bookwomble's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
tbah926's review
3.0
A few of the stories were quite good, most were mediocre, one or two were quite tedious or self-indulgent.
ricparks's review against another edition
4.0
Almost five stars except a couple of the stories towards the end completely missed the Sherlock tone. But..how can you not love Sherlock meets Cthulhu done with class.
tombomp's review against another edition
2.0
Pretty average, except for A Study in Emerald, which works as an affectionate tribute to Sherlock Holmes with a decent twist. It plays a bit loose with Lovecraft but in a good way - some of the stories don't seem to get Lovecraftian horror at all.
The big problem is that the Holmes format and Lovecraft format are totally at odds with each other. Lovecraft stories end with a horror ending where people lose their sanity, nothing is understandable and there's no hope for the future. In a Holmes story the ending is (usually) happy, everything is resolved and everything is explained as being entirely logical, while clues throughout the story make the ending satisfying. These stories typically follow a pretty unhappy medium. Even attempts to portray some permanent effect on Holmes' or Watson's mind falls flat when the next story has them yet again baffled and confused about the idea of Lovecraftian cults existing, despite them having just confronted them. Obviously that's somewhat unavoidable in a short story collection like this but it is a little silly. Most of the stories have unpleasant things happen to the characters yet Holmes and Watson escape mostly unscathed. Multiple stories seem to have a very loose handle on Holmes' character and speaking style, which is pretty jarring. One story dedicates pages to a lovingly described firefight in the London sewers, which is neither very Lovecraftian or Sherlockian. One story is based on Moriarty recording his plans to control the world on a wax cylinder, live, while he's doing them. There's a story that featured something from Jewish folklore that almost felt anti-semitic because of the weird way it was handled.
I feel like more stories could have done with trying to break away from some of the Lovecraft mythology while still keeping some of the spirit. Some of them quote Lovecraft stuff but make it incredibly mundane.
I guess I feel most of the stories failed to work as either a Lovecraft story or a Holmes story and ended up not making much of an impact. It was alright enough but just not exciting and too much repetition of basic story premises.
The big problem is that the Holmes format and Lovecraft format are totally at odds with each other. Lovecraft stories end with a horror ending where people lose their sanity, nothing is understandable and there's no hope for the future. In a Holmes story the ending is (usually) happy, everything is resolved and everything is explained as being entirely logical, while clues throughout the story make the ending satisfying. These stories typically follow a pretty unhappy medium. Even attempts to portray some permanent effect on Holmes' or Watson's mind falls flat when the next story has them yet again baffled and confused about the idea of Lovecraftian cults existing, despite them having just confronted them. Obviously that's somewhat unavoidable in a short story collection like this but it is a little silly. Most of the stories have unpleasant things happen to the characters yet Holmes and Watson escape mostly unscathed. Multiple stories seem to have a very loose handle on Holmes' character and speaking style, which is pretty jarring. One story dedicates pages to a lovingly described firefight in the London sewers, which is neither very Lovecraftian or Sherlockian. One story is based on Moriarty recording his plans to control the world on a wax cylinder, live, while he's doing them. There's a story that featured something from Jewish folklore that almost felt anti-semitic because of the weird way it was handled.
I feel like more stories could have done with trying to break away from some of the Lovecraft mythology while still keeping some of the spirit. Some of them quote Lovecraft stuff but make it incredibly mundane.
I guess I feel most of the stories failed to work as either a Lovecraft story or a Holmes story and ended up not making much of an impact. It was alright enough but just not exciting and too much repetition of basic story premises.
vdarcangelo's review against another edition
5.0
Faves
Neil Gaiman--"A Study in Emerald"
Paul Finch--"The Mystery of the Hanged Man's Puzzle"
James Lowder--"The Weeping Masks"
Barbara Hambly--"The Adventure of the Antiquarian's Niece"
Tim Lebbon--"The Horror of the Many Faces"
Steve Perry--"The Case of the Wavy Black Dagger"
Neil Gaiman--"A Study in Emerald"
Paul Finch--"The Mystery of the Hanged Man's Puzzle"
James Lowder--"The Weeping Masks"
Barbara Hambly--"The Adventure of the Antiquarian's Niece"
Tim Lebbon--"The Horror of the Many Faces"
Steve Perry--"The Case of the Wavy Black Dagger"
alanadeluca's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
hp_bookcraft's review against another edition
Woof, be warned:
- More than a few instances of "she breasted boobily"
- Unquestioning perpetuation of Lovecraft's own bigotry in more than a few stories
bloodravenlib's review against another edition
5.0
This is an excellent collection with a very good set of stories. If you like either Sherlock Holmes, or the works of H.P. Lovecraft, then you will like this anthology. The writers capture both the traits of the great detective with the ambiance and feel of Lovecraft's mythology. This is a good book to just immerse yourself and escape reality for a while, even if it can be scary at times. The stories range from Holmes early career all the way to the time after his retirement. This is definitely one to recommend and share.
anzunagi's review against another edition
needed to take a break on this one - hopefully i come back to it!
invisibleninjacat's review against another edition
3.0
As it turns out, mashing together the highly logical Sherlock Holmes with mindbendingly illogical Lovecraftian horrors is hard. Often, it doesn't work super well. This anthology has a few really good stories, including one that read delightfully like one of the Sherlock Holmes point-and-click adventure games and included a guard crocodile in the sewer, but most were pretty meh.