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harishwriter's review against another edition
4.0
Pastiche work on teenage Sherlock Holmes. Plot is intriguing and setup evocative of turn of the century. It had a tinge... Just a tinge of supernatural.
***Have never seen a crow after the sundown. That aspect in this book looked a little unrealistic. *
***Have never seen a crow after the sundown. That aspect in this book looked a little unrealistic. *
stinalee's review against another edition
3.0
#popsugar2017, The First book in a series you haven't read before.
I love all things Sherlock Holmes. This was a decent young Sherlock story.
I love all things Sherlock Holmes. This was a decent young Sherlock story.
nerfherder86's review against another edition
4.0
This is an excellent mystery and a great introduction to the character of Sherlock Holmes as a teenager. It is a completely different imagining of Sherlock's youth from the Andrew Lane Young Sherlock Holmes series ([b:Death Cloud|263050|The Death And Life Of Charlie St. Cloud|Ben Sherwood|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1329827169s/263050.jpg|2563685], darker and I think truer to the character. This 13 year old Sherlock lives in a poor section of London with his opera-loving mother and his Jewish scientist father; he often skips school to hang out in the city, where he hones the observational skills he learned from his father. But he's also taunted by street kids for being a "half-breed." When a girl is murdered in an alley, and the Muslim boy suspected of the murder proclaims his innocence to Sherlock as he is taken into custody, Sherlock feels compelled to try to find the real killer. His efforts become even more crucial when he himself is arrested as an accomplice for merely having been seen talking to the main suspect! Sherlock ends up living on the streets as a fugitive, and enlists the help of both the lowest of society--a gang of scruffy pickpockets known as the Trafalgar Square Irregulars--and the more genteel--a young woman his age named Irene Doyle. He will need all of his brains and courage to get through this dark case. I loved all the little Holmesian touches, as you see the detective's personality beginning to be formed. By the end of the book he has definitely taken steps towards his adult self, and I am curious to see what happens next in this six book series to further mold him.
rfulleman's review against another edition
3.0
Eye of the Crow, a YA story about the 13-year old Sherlock Holmes. This initial book to Shane Peacock's series The Boy Sherlock Holmes pulls in a lot of the 'canonical' Holmes information and modifies some of it along the way. In it, young Holmes is constantly on the move. It was a bit repetitive for me. Also, I didn't quite like the way Peacock uses some of those 'canonical' characters in a younger persona. I'd say this is definitely for someone who is well-read as the vocabulary of 1800s England isn't clarified much for younger readers within the text.
mackle13's review against another edition
2.0
2 1/2
Fresh on the heels of the Enola Holmes series, I was on something of a kick - so when I came across the notion of a story showing us a boy Sherlock Holmes and how he came to be who he was, I was certainly intrigued.
Unfortunately, I had some major issues with the story.
Now, there were parts of it which were interesting and Peacock seems to have given some serious thought to a background story which could possibly lead the adult Holmes to be how he was.
On the other hand, it read like many a usual detective novel, with the boy Holmes sort of blundering around looking for clues and almost accidentally coming across some bits - and having a good deal of help with others. Now, granted, this is his first case so we can't expect him to have the same deduction skills he develops - but, on the other hand, I had a hard time figuring out how this made a Holmes story, per se. Aside from some details and names, it felt like a dozen other YA mystery books I've read.
Also, I sort of got tired of the names and faces parade.
At one point Holmes meets a kindly jail visitor named Andrew C Doyle, which I could only see as a shout-out to original Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle. Mr. Doyle also has a young daughter who is interested in justice and who is introduced to the shadier sides of life through the case of the name of Irene. I presume she is the Irene Adler to be - introduced to the criminal element through Holmes, no less.
Also, Holmes is often tormented, then helped, but a gang of ruffians lead by someone called the Malefactor, who is as brilliant as Holmes and who has a grudging respect and yet hatred for our intrepid young detective. Obviously Moriarty in the making - he's even referred to as a young Napoleon of crime at one point.
The detective who gives Holmes and his family such trouble is elder Lestrade, and in the course of the book Holmes views younger Lestrade helping out his father.
A newspaper vendor who is friendly towards Holmes is called Dupin, which I imagine is a shout-out to Poe's detective C. Auguste Dupin - a character which laid the foundation for Doyle's Holmes in the first place.
And, lastly, in one scene we briefly see a young medical student who was a bit stout around the middle. I actively rolled my eyes at this point on the assumption that this was a glimpse of a young Watson.
Now, sometimes I read stories which have these little shout outs and things and I can smile - usually those stories are more humorous in tone, though. In this book which was ever-so-serious (sometimes rather melodramatically so), it just seemed twee. (And while I'm not a purist, per se, introducing Holmes to Irene Adler and Moriarty at a young age just plays with the timeline far too much for my tastes.)
Anyway... aside from all that, and the melodrama, there's also the fact that it just sort of meandered on. Again, I don't expect the young Holmes on his first case to come in and solve it in 5 minutes, but nor do I expect him to wander practically aimless for days on end, either. Towards the end of the book I flipped ahead to see how many pages I had left because it just seemed to develop far too slowly.
All that aside, it wasn't terrible, and I see potential here. I may pick up the second book at some point to see if the general narration gets any better - tighter, more fast paced, less riddled with oh-so-clever easter eggs... because it is an interesting, if not entirely original, conceit and I do think it offers some possibilities.
Fresh on the heels of the Enola Holmes series, I was on something of a kick - so when I came across the notion of a story showing us a boy Sherlock Holmes and how he came to be who he was, I was certainly intrigued.
Unfortunately, I had some major issues with the story.
Now, there were parts of it which were interesting and Peacock seems to have given some serious thought to a background story which could possibly lead the adult Holmes to be how he was.
On the other hand, it read like many a usual detective novel, with the boy Holmes sort of blundering around looking for clues and almost accidentally coming across some bits - and having a good deal of help with others. Now, granted, this is his first case so we can't expect him to have the same deduction skills he develops - but, on the other hand, I had a hard time figuring out how this made a Holmes story, per se. Aside from some details and names, it felt like a dozen other YA mystery books I've read.
Also, I sort of got tired of the names and faces parade.
At one point Holmes meets a kindly jail visitor named Andrew C Doyle, which I could only see as a shout-out to original Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle. Mr. Doyle also has a young daughter who is interested in justice and who is introduced to the shadier sides of life through the case of the name of Irene. I presume she is the Irene Adler to be - introduced to the criminal element through Holmes, no less.
Also, Holmes is often tormented, then helped, but a gang of ruffians lead by someone called the Malefactor, who is as brilliant as Holmes and who has a grudging respect and yet hatred for our intrepid young detective. Obviously Moriarty in the making - he's even referred to as a young Napoleon of crime at one point.
The detective who gives Holmes and his family such trouble is elder Lestrade, and in the course of the book Holmes views younger Lestrade helping out his father.
A newspaper vendor who is friendly towards Holmes is called Dupin, which I imagine is a shout-out to Poe's detective C. Auguste Dupin - a character which laid the foundation for Doyle's Holmes in the first place.
And, lastly, in one scene we briefly see a young medical student who was a bit stout around the middle. I actively rolled my eyes at this point on the assumption that this was a glimpse of a young Watson.
Now, sometimes I read stories which have these little shout outs and things and I can smile - usually those stories are more humorous in tone, though. In this book which was ever-so-serious (sometimes rather melodramatically so), it just seemed twee. (And while I'm not a purist, per se, introducing Holmes to Irene Adler and Moriarty at a young age just plays with the timeline far too much for my tastes.)
Anyway... aside from all that, and the melodrama, there's also the fact that it just sort of meandered on. Again, I don't expect the young Holmes on his first case to come in and solve it in 5 minutes, but nor do I expect him to wander practically aimless for days on end, either. Towards the end of the book I flipped ahead to see how many pages I had left because it just seemed to develop far too slowly.
All that aside, it wasn't terrible, and I see potential here. I may pick up the second book at some point to see if the general narration gets any better - tighter, more fast paced, less riddled with oh-so-clever easter eggs... because it is an interesting, if not entirely original, conceit and I do think it offers some possibilities.
minlau's review against another edition
4.0
Un libro interesante. No era el tipo de Sherlock que me esperaba, pero la verdad, el libro lo compré muy barato y es del tipo que me gusta. Tiene bastante intriga y te mantiene atento para que sucede a continuación. Si es verdad que algunas partes son un poco irreales, por que que un niño de 13 años consiga colarse en varias mansiones sin ser visto y sin que lo descubran me parece demasiado. Aún así es una historia bastante entretenida y que está bien para pasar un rato.
truestorydesu's review against another edition
3.0
In 1860s London, Sherlock Holmes is 13 years old, son of a highborn woman disowned by her family for her marriage to a poor Jew. Bullied and friendless, Sherlock spends the bulk of his days observing everything and solving small mysteries. When Sherlock decides to solve the murder of an actress, he finds himself accused of the crime. Escaping from prison with the help of Irene Doyle, a philanthropist’s daughter, Sherlock must race against the clock to solve the crime to save himself from the hangman’s noose. The story and writing begin strong, but the quality declines rapidly as the story goes on. It is almost as if Peacock lost interest in the story after the first couple of chapters. The writing goes from rich and descriptive to an all-tell no-show style that is acutely disappointing. The female characters in the novel are caricatures: Irene Doyle is flat and featureless, existing solely as a crutch for Sherlock. The women whose murder Sherlock is investigating is not even named until the latter half of the book. Sherlock’s mother, meant to be a tragic figure, becomes another throw away woman acting as motivation for Holmes. Though Peacock clearly did his research, sprinkling the story with many references to the Holmes canon, they do little to make up for the poor story and even poorer writing.
pussreboots's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not entirely sure when my obsession with Sherlock Holmes began. The Basil Rathbone movies probably came first. The books I started reading in eighth grade. I was on a school field trip and I read through a collection of the short stories on the bus ride there and back. By the end of college my mother introduced me to a new take on Sherlock by Laurie R. King, The Beekeeper's Apprentice which has grown to a twelve book series.
This summer while waiting for book twelve, The Pirate King (review coming), I have been reading through some middle grade Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Mostly I read the Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer but I also read Eye of the Crow by Shane Peacock. Peacock's book falls into the "Young Sherlock" category of stories. Like the film Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) with the awesome CGI stained glass knight, Sherlock is once again thirteen and facing a mystery that puts a woman he loves in dire peril. This first mystery is designed to show his raw talent and the diamond in the rough that will become the refined consulting-detective of Baker Street, London.
While Doyle didn't include much about Sherlock's childhood (or personal life outside of his detective work), Sherlock does mention being from a long line of country squires. So usually when Sherlock's home life is shown, it's on a small estate somewhere, usually with somewhat progressive parents, or absent parents who don't mind their son's usual hobbies.
Peacock, though, in Eye of the Crow, decides to put Sherlock and his family in near poverty, due his mother (of the country squire line) marrying a recent Jewish immigrant, a former scientist who now can't find work.
Sherlock's mixed ethnicity puts the police on his tail as they think he's an accomplice in a grisly murder outside a Muslim run butcher's. While it's an interesting conceit, it just doesn't hold up as the mystery unfolds. Sherlock's parents, father especially, go from being completely absent or at least not caring about him skipping school to helping him sneak around to solve the mystery (at great personal risk).
That brings me to Sherlock's mother. She's never described in the stories but she appears (briefly) in the Enola Holmes series and of course in The Eye of the Crow. In Peacock's book, she ends up being a victim and a catalyst for Sherlock's desire to use his street smarts to solve mysteries.
Given my options, I prefer Nancy Springer's take on Sherlock's mother. She's just as crafty as he is, and more likely to rebel, being burned out by years of playing a proper country squire's widow. She wants her freedom and she takes it (along with most of Mycroft's money). Her Bohemian attitude makes me smile and just fits better with the gestalt of Sherlock Holmes.
This summer while waiting for book twelve, The Pirate King (review coming), I have been reading through some middle grade Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Mostly I read the Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer but I also read Eye of the Crow by Shane Peacock. Peacock's book falls into the "Young Sherlock" category of stories. Like the film Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) with the awesome CGI stained glass knight, Sherlock is once again thirteen and facing a mystery that puts a woman he loves in dire peril. This first mystery is designed to show his raw talent and the diamond in the rough that will become the refined consulting-detective of Baker Street, London.
While Doyle didn't include much about Sherlock's childhood (or personal life outside of his detective work), Sherlock does mention being from a long line of country squires. So usually when Sherlock's home life is shown, it's on a small estate somewhere, usually with somewhat progressive parents, or absent parents who don't mind their son's usual hobbies.
Peacock, though, in Eye of the Crow, decides to put Sherlock and his family in near poverty, due his mother (of the country squire line) marrying a recent Jewish immigrant, a former scientist who now can't find work.
Sherlock's mixed ethnicity puts the police on his tail as they think he's an accomplice in a grisly murder outside a Muslim run butcher's. While it's an interesting conceit, it just doesn't hold up as the mystery unfolds. Sherlock's parents, father especially, go from being completely absent or at least not caring about him skipping school to helping him sneak around to solve the mystery (at great personal risk).
That brings me to Sherlock's mother. She's never described in the stories but she appears (briefly) in the Enola Holmes series and of course in The Eye of the Crow. In Peacock's book, she ends up being a victim and a catalyst for Sherlock's desire to use his street smarts to solve mysteries.
Given my options, I prefer Nancy Springer's take on Sherlock's mother. She's just as crafty as he is, and more likely to rebel, being burned out by years of playing a proper country squire's widow. She wants her freedom and she takes it (along with most of Mycroft's money). Her Bohemian attitude makes me smile and just fits better with the gestalt of Sherlock Holmes.
amdame1's review against another edition
4.0
Great story about how it all started for Sherlock Holmes - at the age of 13 when he is accused of conspiracy in a murder.
strikingthirteen's review
3.0
I've never really given much look at any of the young Sherlock Holmes literature out there before. I think it's mostly because I enjoy the Holmes/Watson dynamic a little too much. Anyway this looked interesting, and it's written by a fellow Canadian. I really liked it. I liked the idea of Sherlock's parentage (though the constant references to him as "Jew-boy" really ticked me off even despite how racist England was at the time) as well as how he's pushed into being a reasoning machine by something so human. I'm really curious to see how his relationship with his father changes as a result of his mother's death. Two very rational men now living together, I assume, after the most important person in their lives is gone. I'm also curious to see if Irene Doyle makes another appearance. I wonder if this is Irene Adler, but she's American. Don't think I'll be happy if it does end up being her but we'll see. Nothing seems to hint that so far.
Anyway it was a very enjoyable book. I really didn't pay too much attention to the mystery because I was too busy looking at how believable young Sherlock was. Now that I buy him I am curious to see how the second book is!
Anyway it was a very enjoyable book. I really didn't pay too much attention to the mystery because I was too busy looking at how believable young Sherlock was. Now that I buy him I am curious to see how the second book is!