s "A Study in Emerald" which, fortunately, is available online: [http://www.neilgaiman.com/exclusive/shortstories/].
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