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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF @ 50 pages from the end
This really sucked. I can't believe I didn't give up sooner. I was just trying to give my coworker's recommendation a better chance and I hate giving up on books.
Let me just break it down in categories.
Writing style
Honestly this was the absolute worst thing about this book. I didn't give up at 100 (normally my move if it's bad) because it was getting a little good for the five pages surrounding that number. And then it just sporadically went from sucking to mildly interesting. I found my eyes glazing over through sentences more times than I can count.
Character development
Nonexistent. Didn't like Janet Watson or Sara Holmes. Not even because I don't care about Sherlock and Watson. The writing was just bad and I don't think the characters developed or had any qualities at all that were likable. I also don't think they felt even remotely like genuine people. And I'm obviously not an authority on the subject, but it seems like maybe she wasn't qualified to write a black woman's POV? It just didn't feel genuine at all and it was poorly written and heavy-handed. Again, I'm not an authority on this and if you have more authority on it than me, please respond and let me know what I'm missing or misinterpreting.
Romance
Trash. Forced. No build-up. I couldn't tell most of the time if they were supposed to be romantically interested in each other or not. Not sure if the author is LGBTQ+, but I don't even really think it matters with how terrible the romance was written.
Setting
It's a near future thing, which I could handle if everything else didn't suck so bad. And if she actually described the physical setting in a way that allowed me to picture it at all. She was also very heavy-handed with the political landscape of the novel. The worst part is that I'm supportive of the MC's political ideals (thus the author's), but the book just really sucked. I also hate when fiction is close enough to reality that it can mention Trump, which it does, and places that I've been to, like Decatur, GA, which is mentioned a lot. I just don't like that for some reason.
Plot
Obviously the plot didn't keep me interested at all. I found myself thinking too many times "I don't actually even care what the big cover-up is because I don't have much compassion for a single character or possible outcome in this book."
This really sucked. I can't believe I didn't give up sooner. I was just trying to give my coworker's recommendation a better chance and I hate giving up on books.
Let me just break it down in categories.
Writing style
Honestly this was the absolute worst thing about this book. I didn't give up at 100 (normally my move if it's bad) because it was getting a little good for the five pages surrounding that number. And then it just sporadically went from sucking to mildly interesting. I found my eyes glazing over through sentences more times than I can count.
Character development
Nonexistent. Didn't like Janet Watson or Sara Holmes. Not even because I don't care about Sherlock and Watson. The writing was just bad and I don't think the characters developed or had any qualities at all that were likable. I also don't think they felt even remotely like genuine people. And I'm obviously not an authority on the subject, but it seems like maybe she wasn't qualified to write a black woman's POV? It just didn't feel genuine at all and it was poorly written and heavy-handed. Again, I'm not an authority on this and if you have more authority on it than me, please respond and let me know what I'm missing or misinterpreting.
Romance
Trash. Forced. No build-up. I couldn't tell most of the time if they were supposed to be romantically interested in each other or not. Not sure if the author is LGBTQ+, but I don't even really think it matters with how terrible the romance was written.
Setting
It's a near future thing, which I could handle if everything else didn't suck so bad. And if she actually described the physical setting in a way that allowed me to picture it at all. She was also very heavy-handed with the political landscape of the novel. The worst part is that I'm supportive of the MC's political ideals (thus the author's), but the book just really sucked. I also hate when fiction is close enough to reality that it can mention Trump, which it does, and places that I've been to, like Decatur, GA, which is mentioned a lot. I just don't like that for some reason.
Plot
Obviously the plot didn't keep me interested at all. I found myself thinking too many times "I don't actually even care what the big cover-up is because I don't have much compassion for a single character or possible outcome in this book."
The first third really hooked me... then things flattened out. It ran out of steam? The relationship doesn’t really work for me. The mystery was only in service of the other plot elements and not pursued well, for me. The recovering veteran theme is very well done.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
I thought this worked better as its own story than as a Holmes adaptation, but I enjoyed it very much.
Doctor Janet Watson lost her arm while working desperately to save injured soldiers on the front lines, ending her career both military and as a surgeon. Given honorable discharge and a partly functional mechanical prosthetic, she’s returned to Washington DC to find her way back to a normal life despite the political upheaval of the New Civil War and her own PTSD. Normal means a place to live, a more functional prosthetic, and a job. Normal means just about anything except Sara Holmes and the many many secrets she brings with her. Normal means that her patients should not be dying under suspicious circumstances, their records deleted within the day. Normal might mean having to work with her evasive and teasing roommate to follow the trail of suspicious deaths into something deeply dangerous, all in the name of justice.
I do not know what I expected when picking up Clair O’Dell’s A Study in Honor. The idea of a cyberpunk mystery using new versions of known characters appealed, though ultimately there is not much cyberpunk to it and the mystery is slow to arrive.
That is actually my biggest complaint about A Study in Honor, it is incredibly slow starting up. The first third or so of the book feels as long or longer than the entire rest of it. It has all of the introduction to the second Civil War, why it happened and how it is effecting things. It has Watson’s thoughts on the candidates for the upcoming presidential election and the promise and failings of the current president. It has Watson falling down a depression hole and just going through the motions of life for a time until the monotony of it is broken by a run in with an old army buddy and her introduction to Sara Holmes. All of this is important background, but it drags on and on. The official blurb does not really help this, given that it covers most of the book, which could easily make the slow start feel even more so. The plot really only starts after Watson has moved into apartment 2B and been given reason to suspect that Holmes is more than she seems.
Holmes herself feels like an oddity. Simultaneously charming and infuriating, Holmes spends much of the early book seemingly toying with Watson by playing a game of questions and half truths. She has some really concerning behavior at one point, it gets explained later in the book but still feels really off from a character Watson and the reader are meant to come to trust. There really never is a point where it feels like the reader could catch up to her even if the reader has figured out what will happen on their own. Her seemingly endless wealth of information and resources just puts her so far outside of what Watson could know that it feels in places like she is being dragged along by some force of nature as Sara Holmes jumps from clue to unknown clue, hauling the plot along with her.
All this feels far more negative than I entirely mean for it to. The plot is familiar enough to figure out what will happen and roughly in what order. The characters of Dr. Janet Watson and Sara Holmes are well written and consistent, Watson perhaps more so since she is the reader’s view into all of this. The background conflict of the New Civil War has far reaching consequences, both serving as the inciting incident for Watson’s return to Washington, DC as well as touching most every major plot point. It feels like a big dangerous thing rather than serving as an excuse for Watson to have been injured and honorably discharged from the army and then just dropped.
Overall, I enjoyed A Study in Honor and I look forward to the follow up, I also appreciate though that A Study in Honor feels like a complete story on its own. I would read more of O’Dell’s writing. So, while it loses a little bit for me due to how slow it starts, I give A Study in Honor a four out of five.
Review was originally posted at https://tympestbooks.wordpress.com/2020/06/05/a-study-in-honor/
I do not know what I expected when picking up Clair O’Dell’s A Study in Honor. The idea of a cyberpunk mystery using new versions of known characters appealed, though ultimately there is not much cyberpunk to it and the mystery is slow to arrive.
That is actually my biggest complaint about A Study in Honor, it is incredibly slow starting up. The first third or so of the book feels as long or longer than the entire rest of it. It has all of the introduction to the second Civil War, why it happened and how it is effecting things. It has Watson’s thoughts on the candidates for the upcoming presidential election and the promise and failings of the current president. It has Watson falling down a depression hole and just going through the motions of life for a time until the monotony of it is broken by a run in with an old army buddy and her introduction to Sara Holmes. All of this is important background, but it drags on and on. The official blurb does not really help this, given that it covers most of the book, which could easily make the slow start feel even more so. The plot really only starts after Watson has moved into apartment 2B and been given reason to suspect that Holmes is more than she seems.
Holmes herself feels like an oddity. Simultaneously charming and infuriating, Holmes spends much of the early book seemingly toying with Watson by playing a game of questions and half truths. She has some really concerning behavior at one point, it gets explained later in the book but still feels really off from a character Watson and the reader are meant to come to trust. There really never is a point where it feels like the reader could catch up to her even if the reader has figured out what will happen on their own. Her seemingly endless wealth of information and resources just puts her so far outside of what Watson could know that it feels in places like she is being dragged along by some force of nature as Sara Holmes jumps from clue to unknown clue, hauling the plot along with her.
All this feels far more negative than I entirely mean for it to. The plot is familiar enough to figure out what will happen and roughly in what order. The characters of Dr. Janet Watson and Sara Holmes are well written and consistent, Watson perhaps more so since she is the reader’s view into all of this. The background conflict of the New Civil War has far reaching consequences, both serving as the inciting incident for Watson’s return to Washington, DC as well as touching most every major plot point. It feels like a big dangerous thing rather than serving as an excuse for Watson to have been injured and honorably discharged from the army and then just dropped.
Overall, I enjoyed A Study in Honor and I look forward to the follow up, I also appreciate though that A Study in Honor feels like a complete story on its own. I would read more of O’Dell’s writing. So, while it loses a little bit for me due to how slow it starts, I give A Study in Honor a four out of five.
Review was originally posted at https://tympestbooks.wordpress.com/2020/06/05/a-study-in-honor/
Every time Sara Holmes called Janet Watson 'love', I took psychic damage. <3
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated