Rating: 
Summary: WOW
Review: Oh my goodness. I just finnished the whole Marry Russel series. If your thinking about reading this i deffinatly recommend you read it right now. I'm a 15 year of girl and I loved it. But i also know of adults who love it too. I really hope you get to read this book because it is one of the best out there
Rating:
Summary: Love it every time that I read it!
Review: I have read this book many times over the past three years, this book inspired to me continue reading mysteries and detective novels! I first read the book when I was 12 becuase my mom said it was excellent and boy was she right. Right off the bat this book is wonderful, it wasn't as predictable as most books are either. Mary Russell is an inspiring young woman, she made me believe that just because I am a girl doesn't mean that I can't do anything. Yes, she is just a character in a book, but I think that if more young girls got to read this book they would be able to connect with her, she is smart, sassy and fuuny (in her own way). This book made me addicted to reading, after reading it, I inhaled the rest of the series and I am patiently waiting for the next one! Some people may consider just another feminist book, but happened to find it just an excellent book, with excellent characters and an excellent plot!
Rating:
Summary: A spectacular piece of work!
Review: I read "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" about a year ago. When I first glanced at the blurb, I was tempted to laugh. Imagine undermining the great Sherlock Holmes by teaming him up with a fifteen-year old girl! It was almost too ridiculous to believe. Nevertheless, I borrowed the book from my local library, and since then, it has become one of my fabourite books ever. I bought my very own copy of it three months ago. The story is amazing. Supposedly written by an aged Mary Russell (a fifteen year-old girl at the beginning of the story), the book is a recount of her life from her meeting with the fifty-three-year-old Sherlock Holmes, to when she is about 19. Her narration, what she chooses to dwell on in her telling, and what she merely skips over, not only reveals to the reader which incidents most live in her memory, but also makes the story fast-paced, and vividly exciting. The book also shows a quite different Sherlock Holmes to the stories of Conan Doyle. While every bit as brilliant and perceptive, the Holmes we see through Mary Russell's eyes is very much human, capable of mistakes and intense emotion. Much as I tend to idolise the Legend of Conan Doyle, I can't help but warm towards the picture painted by Mary Russell far more than that of the good Doctor. I was miserable when I finished "The Beekeeper's Apprentice", so much so that I was almost crying. And I have to admit that I cried during the book, too, and still do when I reread it. I have read the other Russell-Holmes novels, but none come close to this, the first. Such is the fate of all but the most brilliant of serials. This is Laurie R. King's masterpiece, her other works cannot compare.
Rating: 
Summary: promising
Review: Ms King is the Edgar award winning author of the Kate Martinelli series, an entirely pedestrian policewoman cycle, distinguished only by the fact that Martinelli is a lesbian. In The Beekeeper's Apprentice she brings a feminist touch to the Sherlock Holmes mythos. The 19th century bequeathed us four iconic literary creations: Frankenstein, Dracula, Moby Dick/Ahab & Sherlock Holmes. We see them revived over and over, most often with some cute modern twist (my personal favorite Holmes revivals: the Nicholas Meyer novel The Seven Percent Solution, wherein Sigmund Freud helps him with his cocaine addiction; the film They Might Be Giants, with George C. Scott as an insane? Holmes wannabe & Joanne Woodward as his psychiatrist/reluctant Watson; and the Magnum, PI episode with Higgins playing Watson to Patrick McNee's Holmes), but the characters are so strong that they survive most any mutilation and so this new treatment seems semi inevitable. King has picked up the tale in 1915, with Holmes retired to his beehives in the Sussex countryside. Into his life of seclusion stumbles a precocious teenage orphan girl named Mary Russell, who quickly proves to have a mind that is a ready match for Holmes. They begin to solve crimes together and eventually, by this time Mary is attending Oxford, they run afoul of an archvillian who is intent on bringing about Holmes' demise. Of course, this master criminal is also a woman. King has picked up a double edged sword here; the mere presence of Sherlock Holmes (& Watson & Mrs. Hudson & Mycroft & Lestrade) virtually guarantees a decent tale (unless the author's a total butcher), but by choosing a figure who comes to us with such a weighty reputation & then trying to craft her own characters to set up as his equals, she has bitten off more than she can chew. Unable to bring Mary up to the level of the Holmes of the Conan Doyle series, she instead brings him down to the level of her own character Mary Russell. The result is a middling mystery, but one ends the book more than willing to read the future entries in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Very engaging and entertaining
Review: I was introduced to this book while listening to the radio on my way into work -- I was not disappointed. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it to be very engaging and entertaining -- even touching at times. Mary Russell is an intelligent young woman and Sherlock Holmes has a very tender side (although he keeps it hidden most of the time!). Once I started reading I didn't want to put it down. Now I have begun reading the next book in the series (A Monstrous Regiment of Women) and can't wait to see what Mary and Sherlock have in store for me next!
Rating:
Summary: A truly excellent Sherlock Holmes Mystery
Review: I must say, this is one of my favorite books in the world. I first read it 5 years ago and it has never grown old. Anytime I am without a book to read, I pull it out and, once again, I am caught up in the world of Sherlock Holmes. The book is about Mary Russel, a 15 year old girl who one day meets a retired Sherlock Holmes near his home on the Sussex countryside. She instantly catches his attention and becomes his protege for the next few years. Being an orphan, she is practically adopted by Holmes, who teaches her many skills that are useful in their line of work. When Russell turns 18, she goes off to Oxford to study-of all things-theology. While there, Holmes is attacked by a mysterious enemy who's plan is to not only hurt Holmes, but his close friends as well. This leads Holmes and Russell on a daring chase for a suprising enemy. And as their search goes on, Russell grows from being Holmes' student into his partner. I have always found the Sherlock Holmes in Laurie R. King's books to be much more sociable, and likable, than the Holmes in Conan Doyle's books. Conan Doyle made him out as an omnipotent, all-powerful being. In Laurie R. King's books you see the more human side of him. I've enjoyed all of Laurie R. King's books in this series. They are, so far, in order: The Beekeeper's Apprentice, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, A Letter of Mary, The Moor, and O Jerusalem. I would recommend these books to anyone, especially someone who loves a good mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Humanizing Holmes
Review: I approached this book with some skepticism, too, but I have to agree with many of the reviewers who have already written - these books are great fun! I loved the Conan Doyle Holmes stories, and loved these too - King's Holmes seems more human, more multidimensional, but not at odds with the Conan Doyle version of Holmes. It was wonderful to see a strong, intelligent female lead character match wits with Holmes. I enjoyed the first book so much that I immediately read the next three. The Beekeeper's Apprentice, A Monstrous Regiment of Women and A Letter of Mary were very good; I was a bit disappointed in The Moor.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing, my dear Watson
Review: After reading the glowing praise for this book on amazon.com, I decided to buy it. The first annoyance came on page 2 when the narrator, Mary Russell, claims that her feet had grown so much that she had needed new shoes twice in three months. This is a fifteen-year-old-girl talking, and an ordinary human being's feet stop growing at approximately age twelve. Bad research always makes me suspicious, and unfortunately my suspicions were confirmed. The plot proved not very interesting and seems to serve only to push the relationship between Holmes and Russell forward. Also, the main activity of the two detectives is to disguise themselves up as other people. This includes an episode where Russell disguises herself as a prince from India and gives a speech "in bad English" in an all-male college. Doesn't the author realize that an Indian prince would have had a British governess or private teacher and would therefore speak rather good English? The interlude where they go to Israel has no function within the story altogether and mainly informs the reader about the dirty and unappetizing circumstances under which the two protagonists travel and, one presumes, the local people live. Both of the Holmes brothers (Sherlock and Mycroft) are essentially grumpy but kind, soft hearts with rough exteriors. In other words, totally unlike the original Conan Doyle stories. Watson himself is mostly presented as kind but stupid, whereas in the original stories he is the ordinary person with ordinary intelligence, the figure that the reader identifies him/herself with. The original Watson is also a competent physician, and Holmes has faith in Watson's medical abilities. One very Doyle-ish bit about Watson in this book, though, is his concern about Holmes's health and his worry about his friend's unhealthy habits. Any discrepancies between the Holmes in Doyle's stories and the one in this book is explained away at the beginning as a distortion of the facts on the side of Dr. Watson or Conan Doyle and his "collaborators" at Strand magazine (the author seems a bit unclear who exactly, in her version of things, is supposed to have written the stories). Now for the relationship between Holmes and Russell. Heavy-handed hints are scattered throughout the text that indicate the blossoming of tender feelings in Holmes' heart. However, the author does not manage to make Holmes appear even remotely attractive as a man. The scenes of physical contact between the two protagonists (e.g. he once kisses her on the forehead and once takes her in his arms) made me shudder with revulsion. Of course there are many attractive men in their fifties or even older, but this Holmes, just as the one in the Doyle stories, by the way, does not come over as someone I'd ever want any physical closeness with. One feature of the original Holmes stories are the detailed descriptions of the characters' appearance and the locations where the adventures take place, thus evoking a picture of the time, place and society in which the stories are set. This is largely missing in _The Beekeeper's Apprentice_. Laurie King has instead inserted some psychological bits (Russell has been to a psychotherapist and later gives psychological advice to a child; she also analyses Holmes' relationship with his parents). So stylistically this is less a pastiche than an independent development, loosely based on the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Real period feeling is never presented, and I strongly suspect that Ms King knows neither Sussex nor Wales (where a part of the story is set). I am not even sure how well she knows London or how much she knows about post-WWI British society. All in all, this book was a big disappointment to me. And maybe it is a small consolation to the "Conservative Male Reviewer" who entered an earlier review on February 1st that a left-wing, feminist reader agrees with him. I want Holmes to be cold, brilliant and misogynist. I do not want him to be kind, caring, emotional and with failing intellectual powers.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, believe it or not
Review: I have to admit that I love this book. I think that I first read it at the time of my greatest Holmes obsession when I read anything at all related to Holmes. (Now I only read almost anything related to Holmes.) But I still had severe doubts when I discovered the premise. Really, it seems like this book shouldn't be good, but it's excellent. Mary Russell is a marvelous character, brilliant, opinionated, and best of all, the age I was when I was literally in love with Holmes. And King's Holmes is the best I have discovered outside of the real thing, Doyle's own creation. He's true to the original but with a lot of added dimensions. And though Mary is only a teenager you can already discern that the intellectual tension between her and Holmes may lead to something more in the future. I recommend The Beekeeper's Apprentice highly for open-minded Sherlockians--especially women, I have to add. This is the first and best of the Holmes-Russell series. A Monstrous Regiment of Women and A Letter of Mary are very good but not quite on the same level, and I found The Moor and O Jerusalem just a little uninteresting, at leat in comparison. Still, I'd rather read any of them than almost any other non-Doyle Holmes books.
Rating:
Summary: The Beekeeper's Apprentice is a worthy feminist
Review: This was my introduction to this author & was I glad I found her! What a relief to find a thinking woman sleuth - steeped in history, religion & self-esteem! It's been a long time since I found something with that breadth of language. Something which drew me in with familiar mystery & curiosity. It's 1914 & young Mary Russell striding over the Sussex Downs, stumbles upon a retired beekeeper with an extraordinary past. Both are unkempt & at a loss for direction yet recognize in each other's keen mind a fellow thinker & together they set out to solve a few local problems. what a brew of tea! ...............
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