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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this book. It was exactly what I wanted it to be. Wonderful mix of steampunk, romance, mystery, and fantasy.
It's not a great stand-a-lone, which is fine because it's in a trilogy and they're all released lol. Final judgement of the book will really depend on how things wind up. But definitely worth the read imho.
It's not a great stand-a-lone, which is fine because it's in a trilogy and they're all released lol. Final judgement of the book will really depend on how things wind up. But definitely worth the read imho.
A steampunk mystery set in a universe where magic is present but forbidden within the British Empire (not that this stops people, of course) and where London is controlled by an uneasy local monopoly of steam barons.
Evelina, daughter of gentry and a soldier, is torn between her two worlds, the circus where she grew up and the "civilized" society she was brought into. She can't subjugate all her old skills and instincts while acting the proper debutante - and indeed has something to hide - but neither can she now return to her roots. Add to that a murder that threatens her and everyone in her household, the possibility of love or disaster, and you've got an interesting read.
(Yes, she's Sherlock's niece, but that's really neither here nor there - it primarily serves to tether the reader in more familiar territory.)
I hadn't even finished it when I added book 2 to my list.
Evelina, daughter of gentry and a soldier, is torn between her two worlds, the circus where she grew up and the "civilized" society she was brought into. She can't subjugate all her old skills and instincts while acting the proper debutante - and indeed has something to hide - but neither can she now return to her roots. Add to that a murder that threatens her and everyone in her household, the possibility of love or disaster, and you've got an interesting read.
(Yes, she's Sherlock's niece, but that's really neither here nor there - it primarily serves to tether the reader in more familiar territory.)
I hadn't even finished it when I added book 2 to my list.
while this book had an interesting steam punk Victorian era feel to it. it was not the best I had read. it had the feel of everyone was out to get ever one else. so you never knew who the good guy a really were I like the idea of Sherlock Holmes having a nice but don't think I would read this again.
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Bought this book back in...2014 or 2015. Somewhere in there. Read it then. And I don't remember what my initial thoughts were, and I wasn't updating any sort of tracking system at the time. But it has the distinction of being, along with its two sequels, one of the last books I read for pleasure until I got out of college. I read plenty in college, just nothing that I didn't have to read.
This is part of a trilogy. First book. And here's the thing with books in a series. I'll read first books all day long. But if it doesn't hook me and intrigue me enough on something and I'm very chill about the requirements, I'm not going to keep going. If I make it to the second book, there is a stupidly high chance that I'm going to be finishing it. I am stubborn in that way. And this spells true for series in general, but in this case, specifically trilogies get those exact numbers.
I read all three. I remember reading all three. I only vaguely remember anything about the books (I had them tagged in my mind as "those steampunk magic books with Sherlock's niece" with no actual memory of plot).
Now, I've read the first one again. And while I did rewatch Ebola Holmes recently and loved it again, rereading this wasn't necessarily because of that. I wanted something outside of what I've been reading lately, which has been a whole heck of a lot of fantasy romance and I decided to dip my toe into some more historical fantasy as a palate cleaner. So, there we go with a murder mystery that also has some magic in it.
This first one, if I remember correctly, has the least amount of magic in it.
So the characters. Sherlock's niece, Ms. Evelina Cooper, is the child of two worlds. She has chosen which to live in but that doesn't mean she doesn't miss the other part of her. She's incredibly clever, inventive, and wants to attend university because that's the path she has chosen for herself.
She has a best friend, a noble named Imogen, and a pair of boys who represent the two sides of her nature: Nick and Tobias.
She gets roped into a murder mystery of her own that deals with betrayal, family, love, ambition, power, and, most importantly, magic. This is not a simple murder mystery. And it doesn't get entirely solved. All the other mysteries around the mystery (and there are many), most of them get solved. But not that original one.
Which is a problem because if you're going to have a murder mystery, you should probably answer the question of who did the murdering at the end of the book. I remembered who did it at a certain point and there are things implied, but this book doesn't reveal the murderer.
That would be frustrating if this were a standalone. And it's not. And all three books are out so you don't need to worry about having to wait. Fortunately, there are enough new questions at the end that you know things will be finished eventually. And they are. Or they mostly are. Again, it's been a hot minute since I read the other two.
Also, I really have to appreciate how the author pulled like eight different plot lines together at the end without dropping or negating most of them. That took some skillful sewing. She was juggling a lot. I actually loved all the pieces moving on the game board while the pieces tried to figure out what to do next.
It wasn't an outstanding book, but I'm still curious to know what's happening. Mostly because I don't remember what happened.
This is part of a trilogy. First book. And here's the thing with books in a series. I'll read first books all day long. But if it doesn't hook me and intrigue me enough on something and I'm very chill about the requirements, I'm not going to keep going. If I make it to the second book, there is a stupidly high chance that I'm going to be finishing it. I am stubborn in that way. And this spells true for series in general, but in this case, specifically trilogies get those exact numbers.
I read all three. I remember reading all three. I only vaguely remember anything about the books (I had them tagged in my mind as "those steampunk magic books with Sherlock's niece" with no actual memory of plot).
Now, I've read the first one again. And while I did rewatch Ebola Holmes recently and loved it again, rereading this wasn't necessarily because of that. I wanted something outside of what I've been reading lately, which has been a whole heck of a lot of fantasy romance and I decided to dip my toe into some more historical fantasy as a palate cleaner. So, there we go with a murder mystery that also has some magic in it.
This first one, if I remember correctly, has the least amount of magic in it.
So the characters. Sherlock's niece, Ms. Evelina Cooper, is the child of two worlds. She has chosen which to live in but that doesn't mean she doesn't miss the other part of her. She's incredibly clever, inventive, and wants to attend university because that's the path she has chosen for herself.
She has a best friend, a noble named Imogen, and a pair of boys who represent the two sides of her nature: Nick and Tobias.
She gets roped into a murder mystery of her own that deals with betrayal, family, love, ambition, power, and, most importantly, magic. This is not a simple murder mystery. And it doesn't get entirely solved. All the other mysteries around the mystery (and there are many), most of them get solved. But not that original one.
Which is a problem because if you're going to have a murder mystery, you should probably answer the question of who did the murdering at the end of the book. I remembered who did it at a certain point and there are things implied, but this book doesn't reveal the murderer.
That would be frustrating if this were a standalone. And it's not. And all three books are out so you don't need to worry about having to wait. Fortunately, there are enough new questions at the end that you know things will be finished eventually. And they are. Or they mostly are. Again, it's been a hot minute since I read the other two.
Also, I really have to appreciate how the author pulled like eight different plot lines together at the end without dropping or negating most of them. That took some skillful sewing. She was juggling a lot. I actually loved all the pieces moving on the game board while the pieces tried to figure out what to do next.
It wasn't an outstanding book, but I'm still curious to know what's happening. Mostly because I don't remember what happened.
This review was published first at Fantasy is More Fun.
I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Wow. A Study in Silks took me FOREVER to read! I started it April 21, shortly after y'all selected it for My TBR List, and didn't finish until May 24 (meaning I didn't get it read in time for my TBR List Review). That's probably the longest it's taken me to read a book in years - but here's the thing: I never wanted to quit reading it. A Study in Silks had great characters, a compelling plot, and a solid mystery. It just came at a point in my life where I fell asleep every time I tried to read. Bad luck:/
I'm particularly interested in the world Emma Jane Holloway created in A Study in Silks. It's very steam punk - filled with mechanical devices of all kinds - but it also has this fascinating magical element that is very different from anything I've read. There's these nature spirits -air, earth, plant, etc- called devas and it's a magic users connection with them (I think) that gives them power. I would have liked to see it a little more fleshed out - I have questions about what's unique to the main character and what's "normal".
Which brings me to the characters - I love them all, even the ones I love to hate. They're so fully developed and complicated - each and every one of them. There's a bit of a love triangle - but for me it was a but different because I equally liked and had problems with both guys making it really hard to see a clear choice. I was really happy with how it was dealt with by the end as well.
For those reading this for it's connection to Sherlock Holmes - I have no idea if it will satisfy you. I wasn't reading it for that, but I was very happy with his role in the story. For one, the mystery was a convoluted and fixed on tiny details as I remember Sherlock Holmes's stories being, which is both cool and frustrating. And he's in it a good amount - but not so much that Holloway took many liberties with his character, which I thought was appropriate.
All in all, really good and worth your time. I gave it 34 days and I don't regret it, so I suspect you won't regret the much shorter time it's likely to take you to read :)
I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Wow. A Study in Silks took me FOREVER to read! I started it April 21, shortly after y'all selected it for My TBR List, and didn't finish until May 24 (meaning I didn't get it read in time for my TBR List Review). That's probably the longest it's taken me to read a book in years - but here's the thing: I never wanted to quit reading it. A Study in Silks had great characters, a compelling plot, and a solid mystery. It just came at a point in my life where I fell asleep every time I tried to read. Bad luck:/
I'm particularly interested in the world Emma Jane Holloway created in A Study in Silks. It's very steam punk - filled with mechanical devices of all kinds - but it also has this fascinating magical element that is very different from anything I've read. There's these nature spirits -air, earth, plant, etc- called devas and it's a magic users connection with them (I think) that gives them power. I would have liked to see it a little more fleshed out - I have questions about what's unique to the main character and what's "normal".
Which brings me to the characters - I love them all, even the ones I love to hate. They're so fully developed and complicated - each and every one of them. There's a bit of a love triangle - but for me it was a but different because I equally liked and had problems with both guys making it really hard to see a clear choice. I was really happy with how it was dealt with by the end as well.
For those reading this for it's connection to Sherlock Holmes - I have no idea if it will satisfy you. I wasn't reading it for that, but I was very happy with his role in the story. For one, the mystery was a convoluted and fixed on tiny details as I remember Sherlock Holmes's stories being, which is both cool and frustrating. And he's in it a good amount - but not so much that Holloway took many liberties with his character, which I thought was appropriate.
All in all, really good and worth your time. I gave it 34 days and I don't regret it, so I suspect you won't regret the much shorter time it's likely to take you to read :)
Great Holmes story continuation
An unexpected good read in the world of Sherlock Holmes fiction. I was so hooked that the pages flew by (all 500 of them)!
An unexpected good read in the world of Sherlock Holmes fiction. I was so hooked that the pages flew by (all 500 of them)!
I can't believe I'm marking this a did not finish but here I am doing just that. The blurb had me thinking this was going to be a fast paced exciting book about Evelina Cooper Sherlock Holmes niece but instead I found myself bored, not with the main character but all the other ones. There are multiple point of views and it seems like every time we go into another characters point of view we are placed in a different plot since all of them had their own agendas. Overall from the portion that I read I found myself to be bored and there was way too much going on that I just felt like everything was all over the place.
Steampunk with a couple of unique features. First, combustion engines and such have been invented but the steam works are suppressing the technology and second, there's a couple of love interests but this is not a romance, no happily ever after here. Luckily, the steampunk fans will still love it. Can't get more Victorian than having a spot appearance from the queen herself, and the ending was actually better because the heroine was smart enough not to think love solves everything. Throw in Sherlock Holmes as a secondary character and you've got an incredible combination.
I'm still not quite sure if I liked this book or not...