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sanjee_b's review against another edition
5.0
Another amazing mystery that kept me turning the pages! Love the combination of Wilde, Doyle and Sherard because one can 'hear' them as well as get to know them as individuals, instead of just seeing them as the mighty literary figures they are. Wonderful!
krisrid's review against another edition
1.0
I really enjoyed the first two books in this series. This third one left me cold, unfortunately, and I did not finish it.
The first two books really provided exposure to the witty, sparkling personality that we have come to know as Wilde`s - the clever comments, the snappy repartee with all those around him. I felt like that was missing in the first 10 chapters of this installment (where I stopped).
This book also felt very slow-paced to me. The murder had not yet occurred at chapter nine, and the activities that did happen were not anything that seemed remotely relevant or interesting (at least, not to me).
The setting may be part of the problem - Wilde takes an ocean voyage in the early part of the book - and while it is certainly possible that those events connect to the rest of the book`s plot, I just didn`t care enough about them to stay with it.
I would consider future installments of the series, as I really did enjoy the first two. This one didn`t work for me, but I like the concept. This may just be an anomaly of subject that wasn`t a fit for my interest.
The first two books really provided exposure to the witty, sparkling personality that we have come to know as Wilde`s - the clever comments, the snappy repartee with all those around him. I felt like that was missing in the first 10 chapters of this installment (where I stopped).
This book also felt very slow-paced to me. The murder had not yet occurred at chapter nine, and the activities that did happen were not anything that seemed remotely relevant or interesting (at least, not to me).
The setting may be part of the problem - Wilde takes an ocean voyage in the early part of the book - and while it is certainly possible that those events connect to the rest of the book`s plot, I just didn`t care enough about them to stay with it.
I would consider future installments of the series, as I really did enjoy the first two. This one didn`t work for me, but I like the concept. This may just be an anomaly of subject that wasn`t a fit for my interest.
liriel27's review against another edition
2.0
Oh, I did NOT like the style of this one. I understand the conceit, but just as Conan Doyle does in the second half of "Study in Scarlet," there's a weird and off-putting distance to the writing here. Conan Doyle gets away with it because he's Conan Doyle, and that particular part isn't about Sherlock. Brandreth is not Conan Doyle. He needs to keep the immediacy of having his audience "with" his Sherlock (Wilde) all the way - especially if Sherard is going to get it wrong anyway.
The story isn't bad, but this book dragged for me.
The story isn't bad, but this book dragged for me.
schlinkles's review against another edition
3.0
This one kind of bored me. Not as engaging as the first two.
cspiwak's review
4.0
The Wilde quotes sprinkled throughout are always entertaining.
The mystery was, as usual, somewhat secondary to the pleasure of
Oscar's company, but adequate.
The mystery was, as usual, somewhat secondary to the pleasure of
Oscar's company, but adequate.
lordofthemoon's review
4.0
I have fond memories of Gyles Brandreth and his jumpers from my childhood on TV-am and still enjoy his media appearances, even if he is a Tory. I've never until now encountered any of his written work but this was a pleasant introduction to it. This is part of a series starring Oscar Wilde in a detective role, solving murder mysteries, with a dramatis personae of historical characters, including Robert Sherard and Arthur Conan Doyle. The real characters are woven skilfully into the narrative and several times I had to google a character or location to see if it was real or not.
Having a good backdrop would be pointless if the story itself wasn't up to scratch, but thankfully it is. Brandreth weaves together a tale that takes Wilde from a lecture tour of the US to a collaboration with a celebrated Parisian theatre company for a production of Hamlet. The story is fairly slow-burning with a plot that only comes together right at the end, with a twist that turns what appears to be a very pedestrian ending into something much more interesting.
The plot may be slow-burning, but the character are all very vivid, especially Wilde himself, who jumps out from the page. Brandreth also provides some context for some of Wilde's more famous quotes which raise a smile, although whether the fiction matches the fact is harder to judge. Sherard is more muted, the Watson to Wilde's Holmes but even he gets some excitement in the form of a duel later in the book.
I wasn't sure if I'd like this book, bringing together, as it does, historical figures in a fictional setting, but it worked remarkably well for me, so I'll certainly look out for others in the series.
Having a good backdrop would be pointless if the story itself wasn't up to scratch, but thankfully it is. Brandreth weaves together a tale that takes Wilde from a lecture tour of the US to a collaboration with a celebrated Parisian theatre company for a production of Hamlet. The story is fairly slow-burning with a plot that only comes together right at the end, with a twist that turns what appears to be a very pedestrian ending into something much more interesting.
The plot may be slow-burning, but the character are all very vivid, especially Wilde himself, who jumps out from the page. Brandreth also provides some context for some of Wilde's more famous quotes which raise a smile, although whether the fiction matches the fact is harder to judge. Sherard is more muted, the Watson to Wilde's Holmes but even he gets some excitement in the form of a duel later in the book.
I wasn't sure if I'd like this book, bringing together, as it does, historical figures in a fictional setting, but it worked remarkably well for me, so I'll certainly look out for others in the series.
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