Rating: 
Summary: Powerful Sherlockian Prose
Review: First thing first: I am perhaps the biggest Sherlock Holmes fan in Southwestern Ohio. This being said, I hate to come across anything in writing, official or even fan fiction, that inaccurately portrays my favorite detective. Anything from dear Holmes falling in love with a cliched Mary Sue to Watson meeting a horrible demise, I would refuse to pick it up or even give it a glance. Which was why I was so turned off from this book at first.
Luckily, my best friend's mother is an English teacher, and she found out (see "couldn't help but notice") my love for all things Conan Doyle had graced. The first thing she did was suggest The Beekeeper's Apprentice to me. "Just read the first five pages," she told me, "and if you don't like it, just give it back." As soon as I registered the first sentence, I was hooked.
The plot has been recited on this page many times before, so I won't indulge, simply try to pique your interest. Rarely does a book grab my attention so as to make me literally perch on the edge of my seat, or want to sink far back into the cushions. I've always been ridiculed by my friends for letting a tear stray down my face when a particular passage was weep-worthy, but never before have I felt like bursting into tears just because the book was OVER. It is one of those books that, after being unable to leave your chair for hours (quite out of your power to put it down) that you feel that you must run 20 laps in order to let loose all of the emotions inside.
This book is not for the unread or uneducated. You have to have some wit about you in order to decipher the pages, and a considerable knowledge of Holmes Cannon would be optimal. But you do not NEED to. Bring only your love for literature and appreciation for the written word, and you will be pleased by this cunning, stunning and heart-warming novel starring the greatest detective of all time: Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
Rating:
Summary: A Keeper
Review: I was introduced to this book by my sister, who got it from a friend. I finnished the book, and promptly started to look for the next book, The Monstrous Regiment of Women. If you are looking for a book that you can't put down, and makes you feel like you are actually there with Mary Russel and Sherlock Holmes, then this is the book for you!!
Rating:
Summary: "Its a Good Read!"
Review: Where do I begin with this book? I am a fantasy lover, pure and simple, and have been since I was 12. My school librarian, taking a step to push me towards "new age classics," refused to allow me to check out any more books until I had read this one. Grudgingly, I took it home, and was completely enveloped in the characters and the story. I came back the next day begging for more, read through the entire Mary Russell series, and continued on the rest of the Sherlockian Canon. My life, which had very little direction before then, became focused on crime solving, and my life is better for it.But to the book. It will engross you before you even realize what has happened. Ms. King is a master with a literary paintbrush unsurpassed by any other author I have been exposed to. She brings her characters to life, gives them personality, and hooks you. If you consider this a down, then this is not the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Of This Genre
Review: This is simply my favorite Sherlock Holmes-ish book (and among my favorite among all books). I recommend it without reservation.
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