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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
my last mary russell novel for awhile im afarid. when your mystery becomes predictable no longer is it good.
I was a little dubious about these mysteries, which feature Sherlock Holmes and a younger female protegee named Mary Russel, but I actually ended up enjoying this quite a lot. King ends up truly writing a mystery in the Sherlockian vein, albeit longer than most of Doyle's; there are the same sort of improbable machinations, with people running about in disguise and impersonating nobility and all of that good stuff. King also, wisely perhaps, keeps Russel firmly in the foreground of the mystery, with Holmes as an important but less active character. I mean to find some of the other Mary Russel mysteries, as it seems that I inadvertantly picked up one of the later books in the series, and there were a lot of things that probably would have made more sense if I'd read the earlier books first.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is my favorite Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes book. The audiobook is fantastic, and I listen to it about once every six months. It is a 1920's British historical mystery, set a little bit in Canada. British great house/family, with realistic social commentary about British nobility and World War I. I believe the Mary Russell books are best read in internal chronological order.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War
Moderate: Alcohol
I thought of quitting this book quite a few times (I mean, a whole chapter on pigeon shooting, no thank you!!!) but I kept thinking, there must be a reason why it has such good reviews, so I read a bit more, a bit more again and then, once I passed the half way mark, it all changed and it became so much more fast paced and interesting that I read the rest in one sitting. It's as if the first and second halves belonged to different books, but it was worth the perseverance.
Probably the weakest of all the Russell books, which is sad, considering what the teasers of the book hinted it might be like.
I'd taken quite an extended break from the Mary Russell series -- not for any particular reason, but just because my TBR list was so large. So when I came back to the series with this, the 6th book, I had forgotten just how much I like King's work. The mystery was complex, but not overly so; the setting was incredibly real and made me feel like I was there, in the old majestic home, visiting the library, and batting around the wet and cold landscape.
I don't think I'll wait quite so long before continuing on to the next book in the series!
I don't think I'll wait quite so long before continuing on to the next book in the series!
2.75-ish
A fair to middling entrance in the series - not terrible, and not great, but maybe a little bit better than just ok.
It was interesting to see Mahmoud and Ali again from 'O Jerusalem', and in such a different context.
I think some of the best parts were the historical bits - like learning more about the War and the British governments cases of executing soldiers for desertion or, in the case of the story, for refusing bad orders, without any real trial or defense. It was sad and horrible.
The case... well, like I said, fair to middling. As with these books in general, there isn't a lot of seeing scant evidence and making grand deductions via ratiocination as much as there's a lot of normal detective type wandering around, looking for/stumbling across clues, sometimes getting lucky, sometimes not, so on and so forth.
Stuff that did happen in Doyle's stories, but mostly off the page.
While I do enjoy the stories, and the characters and the world, I don't feel like any of the cases really make the characters really shine.
I can't really put my finger on my mixed feelings of this series... so I guess I'll sum it up by saying I like them, but I think they could be more.
A fair to middling entrance in the series - not terrible, and not great, but maybe a little bit better than just ok.
It was interesting to see Mahmoud and Ali again from 'O Jerusalem', and in such a different context.
I think some of the best parts were the historical bits - like learning more about the War and the British governments cases of executing soldiers for desertion or, in the case of the story, for refusing bad orders, without any real trial or defense. It was sad and horrible.
The case... well, like I said, fair to middling. As with these books in general, there isn't a lot of seeing scant evidence and making grand deductions via ratiocination as much as there's a lot of normal detective type wandering around, looking for/stumbling across clues, sometimes getting lucky, sometimes not, so on and so forth.
Stuff that did happen in Doyle's stories, but mostly off the page.
While I do enjoy the stories, and the characters and the world, I don't feel like any of the cases really make the characters really shine.
I can't really put my finger on my mixed feelings of this series... so I guess I'll sum it up by saying I like them, but I think they could be more.
The sixth Mary Russell / Sherlock Holmes story brings back Ali and Mahmoud from O Jerusalem, now in their original form as English gentlemen, not Bedouins. Turns out Mahmoud, now known as Marsh, is a wealthy duke with a huge estate, who only wants to return to Palestine with Ali, not, it turns out, his brother but his cousin Alistair. A beloved nephew Gabriel was killed - executed? - in WWI and Sherlock and Mary want to not only help Marsh free himself from the albatross of Justice Hall but determine the truth about Gabriel’s death. I’ve found the characters of Mahmoud / Marsh and Ali / Alistair the most intriguing of all and would look forward to seeing a lot more of them. As a result, aside from Beekeeper’s Apprentice (the first in the series), Justice Hall and O Jerusalem have been my favorites.
Much more engaging than the last one (Oh Jerusalem ). Good plot and I’m away so up for manor houses.
However, it suffers from series decline issues. The relationship between Holmes and Russell is so interesting in the first 3 books but now some of the rules of that are left out. Also, Russell is less skilled in some scenes than previously. Annoying.
And generally, I’m ready to take a break from books that center on the trauma of WWI.
However, it suffers from series decline issues. The relationship between Holmes and Russell is so interesting in the first 3 books but now some of the rules of that are left out. Also, Russell is less skilled in some scenes than previously. Annoying.
And generally, I’m ready to take a break from books that center on the trauma of WWI.