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A review by mackle13
Eye of the Crow by Shane Peacock
2.0
2 1/2
Fresh on the heels of the Enola Holmes series, I was on something of a kick - so when I came across the notion of a story showing us a boy Sherlock Holmes and how he came to be who he was, I was certainly intrigued.
Unfortunately, I had some major issues with the story.
Now, there were parts of it which were interesting and Peacock seems to have given some serious thought to a background story which could possibly lead the adult Holmes to be how he was.
On the other hand, it read like many a usual detective novel, with the boy Holmes sort of blundering around looking for clues and almost accidentally coming across some bits - and having a good deal of help with others. Now, granted, this is his first case so we can't expect him to have the same deduction skills he develops - but, on the other hand, I had a hard time figuring out how this made a Holmes story, per se. Aside from some details and names, it felt like a dozen other YA mystery books I've read.
Also, I sort of got tired of the names and faces parade.
At one point Holmes meets a kindly jail visitor named Andrew C Doyle, which I could only see as a shout-out to original Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle. Mr. Doyle also has a young daughter who is interested in justice and who is introduced to the shadier sides of life through the case of the name of Irene. I presume she is the Irene Adler to be - introduced to the criminal element through Holmes, no less.
Also, Holmes is often tormented, then helped, but a gang of ruffians lead by someone called the Malefactor, who is as brilliant as Holmes and who has a grudging respect and yet hatred for our intrepid young detective. Obviously Moriarty in the making - he's even referred to as a young Napoleon of crime at one point.
The detective who gives Holmes and his family such trouble is elder Lestrade, and in the course of the book Holmes views younger Lestrade helping out his father.
A newspaper vendor who is friendly towards Holmes is called Dupin, which I imagine is a shout-out to Poe's detective C. Auguste Dupin - a character which laid the foundation for Doyle's Holmes in the first place.
And, lastly, in one scene we briefly see a young medical student who was a bit stout around the middle. I actively rolled my eyes at this point on the assumption that this was a glimpse of a young Watson.
Now, sometimes I read stories which have these little shout outs and things and I can smile - usually those stories are more humorous in tone, though. In this book which was ever-so-serious (sometimes rather melodramatically so), it just seemed twee. (And while I'm not a purist, per se, introducing Holmes to Irene Adler and Moriarty at a young age just plays with the timeline far too much for my tastes.)
Anyway... aside from all that, and the melodrama, there's also the fact that it just sort of meandered on. Again, I don't expect the young Holmes on his first case to come in and solve it in 5 minutes, but nor do I expect him to wander practically aimless for days on end, either. Towards the end of the book I flipped ahead to see how many pages I had left because it just seemed to develop far too slowly.
All that aside, it wasn't terrible, and I see potential here. I may pick up the second book at some point to see if the general narration gets any better - tighter, more fast paced, less riddled with oh-so-clever easter eggs... because it is an interesting, if not entirely original, conceit and I do think it offers some possibilities.
Fresh on the heels of the Enola Holmes series, I was on something of a kick - so when I came across the notion of a story showing us a boy Sherlock Holmes and how he came to be who he was, I was certainly intrigued.
Unfortunately, I had some major issues with the story.
Now, there were parts of it which were interesting and Peacock seems to have given some serious thought to a background story which could possibly lead the adult Holmes to be how he was.
On the other hand, it read like many a usual detective novel, with the boy Holmes sort of blundering around looking for clues and almost accidentally coming across some bits - and having a good deal of help with others. Now, granted, this is his first case so we can't expect him to have the same deduction skills he develops - but, on the other hand, I had a hard time figuring out how this made a Holmes story, per se. Aside from some details and names, it felt like a dozen other YA mystery books I've read.
Also, I sort of got tired of the names and faces parade.
At one point Holmes meets a kindly jail visitor named Andrew C Doyle, which I could only see as a shout-out to original Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle. Mr. Doyle also has a young daughter who is interested in justice and who is introduced to the shadier sides of life through the case of the name of Irene. I presume she is the Irene Adler to be - introduced to the criminal element through Holmes, no less.
Also, Holmes is often tormented, then helped, but a gang of ruffians lead by someone called the Malefactor, who is as brilliant as Holmes and who has a grudging respect and yet hatred for our intrepid young detective. Obviously Moriarty in the making - he's even referred to as a young Napoleon of crime at one point.
The detective who gives Holmes and his family such trouble is elder Lestrade, and in the course of the book Holmes views younger Lestrade helping out his father.
A newspaper vendor who is friendly towards Holmes is called Dupin, which I imagine is a shout-out to Poe's detective C. Auguste Dupin - a character which laid the foundation for Doyle's Holmes in the first place.
And, lastly, in one scene we briefly see a young medical student who was a bit stout around the middle. I actively rolled my eyes at this point on the assumption that this was a glimpse of a young Watson.
Now, sometimes I read stories which have these little shout outs and things and I can smile - usually those stories are more humorous in tone, though. In this book which was ever-so-serious (sometimes rather melodramatically so), it just seemed twee. (And while I'm not a purist, per se, introducing Holmes to Irene Adler and Moriarty at a young age just plays with the timeline far too much for my tastes.)
Anyway... aside from all that, and the melodrama, there's also the fact that it just sort of meandered on. Again, I don't expect the young Holmes on his first case to come in and solve it in 5 minutes, but nor do I expect him to wander practically aimless for days on end, either. Towards the end of the book I flipped ahead to see how many pages I had left because it just seemed to develop far too slowly.
All that aside, it wasn't terrible, and I see potential here. I may pick up the second book at some point to see if the general narration gets any better - tighter, more fast paced, less riddled with oh-so-clever easter eggs... because it is an interesting, if not entirely original, conceit and I do think it offers some possibilities.