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A review by cinchona
The Sherlockian by Graham Moore
2.0
The attention to historical accuracy in this book is at turns interesting and tedious, but always painstaking. Of course, most of the events are fictional, but it is clear that the author took care to draw ideas from real events--both in the Victorian and modern era. This is at times a great strength, as some fascinating events happened in real life, but at times bogs down the text with explanations or little facts that are distracting and boring.
The format is extraordinarily distracting--I get that the author is trying to draw parallels between the two mysteries, and contrast the modern and Victorian worlds, but my brain just can't handle the switching. The chapters are short and every one is forced to end on a cliff-hanger, and I just wish I'd read one story or the other because this way was much more painful.
The writing is tolerable, and portions of it I enjoyed very much. I found the Conan Doyle story much more compelling and interesting than the modern-day one, mostly because his characterization was interesting while Harold was an often embarrassing, irritating, and unbelievable hero.
The format is extraordinarily distracting--I get that the author is trying to draw parallels between the two mysteries, and contrast the modern and Victorian worlds, but my brain just can't handle the switching. The chapters are short and every one is forced to end on a cliff-hanger, and I just wish I'd read one story or the other because this way was much more painful.
The writing is tolerable, and portions of it I enjoyed very much. I found the Conan Doyle story much more compelling and interesting than the modern-day one, mostly because his characterization was interesting while Harold was an often embarrassing, irritating, and unbelievable hero.