The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes edited by John Joseph Adams

Original Publication Year: 2009

Genre(s): Anthology, Mystery, Speculative

Series: NA

Awards: None

Format: eBook

Narrated by: NA

This was the last book I finished in 2014 and it fulfilled one of the categories in the Eclectic Reader Challenge (ERC).  It is a good argument for participating in a challenge that is meant to push one out of normal reading ruts because this was fun and I can’t remember the last time I read an Anthology.  Figuring out how to review it may be a challenge all in itself!

As the title suggests, the anthology is a collection of short stories by many different authors but all featuring the Sherlock Holmes “mythos”.  Some of the stories are straight up mysteries that stay faithful to Conan Doyle’s vision, some stretch the boundaries and bring in speculative elements.  It contains 28 different stories edited and compiled from various sources by John Joseph Adams who seems to have made a living curating various interesting looking anthologies (the link on the title will take you to his website).  Some of the most notable authors (for me) with stories in the anthology include: Stephen King, Anne Perry, Mary Robinette Kowal, Laurie R. King, Sharyn McCrumb, Michael Moorcock, Barbara Hambly, Naomi Novik, Tanith Lee and Neil Gaiman.

I really enjoyed the collection as a whole.  There was only one story (The Adventure of The Lost World by Dominic Green – yes it involves dinosaurs) that I didn’t like that much.  Several of the stories shared a Lovecraftian influence but otherwise there was little to tie them together besides the characters and concepts of Conan Doyle’s creation.  A couple of them feature different narrators besides Watson which was interesting.

A few highlights for me were:

Stephen King’s The Doctor’s Case – A locked room mystery where Watson gets to solve the crime!

Sharyn McCrumb’s Vale of the White Horse – Told from the perspective of a village healing or wise woman in rural England.  It is short but complete and features a case where folk legend plays a surprising role.  I really liked the unique voice and it made me want to pick up some of McCrumb’s novels.

Naomi Novik’s Common Places – A very different and more personal story set during the years that Holmes was missing presumed dead.  Explores Holmes’ relationship with Watson and Irene Adler.  Told from Adler’s POV.

Rob Roger’s The Adventures of the Pirates of Devil’s Cape – A rather unlikely but really fun and swashbuckling adventure that involves Pirates!!! (I like pirates.)  The deductions in this one were  particularly creative.

Tanith Lee The Human Mystery – Holmes miscalculates because his understanding of the fairer sex is not always spot on.  Very atmospheric with a twist.

Other favorites include: Michael Moorcock’s The Adventure of the Dorset Street Lodger, Vonda McIntyre’s The Adventure of Field Theorems, Barbara Roden’s The Things that Shall Come Upon Them, and Barbara Hambly’s The Adventure of the Antiquarian’s Niece.

Final Verdict: If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes and you don’t mind having him played with a little I think you will find at least a few stories in this collection that will make you happy. 3 out of 5 stars ✪✪✪

Original Publication Year: 1995

Genre(s): YA, Fantasy

Series: Abhorsen #1

Awards: Aurealis Award for Fantasy Novel and Young Adult Novel

Format: Audio and in print

Narrated by: Tim Curry

I’ve decided, based with an n=2*, that the most imaginative writers of young adult fiction are Australian.  They certainly make me the happiest and I love the way they see the world.   With Sabriel, Garth Nix has created a beautiful and vivid fictional world and placed within it a fast paced and exciting adventure story.  It is lovely and charming, and scary and suspenseful and romantic and pretty much everything you want in YA Fantasy.

Sabriel Abhorsen is 18 and just finishing up her schooling in Ancelstierre when a messenger comes from her father bearing his sword and bandolier of bells.  As we learn very quickly, Sabriel is a powerful though inexperienced magician and necromancer who was born under unusual circumstances in The Old Kingdom.  Her father is also a powerful necromancer and in order to protect her he sent her away to the less dangerous (and less magical) Ancelstierre when she was five to attend school.  Unfortunately he now appears to be in very serious trouble and Sabriel sets off to find and help him despite her inexperience and woeful lack of knowledge of The Old Kingdom.  Her quest will see her chased by all manner of dead things, rescuing a prince who has been turned to wood, and sparring with a cantankerous cat who is really a magical and possibly dangerous creature that has been bound in Cat form. 

The world that is created is complex, imaginative and easily pictured.  Ancelstierre is reminiscent of Georgian era England while the Old Kingdom seems more Rennaissance.  The two countries are separated by a wall and while there is some leakage around the edges, Ancelstierre is a country of science and technology while the Old Kingdom is governed by magic.  The Old Kingdom has also been falling into anarchy for 200 years and the denizens of Death have started to take over more and more of the kingdom.  As Sabriel learns, Abhorsen is an official title for a necromancer who serves as one of the protectors of the Old Kingdom and she is the heir apparent with her father missing.  The Abhorsen is meant to keep the world from being overrun by creatures escaping Death.  The Abhorsen keeps the dead at bay, by using a series of bells all with different properties.  It is seriously cool and very well used in the story.

The characters were also pretty great and believable.  Sabriel is very recognizable as an exceptionally brave, but bewildered teen who recognizes her weaknesses but doesn’t lack confidence.  In fact she can be a little overconfident as teenagers are prone to be at times. She’s a good strong female character and her relationship with her father is pretty heartbreaking.   Mogget serves as her sidekick/mentor for much of the story and has a personality suitable for a talking cat and also presents many mysteries.  If I have any complaints, it is that most of the rest of the characters - Touchstone, Kerrigor–don’t get developed as much as I would’ve liked, mostly because the book covers a lot of ground and moves quickly.  It’s not until you sit down to write about the characters that you realize that Touchstone is good and likeable but a tad generic and Kerrigor is a little one dimensional. 

There is a little romance as well which is nice. It’s a little abrupt but I appreciated that the narrative wasn’t overly focused on it and there was very little angst.   

I listened to the first half of the book narrated by Tim Curry and he was as amazing as you would imagine.  He also had the perfect voice and tone for this type of story.  I was really bummed when I had to return the audio book to the library because it was requested.

 I have in the past read and really enjoyed Garth Nix’s short fiction and his middle-grade series The Keys to the Kingdom so the Abhorsen series has been pretty prominent on my TBR for a while.  I am so glad I finally started it and that it did not disappoint in any way! 

Final Verdict:  A fast paced YA adventure story with unique and imaginative world building.  I think it’s safe to say Garth Nix has a distinctive style and I am definitely a fan. 

*The second Australian young adult author I encountered this year was D.M. Cornish and his Monster Blood Tattoo series was super imaginative and a favorite.

Original Publication Year: 1860

Genre(s): Fiction, Gothic Mystery

Series: NA

Awards: None

Format: Audio

Narrated by: Ian Holm

There are two sisters (half-sisters really), one is beautiful, sweet and rich and the other is ugly, smart and poor.  They are devoted to each other and they are mostly on their own in the world since their uncle/guardian is quite useless and self-absorbed.  Enter a handsome young drawing master, hired to instruct the young ladies.  Inevitably, the young drawing master (Walter Hartwright) falls in love with the pretty, sweet sister (Laura Fairlie) and she with him but alas, they are of different social classes and she is already engaged to the dashing older Sir Perceval Glyde.  Unfortunately, while Sir Glyde is doting and charming, a strange letter arrives that hints at hidden and unpleasant depths to his character which produces foreboding amongst all who care for Miss Fairlie.  Oh, the foreboding. 

Throw in a mysterious and somewhat mentally unstable doppelganger for Miss Fairlie who always wears white and you have the beginnings of a dramatic and rollicking tale.  I was not expecting this book to be such a page turner but it had pretty constant drama and action.  There are several mysteries that drive the plot forward at a cracking pace.  It definitely doesn’t feel like a 672 page book except when I reflect on all that happens it is not surprising it is on the longer side.  The narrative moves around through several different perspectives with Walter Hartwright’s being the primary one but also contributing are Marian, the Fairlie’s solicitor, and the young ladies’ invalid uncle.

Collins’ characters are also pretty amazing. The invalid uncle is a indulgent, narcissistic hypochondriac to beat all others.  My favorite characters were undoubtedly Marian Holcombe (the ugly, smart sister) and I somewhat more controversially love Count Fosco (not least of which because he is the only man in the story to have the good sense to fall head over heels in love with Marian). More on Marian later but Fosco is a larger than life character; an intelligent and charismatic villain.  He is much more menacing then Percival Glyde and some of his monologues are epic.  

Another thing I wasn’t expecting to see strongly messaged throughout the book was some pretty serious mid-nineteenth century feminism.  There seem to be a lot of messages here about the inequality between men and women in society and marriage.  Count Fosco even states in his ultimate letter confessing his dastardly deeds…

“What is the secret of Madame Fosco’s unhesitating devotion of herself to the fulfillment of my boldest wishes, to the furtherance of my deepest plans? I might answer this by simply referring to my own character, and by asking, in my turn, Where, in the history of the world, has a man of my order ever been found without a woman in the background self-immolated on the altar of his life? But I remember that I am writing in England, I remember that I was married in England, and I ask if a woman’s marriage obligations in this country provide for her private opinion of her husband’s principles? No! They charge her unreservedly to love, honour, and obey him. That is exactly what my wife has done. I stand here on a supreme moral elevation, and I loftily assert her accurate performance of her conjugal duties. Silence, Calumny! Your sympathy, Wives of England, for Madame Fosco!”

And then there is Marian who continually says things implying the weakness of women but then proving in her actions and her intellect that she is the equal if not the superior of most men.  And she also has some things to say about marriage:

“No man under heaven deserves these sacrifices from us women. Men! They are the enemies of our innocence and our peace - they drag us away from our parents' love and our sisters' friendship - they take us body and soul to themselves, and fasten our helpless lives to theirs as they chain up a dog to his kennel. And what does the best of them give us in return?”

I vividly felt, as Marian and Laura’s position in Sir Glyde’s household became clear, the fear and helplessness they must experience as women of that era.  Powerless and at the mercy of the men in their lives. 

As a cherry on top, Ian Holm’s narration of the book was perfect in every way.  He expertly captured the different voices as well as the exaggerated drama and foreboding that I think firmly makes this a Gothic novel. 

It missed getting five stars because sometimes the manipulation of the reader was a little too blatant.  I’m not sure this was a fault of the author but is probably just a characteristic of Gothic literature but I sometimes was imagining a tiny orchestra in my head going “Dun, dun DUN!”  Also, I have to say I was a little put out that Marian’s prescribed life and path is as her sister’s companion and doting Aunty to Laura and Walter’s children.  She says this is what she wants and we must take her at her word but I don’t quite believe it.  For all the feminism run rampant in the novel, of COURSE Walter chooses the pretty, sweet one over the super duper awesome smart but ugly one.  She has to settle for Fosco’s admiration.

And finally the BIG question!! Collins or Dickens? I feel like I’ve heard a few people of late claim that Dickens has wrongly been exalted as grand English literature while Collins has wallowed in the background.  They claim that Collins is in fact the better writer.  I have to say The Woman in White was a pretty serious page turner of a book and while I love many of Dickens’ books, I wouldn’t say they are always page turners.  However, they do feel a bit more substantive, perhaps.  I see why the two writers would be compared – writing at the same time and they each employ satire, especially in the form of some of their characters, to poke fun at institutions and certain types of people they despise.  However, I don’t know that it’s fair to compare them.  Dickens to me has more of a distinctive style but maybe that’s just because I have read way more of his books?  Regardless, the jury is still out as far as I am concerned and may forever be out.  Where do you come down on the matter?

Final Verdict:  A page turner of a mystery with an interesting cast of characters and suitably Gothic storytelling.  4 out of 5 Stars!   ✪✪✪✪

 “In the forest of primeval

A school for Good and Evil

Twin towers like two heads

One for the pure

And one for the wicked

Try to escape you'll always fail,

The only way out is

Through a fairytale.”

The poem is a nice little summation of what the school in The School for Good and Evil is all about.  The school trains the Villains, Princes and Princesses that play out their lives in fairy tales. Our two heroines, Sophie and Agatha are a bit different from all their classmates as they aren't the children of fairytale characters but were plucked from a regular “mundane” village.  They were raised reading fairy tales not being part of them. 

Sophie and Agatha are different in another way as well.  Sophie is blonde and perfectly groomed – the perfect princess – while Agatha is dark and morbid and always dressed in black – the perfect villain.  However, when the two unlikely friends are dropped at the School for Good and Evil by monstrous birds, it is Agatha who is enrolled in the School for Good and Sophie who is placed in the School for Evil. 

So surely you can guess where it goes from there?  Of course Agatha, while grumpy and anti-social, is at heart caring, loving and brave.  Sophie, while beautiful, is shallow, lazy and selfish.  The “sorting hat” put them where they belonged despite their outward appearances.  Both girls must then deal with being the outsider as they don't fit the mold of their respective schools and their friendship also faces many challenges, namely a boy. King Arthur’s son to be exact.  In many ways, it is a strange little book that aims to thwart the usual clichés while also affectionately embracing them. 

So at this point you are probably thinking ho hum, a silly little book about how appearances can be deceiving.  But hold up.  I myself felt that way early in the book though I nevertheless devoured it greedily.  It is a fun and snappy little story with engaging characters and a lot of humor and somewhere along the line this book surprised me.  It took me somewhere a bit deeper than I was expecting to go.  There was no profound life changing but it did become quite a bit more interesting than at first appearance.

The book is not just about not judging people on their appearances but also about not making the mistake of thinking of anyone as pure good or pure evil.  Humans are more complex than that and any institution that supports the idea of a strict dichotomy is corrupt and wrong.  It isn’t Sophie that is the Villain, though she does some truly horrible things, but the School for Good and Evil itself and even the society that insists on it existing that is the true menace.  All of these ideas are presented in a fast paced, funny, harrowing adventure story.  This was a very light and addictive read but it was also one that left me feeling surprisingly thoughtful at the end.

“You’re not evil Sophie," Agatha whispered, touching her decayed cheek. "You’re human."

FINAL VERDICT:  A fun adventurous fairy tale parody aimed at middle grade readers which may surprise you (in a good way).

I do love suprises.  As long as they are pleasant and not accidental. For the first quarter to a third of How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it.  It was weird and it seemed just weird for weird’s sake. I don’t mind weird as long as it has a purpose and in the end I think the strange beginning of the book does serve a purpose. 

And maybe it’s not fair to call it weird.  It’s quirky.  It’s about two astronomers, George and Irene and it’s about their Mothers who raised them in Toledo. Their mothers were best friends growing up and decided that they would raise their children to be soul-mates using astrology and psychology.  They do it as an experiment and so that their children can experience true love and be happy.  It’s a quirky premise and in the beginning I felt like I was having trouble, connecting the dots and connecting with the characters.   People don’t quite interact with each other in any kind of normally acceptable manner.  There’s a side character who was raised by her priest father to not speak but only use music until he is arrested for child endangerment when she’s 5 or 6.  She speaks without inflection, she sits with her feet dangling out the window of her office at the Toledo Institute of Astronomy and plays an instrument.  Later she frolics in Lake Erie with Narwhals.  So. Quirky. 

George initially seems kind of stupid and shallow and wacky as he hallucinates gods and goddesses frolicking and speaking to him.  Irene is cold and practically devoid of emotion.  What kept me hooked through this first part of the book were the flashbacks to George and Irene’s mothers’ childhood.  Sally and Bernice’s friendship is real and it anchors the more surreal parts of the narrative. 

Then George and Irene meet and everything starts to make sense and feel more like real life.  The book never becomes fully grounded in reality but the important word here is sense.  It all starts to make sense.  George and Irene transform each other into real live human beings who are funny and sweet and smart and even a little wise. I'm pretty this shift is deliberate and its kind of awesome. Before these two “stars” align everything is just a little off kilter but as soon as they come together, order in some sense is restored.   In the first third of the book I could not in any way connect to the characters, once they meet I almost immediately began to sympathize with and love them.

“It’s more like every electron in every atom in the universe paused, breathed in deeply, assessed the situation, and then reversed its course, spinning backward, or the other way, which was the right way all along. And afterward, the universe was exactly the same, but infinitely more right.”

 

What else did I love?  There is all sorts of fun astronomy speak. It is laugh out loud funny at times. The writing is lovely. The ending was completely unexpected and possibly quite clever – is it real?  After I got through the first bit, I found it addictively readable. 

The narration was very good and fit the book well.  Like the style of the book, it did take me a while to warm up to it but once I did I loved it.

Final Verdict:  This book was a pleasant surprise.