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cj13's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Dementia, Blood, and Car accident
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Misogyny
kleverkira's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
klparmley's review
2.0
Not a bad story. But this Holmes isn't a natural progression from Doyle's Holmes. If he had been Holmes-like but not meant to be the original, I would have struggled less. This character doesn't fit in the Holmes-shaped place in my head.
toulouse757's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
3.75
lurker_stalker's review against another edition
4.0
Ok, it took me a very long time to finish the book but I did enjoy it. I think the narration made it very hard to stay immersed in the story (stories). The narrator did a good job giving the key players their own, distinct voices but they were all slow and fairly monotone and I found myself drifting away for long periods of time and then hitting rewind a lot. And then drifting away again and hitting rewind more. And so on and so on.
I think if I try another of the Mary Russell stories, I'll read it with my eyeballs.
I think if I try another of the Mary Russell stories, I'll read it with my eyeballs.
lisaarnsdorf's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Way too long! The first part of the novel, culminating in the kidnapping, was the perfect ending place, in my opinion. But the story kept going and the cat and mouse portion of the book was seemingly endless. I almost threw in the towel when Mary Russel and Sherlock Holmes took an unrelated trip to Israel. Mary starts the section by telling us she isn’t going to bore us with all the details, and then she bores us with all the details. There were no clues leading us to the culprit, so it seemed completely uninspired and random, and frankly, lazy. I do not plan to read any more of this series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Gun violence
bargainsleuth's review
5.0
For this and all my other book reviews, visit www.bargain-sleuth.com
There was a time when I read through the Sherlock Holmes canon and devoured my library and local used bookstores for every pastiche story I could find. One of the audiobooks I got from the library was this book. I was skeptical of the premise: a teenage girl meeting a middle-aged Sherlock and equaling him? It couldn’t be. But the way Laurie R. King writes leaves little to wonder how it didn’t happen earlier.
Mary Russell has been described as a Mary Sue, but I don’t see her that way. She is very smart and attractive and independent and has great deductive reasoning like Nancy Drew, but she’s flawed, too. As the editor’s note describes at the beginning of the story, this manuscript was found and is supposedly written by Mary, so of course, she’d toot her own horn and concentrate on the positive aspects of her personality.
And the Holmes in this story has softened with his older age, but not enough that he hasn’t lost his sleuthing skills. Just because he’s “retired” doesn’t mean he hasn’t got his foot in all the latest deductive techniques. Beekeeping is a noble hobby, but Holmes also has other things keeping his brain sharp while in seclusion.
The two are thrown into a series of cases over the next three years, as Mary matures to an 18-year-old and attends college. While some people take issue with the Holmes/Russell dynamic, I don’t as I know Laurie R. King and I both married older men. What started out as a mentor relationship evolves as Mary grows older. She’s wise beyond her years, and her time with Holmes and away at school adds to that maturity. There are no bodice-ripping scenes here, just an understanding between Holmes and Russell, and that’s good enough for me.
King’s writing style is similar enough to Conan Doyle that one can imagine the book as a continuation of the canon with a new narrator. My only complaint is that Watson isn’t portrayed in the best light, more along the Nigel Bruce depictions of him than the canon or more modern interpretations of the character have allowed.
There was a time when I read through the Sherlock Holmes canon and devoured my library and local used bookstores for every pastiche story I could find. One of the audiobooks I got from the library was this book. I was skeptical of the premise: a teenage girl meeting a middle-aged Sherlock and equaling him? It couldn’t be. But the way Laurie R. King writes leaves little to wonder how it didn’t happen earlier.
Mary Russell has been described as a Mary Sue, but I don’t see her that way. She is very smart and attractive and independent and has great deductive reasoning like Nancy Drew, but she’s flawed, too. As the editor’s note describes at the beginning of the story, this manuscript was found and is supposedly written by Mary, so of course, she’d toot her own horn and concentrate on the positive aspects of her personality.
And the Holmes in this story has softened with his older age, but not enough that he hasn’t lost his sleuthing skills. Just because he’s “retired” doesn’t mean he hasn’t got his foot in all the latest deductive techniques. Beekeeping is a noble hobby, but Holmes also has other things keeping his brain sharp while in seclusion.
The two are thrown into a series of cases over the next three years, as Mary matures to an 18-year-old and attends college. While some people take issue with the Holmes/Russell dynamic, I don’t as I know Laurie R. King and I both married older men. What started out as a mentor relationship evolves as Mary grows older. She’s wise beyond her years, and her time with Holmes and away at school adds to that maturity. There are no bodice-ripping scenes here, just an understanding between Holmes and Russell, and that’s good enough for me.
King’s writing style is similar enough to Conan Doyle that one can imagine the book as a continuation of the canon with a new narrator. My only complaint is that Watson isn’t portrayed in the best light, more along the Nigel Bruce depictions of him than the canon or more modern interpretations of the character have allowed.
book_concierge's review against another edition
4.0
When we first meet Mary Russell, she is a 15-year-old orphan, walking the Sussex Downs near her farm in England. She nearly trips over an “old man,” and soon deduces that he is the retired detective Sherlock Holmes. Mary quickly impresses Holmes with her powers of deduction and a friendship begins. It isn’t long before there is a “minor” case of burglary in the area, which Mary is able to solve, and this cements their relationship and increases Holmes’s interest in taking her on formally as his apprentice.
This is a clever and interesting take-off on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works featuring Holmes and Dr Watson. Unlike Watson, Mary is close to Holmes’s equal in deductive reasoning and powers of observation. She is quick witted, intelligent, assertive, a good actress, and physically strong and agile. I like that King has this work span several years, allowing for some needed maturation of Mary before she is fully tested. I think she behaves in a manner consistent with her age, social standing, experience, and emotional growth. If I had any complaint with Doyle’s Sherlock it was his superior attitude, but seen through Mary’s eyes, I can more easily tolerate his “all-knowing” persona. It helps that in his “old age” Holmes misses a clue or two which Mary catches and points out to him. Way to go, Mary!
The action was a bit slow in places, but I think King needed time to set up her characters and their relationship, so I’m okay with that. It was relatively faithful to Doyle’s style, and, as it is written in first person (as Mary’s recollections), I would expect that kind of pacing and sentence structure. My only regret is that I waited so long to get to this book. I look forward to more of this series
This is a clever and interesting take-off on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works featuring Holmes and Dr Watson. Unlike Watson, Mary is close to Holmes’s equal in deductive reasoning and powers of observation. She is quick witted, intelligent, assertive, a good actress, and physically strong and agile. I like that King has this work span several years, allowing for some needed maturation of Mary before she is fully tested. I think she behaves in a manner consistent with her age, social standing, experience, and emotional growth. If I had any complaint with Doyle’s Sherlock it was his superior attitude, but seen through Mary’s eyes, I can more easily tolerate his “all-knowing” persona. It helps that in his “old age” Holmes misses a clue or two which Mary catches and points out to him. Way to go, Mary!
The action was a bit slow in places, but I think King needed time to set up her characters and their relationship, so I’m okay with that. It was relatively faithful to Doyle’s style, and, as it is written in first person (as Mary’s recollections), I would expect that kind of pacing and sentence structure. My only regret is that I waited so long to get to this book. I look forward to more of this series