Reviews

Snake Bite by Andy Lane

rivermaxfield's review against another edition

4.0

In the fifth installment of the Young Sherlock Holmes series, the most exciting adventure yet takes place. Kidnapped and dumped on a ship heading for China, Sherlock Holmes becomes a member of the crew. During a fight with ruthless Chinese pirates, Sherlock discovers some papers in the room of the sole passenger on board with strange patterns on them, like spiderwebs.

When Sherlock disembarks in China for the week the ship stays in port before turning back to England, he is caught in a deadly mystery when his friend on the ship, the Chinese cook, is killed by a snake, if the bite marks on his back are real, but there is no way for a snake to enter the room. Shortly after, there's another killing by the same snake: Sherlock's new friend's dad. While searching the dead father's room, the boys discover a secret code in the papers, which were delivered by hand from the ship's passenger to the dad the night before. The code tells about a sabotage of an American ship which will create a war, for the purposes of a trade company.

Sherlock and his friend, plus the son of the Chinese cook, search for the ship to be blown up, while also tracking the evil man who planned the sabotage and an assassin who works for him (and turns out to be his daughter). They save the ship, kill the man, and get back on the ship to England just in time.

This was a very good book, with tons of mystery. There are plenty of plot turns and well-formed characters. I didn't, however, like the ending. In the fourth book, Sherlock falls in love with his friend, Virginia. In this book, he was gone for so long that in a letter from his brother, Sherlock learns that Virginia has fallen in love with and agreed to marry another man. That was such a sad, heartbreaking ending that I hate Virginia (even though she's a fictional character), and the man she is engaged to.

Anyway, I thought it was a good book despite the heartbreaking ending, and is a great read for anyone who enjoys mysteries.

willowabookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

yeti_god's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

agnes_the_wyrm's review against another edition

1.0

This one was just... racist. A bad time.
Especially hated the scene where two white, Western boys bonded with each other by beating up three Chinese boys. What on earth was the thought process behind that scene?

manarelkodes's review against another edition

4.0

I had fun reading this One .. it wasn't the most adventurous book of the series but the ending had me shocked and hooked at the same time ...
i can't have the next book until the next book cause the library who sell it is closed for now ..

etkahler's review against another edition

4.0

If the last book upset me because of the bit of a cliffhanger, this book upset me so much that I wanted to cry.

Throughout the whole series, I've been absolutely sure that

Spoiler

Sherlock and Virginia would not end up together.

Anybody who has read the canon Sherlock Holmes knows it's going to end up like that. However, this whole time, I figured that

Spoiler

Virginia would die and that would cause Sherlock the suffering that causes him to condemn himself to bachelorhood for the rest of his life. For some reason, it never ever occurred to me that she would choose to marry somebody else! I mean, it probably should have been obvious when Sherlock was off to China for a year or more. Virginia couldn't even be sure he was still alive and if the opportunity to move on presented itself, I can't blame her for taking it. But still the pain!

That being said, the story line itself was great. The only thing that threw me was that we didn't even get into the meat of the mystery till over halfway through the book. The filler in the first half was still interesting, such as

Spoiler

Wu Chung teaching Sherlock the foundations for his knowledge of martial arts.

But I found myself constantly asking, ok, when is a murder going to happen already.

All around though, a great addition to the series, despite it ripping out my heart.

zluke's review against another edition

3.0

I felt like there was an awful lot of build up, and then the ending seemed almost too easy. The plot didn't really seem to go anywhere and it doesn't seem to have much significance within the series. I'm hoping the next book, where Lane has said Sherlock returns older, wiser and sadder will be better.

im_gay's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

shahduila's review against another edition

4.0

وجد هولمز نفسه مختطفاً على متن سفينة غلوريا سكوت المتجهة الى الصين حيث تنتظره الكثير من المغامرات في الطريق و مغامرات اكثرحين وصوله حول لدغة افعى و سفينة حربية امريكية و موت ثلاث اشخاص.
الرواية فاقت مستوى توقعاتي، اللغة جيدة جداً بغض النظر عن الاخطاء الاملائية في الترجمة كما ان الحبكة ممتازة ... رواية مليئة بالتشويق و الاثارة لكن الاحداث بالامكان توقعها اثناء القراءة ان كنت منتبهاً جداً الى ادق التفاصيل كما يفعل هولمز.

clowngirl's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.75