Reviews

O Jerusalem by Laurie R. King

bhnmt61's review against another edition

4.0

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes need to get out of England, so Sherlock’s brother Mycroft decides they could take care of a little situation in Palestine for him. The situation turns out to involve British spies, Turkish nationalists, explosives, the real-life war hero General Allenby, and a whole lot of staying up all night.

The story is good once it gets started but I read it on kindle and I think I was close to 40% before it felt like anything happened. I think with these books it helps to remember that really they are about Mary Russell— she narrates in first person, and Sherlock is often not present. Otherwise I might quibble more with King’s interpretation of the iconic detective. If you can get past that, this series is a lot of fun. My verdict: 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

kalliegrace's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

3.5, not better than previous books but still an immersive story with rich characters and culture and danger for our characters. I like how Holmes respects Russell as a whole person capable of everything he is.

terrym10's review against another edition

4.0

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the previous books in the series, but I couldn’t get into this one until halfway in. From that point on I couldn’t put it down! As always with this Sherlock Holmes fan fiction series, I learned a lot about history and really enjoyed the setting of Palestine. My advice if you find it slow-going at first is to keep going as it definitely gets better!

elisekalika's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

crystalmbookshelf83's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

bmueller90's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.75

I have read others in the series and enjoyed them but I found this one a bit tedious with far too much description of the physical landscape. The first 200 pages were a bit of a slog, but the end picked up. 

gmamartha's review against another edition

4.0

The missing adventure to 1918 Palestine journey from The Beekeepers Apprentice.

b0hemian_graham's review against another edition

2.0

Actually, it's more like 2.5 stars, since Good Reads refuses to do that half star thing.

Mary Russell has officially plunged into the deep end of Mary Sue with the

Spoiler

perfect knife throwing abilities and skinny dipping parties with Sherlock Holmes. I'm now remembering why I gave up on this series back in 2008/2009. The Beekeeper's Apprentice had trace amounts of "sue-ness," (actually, quite a lot after re-reading a few weeks ago, hence taking off a star from my initial rating), but it was tolerable, and it's still a fun novel to read. However the "sue-ness" of Mary Russell progressively became worse, and after re-reading the first four books, and getting into this one for the first time, it seems to jump out even more quickly. I will finish the series, as I did stick it out for Sookie Stackhouse, another series that started out decent (entertaining, but definitely not high calibre fiction), but became laughably bad with each subsequent novel.

Next time anyone who claims Steven Moffat has ruined Sherlock and that Season 3 Sherlock was totally out of character, just point them to this series, because Moffat and Gatiss are far truer to the character than King. While Sherlock may

Spoiler

shoot CAM in the head at the end of His Last Vow

, it's far more in character than having a

Spoiler

60-ish Sherlock passionately kiss a woman almost 40 years younger, and claiming that he's wanted to do that since he first met her. Extra squickiness, she was 15 at the time and was dressed as a boy.

That particular bit from A Monstrous Regiment of Women bothered me when I first read the novel, long before Sherlock was even on the air.

King's writing isn't terrible, it's just not Sherlock Holmes. It's only been re-reading them that they seem lacklustre, and with so many other good characterisations of Holmes out there recently, this series seems worse than it is. Perhaps there's still some hope for improvement of this series.

I am interested in seeing if Moffat and Gatiss do take anything from King's canon, as according to them, "everything is Canon," and they have borrowed heavily from other non-ACD versions of Holmes.

e_a_bee's review

adventurous mysterious medium-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

3.0

Good book. Glad I read it second.

susan_ok's review against another edition

4.0

This series is really well-written and I was somewhat enthralled by the process Holmes and Mary took assuming a new identity. It was very realistic. I wanted the ending to happen faster but that's a common complaint of mine.