Reviews

Sherlock Holmes: The Thinking Engine by James Lovegrove

a_o's review against another edition

adventurous 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

2.5

thorium0232's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

sashareadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

whiteteacat's review

adventurous 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

5.0

schwimfan's review

adventurous mysterious slow-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

3.5

thai_thien's review against another edition

informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The novels is writing in complicate language, fit for original Sherlock Holm series of Arthur Conan Doyle and H.P Lovecraft works. It is found similar to many popular Victoria steampunk works too. The wording, in my taste, is excellent.

The opening of thinking engine, the machine similar to chatgpt (2023) is quite surprise, giving  that the book is written in 2015.
However, the plot later end is somewhat dull and uninterest. The personality, development of character, especially Holm and Watson do not significant change in the whole novel. In fact, i the novel lack of emotional aspect found in original works.

Yet "Sherlock Holmes: The Thinking Engine by James Lovegrove" is still a good novel, especially for fan of either Sherlock Holm, or steampunk fan in general. 
 

ashrowe's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

5.0

pezski's review against another edition

4.0

A quick, fun read by Lovegrove, largely catching the tone and mood of the original Conan Doyle stories - and bringing a slightly more speculative fiction element sometimes found in ACDs non-Holmes stories, which just brushes the edge of steampunk. Oddly, one failing of the tone is that I found it difficult to differentiate between the voices of Holmes and Watson. Perhaps Lovegrove couldn't hep thinking of them as a single entity.


There are a number of these latter-day Holmes adventures, and i own several of them by both Lovegrove and [a:George Mann|54989|George Mann|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1294929283p2/54989.jpg] (an author deeply conversant with steampunk and Victoriana), and am looking forward to reading more.

linwearcamenel's review against another edition

1.0

Holmes and Watson were so out of character as to be unbelievable. So was every other Canon character who appears. The author couldn't even be bothered to replicate their speech patterns correctly.