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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Sherlock Holmes have been on my TBR for longer than I can remember (probably since I first saw the BBC adaptation with Benedict Cumberbatch) and I'm glad that I finally sated my curiosity on the matter.
You can see a few thoughts to each of the story in my status updates, so just shortly. I did enjoy listening to those short-stories narrated by Stephen Fry. As a reader, you can't always figure them out because in some cases information is kept away from us, but a lot of them are quite easy to figure out especially since some motives keep repeating. And since Dr Watson is generally clueless you can always feel extra smart as a reward!
Some of the aspects of the stories didn't age very well, on this front my least favourite was The Man with the Twisted Lip discussing some of the reasons why would completely spoil the mystery (although I hinted on it in my status update), but the ableist language in this one is ever-returning and pretty harsh (although definitely could be worse). And my second least favourite would go to The Five Orange Pips which I'm not sure I completely got and... I just didn't like it.
To be fair, I had ethical problems with most of the stories, but at the same time I enjoyed their disregard for the letter of the law and often avoidance of power structures. The culprits are often not punished, one gets awayour favourite Irene Adler , one is so incompetent and remorseful that Holmes lets him go, one... didn't actually commit a crime although his behaviour was terrible and Holmes decides to not to tell his client because he thinks they couldn't take it - I loathed this ending, I have to say.
My favourite story is easily The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle it is kind of silly for most part and the ending was quite good in my opinion.
I also have to give Doyle props for including quite so many female characters. He occasionally... commits some eyeroll-worthy gender non-sense stuff and a couple of the female characters are very much ladies in distress, but quite a lot of them are inventive and intelligent (Irene Adler, Violet Hunter) and some of them are even villainsagain Irene Adler and also the poor Mary Holder .
Overall, enjoyable if a bit infuriating in places. I will be reading A Study in Scarlet in soon, probably sooner than I would otherwise choose in preparation of picking up The Tea Master and the Detective. So yeah, continuing on in my way through Sherlock Holmes for now, we'll see if I'll actually manage to read all of them.
You can see a few thoughts to each of the story in my status updates, so just shortly. I did enjoy listening to those short-stories narrated by Stephen Fry. As a reader, you can't always figure them out because in some cases information is kept away from us, but a lot of them are quite easy to figure out especially since some motives keep repeating. And since Dr Watson is generally clueless you can always feel extra smart as a reward!
Some of the aspects of the stories didn't age very well, on this front my least favourite was The Man with the Twisted Lip discussing some of the reasons why would completely spoil the mystery (although I hinted on it in my status update), but the ableist language in this one is ever-returning and pretty harsh (although definitely could be worse). And my second least favourite would go to The Five Orange Pips which I'm not sure I completely got and... I just didn't like it.
To be fair, I had ethical problems with most of the stories, but at the same time I enjoyed their disregard for the letter of the law and often avoidance of power structures. The culprits are often not punished, one gets away
My favourite story is easily The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle it is kind of silly for most part and the ending was quite good in my opinion.
I also have to give Doyle props for including quite so many female characters. He occasionally... commits some eyeroll-worthy gender non-sense stuff and a couple of the female characters are very much ladies in distress, but quite a lot of them are inventive and intelligent (Irene Adler, Violet Hunter) and some of them are even villains
Overall, enjoyable if a bit infuriating in places. I will be reading A Study in Scarlet in soon, probably sooner than I would otherwise choose in preparation of picking up The Tea Master and the Detective. So yeah, continuing on in my way through Sherlock Holmes for now, we'll see if I'll actually manage to read all of them.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-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
3 hours 57 minutes - I enjoyed most of these stories. I find them quite slow to read because of the old language but it is far from inaccessible. It is fascinating, as a long time viewer of BBC Sherlock, to see where a lot of the plot points and small references originated from. Reading 12 short stories at once can become a little repetitive - they all follow pretty much the same formula. Overall though, I enjoyed my time reading this.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Repeats Scandal in Bohemia from Volume 1. Other stories are the engineer's thumb, Five Pips and Blaze.
adventurous
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
A very strong 3.5 stars when averaging out my ratings from all 12 stories. The good ones were REALLY GOOD, but the bad ones were REALLY BAD. Throughout the first half of the book I was worried that all the stories would be so blatantly obvious as, for example, "A Case of Identity," but fortunately they got better and less obvious. These are great not because of the crimes, but because of the atmosphere created.
Top 3 stories: "The Engineer's Thumb" | "The Speckled Band" | "The Copper Beeches"
Worst Story: "The Five Orange Pips"
Top 3 stories: "The Engineer's Thumb" | "The Speckled Band" | "The Copper Beeches"
Worst Story: "The Five Orange Pips"
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4/5 stars, "I really liked it"
Enjoyable collection of some of the earliest Holmes stories, first published in 1891-2. Some favorites being The Red-Headed League, The Five Orange Pips, and The Speckled Band. Each story is a 30-45 minute read, which is nice because you can knock out a tale in a single session. Looking forward to the next collection!
Enjoyable collection of some of the earliest Holmes stories, first published in 1891-2. Some favorites being The Red-Headed League, The Five Orange Pips, and The Speckled Band. Each story is a 30-45 minute read, which is nice because you can knock out a tale in a single session. Looking forward to the next collection!