Scan barcode
A review by evamaren
The Great Detective by Delia Sherman
3.0
This is a steampunk short fiction focusing on a stolen android in 1880 London, featuring Mycroft Holmes as a side character.
Don't read this if you've read a lot of 19th-century novels - you'll only notice all the inauthentic details, for example in social conventions and etiquette. E.g. a baronet who introduces himself as "I am *Sir* Arthur..." (even today, one never uses titles when introducing oneself), and also failing to introduce the ladies accompanying him? A woman introduces herself as "I am Mistress ..."? Not to mention the head-hopping and various problems with POV (sometimes, it's simply a complete mystery who is describing or observing things at the moment: it can't be an omniscient narrator because they are limited and speculating based on appearance, and it cannot be any of the characters either). And the romance that appears out of nowhere!
The world-building also seems to have internal contradictions (e.g. on the one hand, people immediately assume that Miss Gof must be Sir Arthur's (the inventor's) scientific assistant, since she doesn't look like a relative but travels with him (why not a wife?) but on the other hand immediately dismiss women as obvious ignoramuses/naturally disinterested in scientific matters - which is it?). And then we have machines that all fall apart if someone simply whistles at a particular frequency! Sadly this didn't work for me. Perhaps I would have liked it more if I'd known beforehand that it was a continuation of another story - but why publish it separately if it can't stand on its own?
It does have some charming aspects, however, so it still gets an "it was alright" 2.5-star rating, rounded up because I'm guessing it would have been better if I'd read The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor before going into it.
Don't read this if you've read a lot of 19th-century novels - you'll only notice all the inauthentic details, for example in social conventions and etiquette. E.g. a baronet who introduces himself as "I am *Sir* Arthur..." (even today, one never uses titles when introducing oneself), and also failing to introduce the ladies accompanying him? A woman introduces herself as "I am Mistress ..."? Not to mention the head-hopping and various problems with POV (sometimes, it's simply a complete mystery who is describing or observing things at the moment: it can't be an omniscient narrator because they are limited and speculating based on appearance, and it cannot be any of the characters either). And the romance that appears out of nowhere!
The world-building also seems to have internal contradictions (e.g. on the one hand, people immediately assume that Miss Gof must be Sir Arthur's (the inventor's) scientific assistant, since she doesn't look like a relative but travels with him (why not a wife?) but on the other hand immediately dismiss women as obvious ignoramuses/naturally disinterested in scientific matters - which is it?). And then we have machines that all fall apart if someone simply whistles at a particular frequency! Sadly this didn't work for me. Perhaps I would have liked it more if I'd known beforehand that it was a continuation of another story - but why publish it separately if it can't stand on its own?
It does have some charming aspects, however, so it still gets an "it was alright" 2.5-star rating, rounded up because I'm guessing it would have been better if I'd read The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor before going into it.