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fieldri1968 's review for:
A Study in Scarlet
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Notes:
* I listened to all of the Sherlock Holmes books having downloaded them as my latest Audible purchase.
* The narration by Stephen Fry is excellent in all the stories bar one, which I'll comment on at the appropriate point.
* The use of Stephen Fry does set off some sort of cognitive dissonance in my head because his narration is so strongly tied in with the Harry Potter audiobooks, but he clearly loves the Holmes stories, and even provides an interesting foreword for each novel and collection of short stories.
* Lots of the comments on Audible focus on the fact that there is no attempt to match up the blocks of audio that you download from Audible with the books. You'll find you are half way through a particular book when the file finishes and you have to navigate to the next block. It is a minor point, but it is worth having the next block downloaded if you are going to be having an extended listen.
Now to comments on this particular novel.
At the start of any book there is some work to do to introduce the characters, their personalities, the nature of their interaction and the like. Sometimes this can be a lengthy process, but the start of the first Holmes book sets out to plonk you down in the middle of the action as soon as possible. There are lots of hints as to the more eccentric aspects of Holmes' character at this stage, but they all become clearer as time goes by.
The crime itself is interesting. The setting up of red herrings that the police follow faithfully and the juxtaposition of Holmes' methods is excellent. The crime is suitably arcane and satisfying.
I remember when I read the book a while back that the second part of the book, which largely provides the context and the mitigation for the crime felt very jarring. I suspect I had downloaded the book for my Kindle from Gutenberg or similar, and initially I wondered whether I had started on another book entirely! It is worth persevering though as it all comes to a satisfying conclusion in the end.
* I listened to all of the Sherlock Holmes books having downloaded them as my latest Audible purchase.
* The narration by Stephen Fry is excellent in all the stories bar one, which I'll comment on at the appropriate point.
* The use of Stephen Fry does set off some sort of cognitive dissonance in my head because his narration is so strongly tied in with the Harry Potter audiobooks, but he clearly loves the Holmes stories, and even provides an interesting foreword for each novel and collection of short stories.
* Lots of the comments on Audible focus on the fact that there is no attempt to match up the blocks of audio that you download from Audible with the books. You'll find you are half way through a particular book when the file finishes and you have to navigate to the next block. It is a minor point, but it is worth having the next block downloaded if you are going to be having an extended listen.
Now to comments on this particular novel.
At the start of any book there is some work to do to introduce the characters, their personalities, the nature of their interaction and the like. Sometimes this can be a lengthy process, but the start of the first Holmes book sets out to plonk you down in the middle of the action as soon as possible. There are lots of hints as to the more eccentric aspects of Holmes' character at this stage, but they all become clearer as time goes by.
The crime itself is interesting. The setting up of red herrings that the police follow faithfully and the juxtaposition of Holmes' methods is excellent. The crime is suitably arcane and satisfying.
I remember when I read the book a while back that the second part of the book, which largely provides the context and the mitigation for the crime felt very jarring. I suspect I had downloaded the book for my Kindle from Gutenberg or similar, and initially I wondered whether I had started on another book entirely! It is worth persevering though as it all comes to a satisfying conclusion in the end.