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A review by jkribbit
Death Cloud by Andy Lane
3.0
I've grown up knowing who Sherlock Holmes was, but most of my knowledge base was from Disney's "The Great Mouse Detective." More recently, I enjoyed the Robert Downey Jr. movie and the British tv series. I decided to give the actual literature I try. I'm half way through my second short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and am enjoying them. So I was excited about the premiss of this book, especially since it's endorsed by the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Estate.
Even with that limited exposure to the world of Sherlock Holmes, I had some expectations. And most of them were not met. I found this book rather disappointing. First of all, the mystery surrounding the eponymous 'death cloud' was given away in the dedication at the beginning of the book. There went much of the sleuthing excitement. But my biggest problem was that I didn't buy that the main character was a teenage Sherlock Holmes. He was too...normal. Obviously Sherlock had to come by his knowledge somehow, but the Sherlock in this story doesn't even seem interested in study.
I had a few quibbles about the contemporary writing style, fantastical adventure, etc., but I don't think those would have bothered me too much if I didn't have certain "Sherlock" expectations. The book is well written and kept my interest. It just didn't live up to my expectations and I'm not interested In reading more of the series.
Oh well. Back to the original source. :)
Even with that limited exposure to the world of Sherlock Holmes, I had some expectations. And most of them were not met. I found this book rather disappointing. First of all, the mystery surrounding the eponymous 'death cloud' was given away in the dedication at the beginning of the book. There went much of the sleuthing excitement. But my biggest problem was that I didn't buy that the main character was a teenage Sherlock Holmes. He was too...normal. Obviously Sherlock had to come by his knowledge somehow, but the Sherlock in this story doesn't even seem interested in study.
I had a few quibbles about the contemporary writing style, fantastical adventure, etc., but I don't think those would have bothered me too much if I didn't have certain "Sherlock" expectations. The book is well written and kept my interest. It just didn't live up to my expectations and I'm not interested In reading more of the series.
Oh well. Back to the original source. :)