Reviews

221B: Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection by Arthur Conan Doyle

clubuntu's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

I finished all of the Sherlock Holmes’ cases and I don’t know why I feel like crying, I’m so happy to have read them and if it weren’t for BBC’s Sherlock I might never have done it. I really liked it.

My favorites cases:

  • Study in Scarlet.

  • The Speckled Band

  • The Noble Bachelor

  • The Beryl Coronet

  • The Copper Beeches

  • The Musgrave Ritual

  • The Final Problem

  • The Empty House

  • The Dancing Men

  • Charles Augustus Milverton

  • The Six Napoleons

  • The Hounds of the Baskervilles

  • The Bruce-Partington Plans

  • The Dying Detective

  • The Devil’s Foot

  • His Last Bow

  • The Mazarin Stone

  • The Three Garridebs

  • The Lion’s Mane

  • The Veiled Lodger

tobymacl's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Good fun classic. Dated cultural reference on occasion but thoroughly enjoyable. Valley of fear a v entertaining diversion from the more formulaic SH template.

marieintheraw's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Overall Average: 3.65 stars

Study in Scarlet: 4 stars
Sign of Four: 3 stars
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: average 3.84 stars
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: average 3.82 stars
The Hound of the Baskervilles: 4 stars
The Return of Sherlock Holmes: 3.54 average
The Valley of Fear: 4 stars
His Last Bow: average 3.5 stars
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes: average 3.16 stars

For more specific ratings in the short story collections I did compile a blog post of all my ratings: https://amberinoface.wordpress.com/2016/09/27/sherlock-september-wrap-up/

lucyhargrave's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I’m glad I finally finished this but I can’t say I particularly enjoyed listening to it. Some of the stories where intriguing and they kept you guessing but I couldn’t get other the (I suppose) period typical racism, sexism and the use of eugenics to sold the crimes. The N word is used throughout, anyone who isn’t British is described with negative connotations and women are either insipid lovelorn creatures or devilish temptresses with magical power over man. By the end I was over Holmes superior attitude and dislike of everyone but Watson.

I’m glad I read it purely due to the legacy Sherlock Holmes has left on literature and culture BUT I really couldn’t recommend it.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

peevie's review against another edition

Go to review page

Will come back to it but it has many short stories in one book

meecespieces's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

yukafujita's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.0

kberry513's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

It took me an inordinate amount of time to make it all the way through this, considering how much I enjoyed it. I mostly read a story here and there as a pre-bed ritual, so it was much slower project than my usual.
I feel like I'm going to want to start again in not that long, since it took over a year for me to read it, but I have several other similar volumes to wade through before I can do that!
Since I also love the BBC show Sherlock, I was stoked to find that there are a lot of nods to the original material in the show that I wouldn't have noticed, including quotes that are almost verbatim from the books.
I want to belong to the Diogenes Club! I would love an antisocial place where I could read undisturbed. I'm forever working on my RBF so people won't talk to me when I'm reading in public, but apparently it is not as off-putting as I could hope.
The one thing I have to say is that it is remarkably racist at some points, but it is clearly a product of the time that it was written. There is even one part that paints an extremely poor picture of the Mormons. So if I was reading this to children, I may take pains to gloss over some of the stories. There is also some inherent sexism, but nothing too terrible.

nwong12's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging funny relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

vivi_reads_writes's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous informative inspiring mysterious tense slow-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