Madness is right. Life has been all sorts of topsy turvy for the last year or so (hence falling WAY behind on my blog posts…like 12 months behind). I’ve got to tell you, from the middle of 2019 onwards, I did not have the best luck with reading choices. I lost count of how many books I started, and then refused to finish. So much so, that I gave up on new material for a few months, and consoled myself in the familiarity of some favorites (mostly The Belgariad and The Mallorean by David Eddings).
Be that as it may, the reviews must go on! So read on my fellow bibliophiles, and let me know what you think in the comments! I’d love to chat!
*Warning: There may be spoilers ahead!*
The Mortal World by Genevieve Cogman
Ahh Cogman, I have been thoroughly impressed with her Library series so far, and was excited to get my copy of The Mortal World – which I preordered by the way.
Unfortunately, I found this installment to be the weak link in the series. At times, I really wanted to yell “shut up! move on already!” The middle of the book just dragged on, while the main character, Irene, ran around like she was looking for her lost car keys. There were long periods where the only information we were given was whatever popped into Irene’s narration of events. It didn’t always feel true to character for the heroine. In addition, the baddie was forgettable… Seriously, I can’t even remember as I’m writing this review.
That being said, the book still contains the intelligent humor and hijinks that made the first four such entertaining stories. While I wish the characters of Vale and Silver played larger roles in this story given the premise, I did enjoy most of Silver’s character development. The author is very good at hinting that each character has depths that haven’t been explored in the series thus far. In a way, it does make me want to read further installments just to see what happens to them! I also enjoyed the dichotomy between the Dragons and the Fae, as it demonstrated the numerous ways in which the Library attempts to remain neutral, and the difficulty in doing so.
While my negative feelings make this installment less enjoyable for me, I am still eagerly looking forward to the next story Cogman releases.
Mrs. Sherlock Holmes by Brad Ricca
Mrs. Sherlock Holmes is the story of Grace Huminston: a lawyer, activist, and very first female Special Assistant US Attorney. In an era where women couldn’t even vote, and immigrants were at the mercy of slumlords and indentured servitude, I was intrigued to learn about this woman compared so frequently to Sherlock Holmes.
First and foremost, the timeline was extremely difficult to follow. I felt that the book jumped back in forth during Grace’s career numerous times and had to reread passages to make sure I understood how the narrative fell into place.
At its core, I found most of the details surrounding the ending more interesting than Grace’s involvement in the larger historical context. I felt that at times, the author was trying to showcase more about his knowledge of the era than presenting a biography of Huminston.
The book suffered from a huge lack of focus, cohesive timeline, and consistent narrative. While I believe the author made a sincere attempt to write a biography of Huminston, at times the narration style was more fiction than non-fiction. It was both too austere and too fantastical at the same time. All in all, I’d be interested in reading other biographies of Grace Huminston, but probably wouldn’t recommend this book to a friend.
Warlock Holmes: My Grave Ritual by G.S Denning
As I’m sure readers know by now, I’m a sucker for Sherlock Holmes everything. I thoroughly enjoyed the other adventures of Warlock Holmes written by G.S. Denning. The same witticism is present in this volume, and I freely admit to laughing out loud during numerous parts. It is also made clearer in this volume how the relationship between Watson and Holmes continues to grow, even with magical events cropping up. I also continue to enjoy the character developments of secondary characters like Lestrade and Grogson.
The biggest downside to this book was that the narrative was more disjointed than you would find in the other three of the series. Unfortunately, at times this meant that it was hard to follow along as perspectives shifted, and there was an ever present “so what happened?” question while I was reading certain chapters. Despite the fact that the Woman is an background character to most of the narrative, she just wasn’t strong enough to connect the stories.
I do still love the book and continue to recommend it to almost everyone I know (including my coworkers). I would caution new readers to read the series in order however, as I do not believe this is the strongest installment.
Toil & Tomes 