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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I just love this series! I've never liked a Holmes sequel until I came across this one.
If you accept the premise that Sherlock Holmes has married a much younger woman who he has trained to be as omni-competent as himself this is rollicking good fun. Russell and Holmes are on a mission to India to locate Kimball O’Hara of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim fame. Well, if Holmes is real, why not. They travel to India by boat and fall in with friends of a maharaja and Russell is then invited to stay while Holmes is in disguise as a native conjuror. Hi jinks ensue. Very entertaining with loads of exciting action.
This is my second time through this particular novel and while it is still quite good, it is also the second time where it took me forever to get into and longer than usual to finish. Not my favorite of the series but far, but I have yet to run across anything with Russell and Holmes that I dislike.
adventurous
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:
No
I found this book hard to rate. I think overall it deserves a 3.5 star rating and I wish goodreads allowed for those half stars. The story itself if probably the best Holmes/ Russell tale so far. It is fast paced and engaging. The writing is where King falls short this time. There are many repetitions and several long sequences where Russell merely describes what is happening instead of sharing what she is thinking/ feeling/ experiencing. It also left me with a lot of loose ends - why does O'Hara remind Russell of a murderer from France? Who tried to kill them in Adad? Who was the woman on the ship that knew Holmes? Unless these questions will be answered in future books, that seemed like lazy writing to me. We'll see what happens next, I suppose.
Love this one as well. Ooo, the history in this one is so great! Having a older Kim from Kipling is awesome, and the views of British India are fascinating.
I really enjoyed this book. I feel that if you have reached this point in the series you have settled in for the long haul. I really enjoyed learning the basics about india during this time period. I had no previous knowledge about the caste system, the different areas of India, the English rule combined with the local rule of the princes in their own areas of the country and certainly never thought about the lands that surround India, Russia and Tibit, and how that affects their involvement in world activities. The book ended with some surprises but for the most part it was just an adventure with Russell and Holmes as Russell starts traveling the world in her early 20's and learning about it.
This is the seventh in the series, and I've been working my way through. I did not like this one as much as some of the others--but since number 6 was my favorite so far, probably this one was in trouble to begin with. Objectively, though, the plot here gets pretty outlandish, especially at the end, As always, though, Ms. King knows her geography, history and culture (this one is set in India during the Raj), and her portraits of Holmes and Russell are tight and consistent, so I enjoyed most of the novel, and will certainly continue on with the series.
Spoiler
not to mention extremely derivative of "The Most Dangerous Game." Given the title, perhaps she knew that, but I didn't find that particular aspect of the book to be clever or interesting.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced