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A review by strikingthirteen
Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes by Barbara Roden, David Stuart Davies, Rick Kennett, Chris Roberson, Chico Kidd, Matthew J. Elliott, Charles Prepolec, Barbara Hambly, Kim Newman, Phil Cornell, Martin Powell, Bob Madison, Christopher Sequeira, Peter Calamai, J.R. Campbell
4.0
Overall: A thoroughly enjoyable mix of the fantastic and the rational world of Sherlock Holmes' London. It's chilling, enthralling, sad, fantastic, shocking, and at all times a fun time. It was really fun to read and I was so very sad when it ended.
You do need to take each story separately however. So here we go:
The Lost Boy (3.5/5): Sherlock Holmes meets Peter Pan, for the first time or no? It's never really said. The interesting thing here is the fact that the narrator is a dying Mary Watson, which immediately throws the whole thing into doubt as much as it does confirms it. It's interesting to see how Peter Pan and Holmes get on and it is a great little story. A bit of an odd choice for a mash up but I enjoyed it.
His Last Arrow (5/5): This comes out of nowhere it starts out like a mystery like any other and then Watson stabs Holmes in the back. Literally. You think OMG WHAT THE HELL but then you are told that Holmes was a Djinn that Watson became indebted to while in Afghanistan. The whole story flips in that one moment. My heart literally stopped when Watson stabbed Holmes and it became worse when you realise what Holmes was and what Watson plans to do now. Heart stopping.
The Things That Shall Come Upon Them (2.5/5): I have never heard of Flaxman Low so I may have lost a bit on that fact. I did however like the two detectives presenting two different approaches, readings, and solutions to the problem. It got genuinely creepy at first but then fell apart when neither Holmes' rational explanation nor Low's supernatural one proved correct. So, it was all a little too open ended for me really. I like that Watson remained unconvinced in either direction but, all in all, the atmosphere up until the 'reveal' was great. It would have been weird if he sided with Low and it would have been too predictable if he sided with Holmes, though he did say he leaned more that way. All build up and no real follow through unfortunately.
The Finishing Stroke (4.5/5): This had a wonderful flair of the gruesome along with a gracious tip of the hat to Dorian Grey. It's gory and fantastic the explanation is so obviously other worldy and Holmes STILL refuses to admit it. It's a great tale of classic horror going on here. No one understands what is happening, I don't think even the villain really does either, and no one can really function. That's sort of how I'd see it happening if Conan Doyle ever had written something like this. Great fun all around.
Sherlock Holmes in the Lost World (3/5): I've never read the Lost World of Conan Doyle but I am familiar enough to understand what's going on. That being said you could probably understand nothing at all and still follow along and enjoy yourself. Our retired crime solvers head off into the Lost World to find Professor Challenger. It's an interesting, jungle adventure, and not too weird considering the presence of Holmes and Watson. It's a great time and unexpected!Moran was an interesting touch, though I really want to know how he escaped the hangman's noose. Rather enjoyable.
The Grantchester Grimoire (3/5): Another detective whom I've never read joins Holmes and Watson in a case involving a man who will not wake. Rather generic creepy story but still enjoyable while you're reading it. It worked better for me than "The Things That Shall Come Upon Them" probably because you were left with the idea that maybe, just maybe, Holmes believes more than he will let anyone see. What you do in the heat of the moment is quite telling.
The Steamship Friesland (3.5/5): This ties in with the death of the client in "The Five Orange Pips" and also features Holmes as a man who can speak to the dead. That last part seems to be a problem but it actually works quite well, especially considering how he must explain to Watson and get Watson to believe him. Holmes and Watson really don't do too much case wise but it's the idea of a ghost whispering Sherlock Holmes that really keeps you reading. Also the implication that Holmes, because of how long he's had to develop his mind, could continue to do work while dead. I also loved the touch that Watson reacted to the ghostly warnings without knowing it - which makes me wonder if Holmes and Watson ever chatted from two separate worlds in this universe.
The Entwined (4.5/5): This is a weirder entry but weird work very well with me. It's a horrifying idea and the mystery of what this world is and what this Brotherhood is and how Catherine became implicated is all up in the air. It's so sensual and wonderful and scary all it once. It's fantastic. I also greatly enjoyed the implication that Watson hid the real story from Holmes. Holmes, I think, knows that Watson is lying but doesn't seem to want to think about uncovering it. Very telling.
Merridew of Abominable Memory (3/5): I think I would have preferred this as simply a straight forward mystery. The octogenarian Watson, who frames the narrative, is an interesting character but it's so sad to think of him away and ill and in no touch with Holmes whatsoever. It just doesn't fit into my imagining of the world but that's no fault to the story. I loved the grizzly description of those 'decorations' and I wish we'd gotten more of that than this strange treatise on memory. It seemed more out of place than anything.
Red Sunset (5/5): Wow, genre detective fiction meets the original consulting detective and they face off against Dracula?! Enough said! It's hilarious ( I love Holmes's impatient mocking about the narrator's poetic turns of phrase), sad (Holmes reminiscing about always calling Watson 'John" and the photo on his desk), and thrilling. Amazing. Loved it. Really loved it!
The Red Planet League (4/5): The longest and maybe the most interesting if only because your narrator is Sebastian Moran, and man is that man deliciously depraved! I could have done without the diary entries in the middle but that's really my only complaint. I love the look at Moriarty's mathematical and scientific nemesis and the references to other characters fictional and real delighted me to no end!
You do need to take each story separately however. So here we go:
The Lost Boy (3.5/5): Sherlock Holmes meets Peter Pan, for the first time or no? It's never really said. The interesting thing here is the fact that the narrator is a dying Mary Watson, which immediately throws the whole thing into doubt as much as it does confirms it. It's interesting to see how Peter Pan and Holmes get on and it is a great little story. A bit of an odd choice for a mash up but I enjoyed it.
His Last Arrow (5/5): This comes out of nowhere it starts out like a mystery like any other and then Watson stabs Holmes in the back. Literally. You think OMG WHAT THE HELL but then you are told that Holmes was a Djinn that Watson became indebted to while in Afghanistan. The whole story flips in that one moment. My heart literally stopped when Watson stabbed Holmes and it became worse when you realise what Holmes was and what Watson plans to do now. Heart stopping.
The Things That Shall Come Upon Them (2.5/5): I have never heard of Flaxman Low so I may have lost a bit on that fact. I did however like the two detectives presenting two different approaches, readings, and solutions to the problem. It got genuinely creepy at first but then fell apart when neither Holmes' rational explanation nor Low's supernatural one proved correct. So, it was all a little too open ended for me really. I like that Watson remained unconvinced in either direction but, all in all, the atmosphere up until the 'reveal' was great. It would have been weird if he sided with Low and it would have been too predictable if he sided with Holmes, though he did say he leaned more that way. All build up and no real follow through unfortunately.
The Finishing Stroke (4.5/5): This had a wonderful flair of the gruesome along with a gracious tip of the hat to Dorian Grey. It's gory and fantastic the explanation is so obviously other worldy and Holmes STILL refuses to admit it. It's a great tale of classic horror going on here. No one understands what is happening, I don't think even the villain really does either, and no one can really function. That's sort of how I'd see it happening if Conan Doyle ever had written something like this. Great fun all around.
Sherlock Holmes in the Lost World (3/5): I've never read the Lost World of Conan Doyle but I am familiar enough to understand what's going on. That being said you could probably understand nothing at all and still follow along and enjoy yourself. Our retired crime solvers head off into the Lost World to find Professor Challenger. It's an interesting, jungle adventure, and not too weird considering the presence of Holmes and Watson. It's a great time and unexpected!Moran was an interesting touch, though I really want to know how he escaped the hangman's noose. Rather enjoyable.
The Grantchester Grimoire (3/5): Another detective whom I've never read joins Holmes and Watson in a case involving a man who will not wake. Rather generic creepy story but still enjoyable while you're reading it. It worked better for me than "The Things That Shall Come Upon Them" probably because you were left with the idea that maybe, just maybe, Holmes believes more than he will let anyone see. What you do in the heat of the moment is quite telling.
The Steamship Friesland (3.5/5): This ties in with the death of the client in "The Five Orange Pips" and also features Holmes as a man who can speak to the dead. That last part seems to be a problem but it actually works quite well, especially considering how he must explain to Watson and get Watson to believe him. Holmes and Watson really don't do too much case wise but it's the idea of a ghost whispering Sherlock Holmes that really keeps you reading. Also the implication that Holmes, because of how long he's had to develop his mind, could continue to do work while dead. I also loved the touch that Watson reacted to the ghostly warnings without knowing it - which makes me wonder if Holmes and Watson ever chatted from two separate worlds in this universe.
The Entwined (4.5/5): This is a weirder entry but weird work very well with me. It's a horrifying idea and the mystery of what this world is and what this Brotherhood is and how Catherine became implicated is all up in the air. It's so sensual and wonderful and scary all it once. It's fantastic. I also greatly enjoyed the implication that Watson hid the real story from Holmes. Holmes, I think, knows that Watson is lying but doesn't seem to want to think about uncovering it. Very telling.
Merridew of Abominable Memory (3/5): I think I would have preferred this as simply a straight forward mystery. The octogenarian Watson, who frames the narrative, is an interesting character but it's so sad to think of him away and ill and in no touch with Holmes whatsoever. It just doesn't fit into my imagining of the world but that's no fault to the story. I loved the grizzly description of those 'decorations' and I wish we'd gotten more of that than this strange treatise on memory. It seemed more out of place than anything.
Red Sunset (5/5): Wow, genre detective fiction meets the original consulting detective and they face off against Dracula?! Enough said! It's hilarious ( I love Holmes's impatient mocking about the narrator's poetic turns of phrase), sad (Holmes reminiscing about always calling Watson 'John" and the photo on his desk), and thrilling. Amazing. Loved it. Really loved it!
The Red Planet League (4/5): The longest and maybe the most interesting if only because your narrator is Sebastian Moran, and man is that man deliciously depraved! I could have done without the diary entries in the middle but that's really my only complaint. I love the look at Moriarty's mathematical and scientific nemesis and the references to other characters fictional and real delighted me to no end!