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A review by sssummer
The Clue in the Jewel Box by Carolyn Keene
4.0
3.5
This is such a dated style of writing! Truly a vintage read. I can't think of any modern book that's written so formally or with such meta self-references (ex: "Nancy was tired from just having solved another case, in Nancy Drew and The Missing Clock"). Speaking of which, I have to admit the underdeveloped characterization is what I felt was maybe the biggest "downside" of this writing style. They are robots leading robot lives. (Sometimes Nancy would have a badass moment out of nowhere, those were fun.) This is also probably because it is a kid's book though, which I just remembered lol.
I wish I knew more about mysteries to know if this mystery formula is dated or if it was a "good" mystery. So as a noob mystery reader I can only really be entirely subjective. I think the mystery was nice, but just a tad convoluted and dragged out for me to really be that invested. I wasn't even really sure what the mystery was setting up to be for a while or where it was going to go. It wasn't like I couldn't see or guess what the "answer" was going to be, but more like I was confused about what the "question" even is.
This is such a dated style of writing! Truly a vintage read. I can't think of any modern book that's written so formally or with such meta self-references (ex: "Nancy was tired from just having solved another case, in Nancy Drew and The Missing Clock"). Speaking of which, I have to admit the underdeveloped characterization is what I felt was maybe the biggest "downside" of this writing style. They are robots leading robot lives. (Sometimes Nancy would have a badass moment out of nowhere, those were fun.) This is also probably because it is a kid's book though, which I just remembered lol.
I wish I knew more about mysteries to know if this mystery formula is dated or if it was a "good" mystery. So as a noob mystery reader I can only really be entirely subjective. I think the mystery was nice, but just a tad convoluted and dragged out for me to really be that invested. I wasn't even really sure what the mystery was setting up to be for a while or where it was going to go. It wasn't like I couldn't see or guess what the "answer" was going to be, but more like I was confused about what the "question" even is.