Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Review: Death Cloud

Death Cloud
Death Cloud by Andy Lane

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Death Cloud was rather disappointing. I picked it up because it's the only teen series endorsed by the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Estate, but it didn't live up to what I was expecting.

It follows the adventures of a 14 year old Sherlock Holmes. He is sent by his brother Mycroft to live at Holmes Manor with his uncle Sherrinford Holmes (which was actually Arthur Conan's Doyle's original name for Sherlock). While there he befriends a street urchin, an American man named Amyus Crowe, and Amyus's daughter Virginia. When two bodies are found dead in the village, Sherlock attempts to solve the murders. This leads him from a creepy mansion on the edge of town, to the dirty streets of London, all the way to France. He uncovers and foils the plot for world-domination of a villain with an odd deformity.

Most of the dialogue was stiff, cliched, and forced. Sherlock as a character was boring. The main love interest, Virginia, was way too independent for her time - even though the book tried to explain it by repeatedly reminding us that she was from America. The villain was extremely disappointing and unbelievable. The housekeeper at Holmes Manor was confusing. About every ten pages we were told "she is no friend to the Holmes family," but the reason was never developed. I'm guessing that it'll be saved for another book, but it was distracting. The entire plot was far-fetched.

On the whole, a rather disappointing read.

Though the author did include little nods to the actual stories, they were few and far apart.



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Review: Beginnings, Middles & Ends

Beginnings, Middles & Ends
Beginnings, Middles & Ends by Nancy Kress

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book gives clear, helpful tips on writing beginnings, middles, and ends. The section on beginnings was very thought provoking, and the section on middles delivered some useful advice for anyone who's ever been stuck in the middle of a story (or, in my case, in the middle of multiple stories). I'll definitely be putting the advice in this book to practical use.

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Review: The Elements of Mystery Fiction: Writing a Modern Whodunit

The Elements of Mystery Fiction: Writing a Modern Whodunit
The Elements of Mystery Fiction: Writing a Modern Whodunit by William G. Tapply

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A fairly good introduction to writing basic mystery fiction. My only two problems with it were the repeated (and annoying) use of the pronoun "she" to refer to the sleuth and "he" to refer to the villain (is the author saying women can't be villains?) and a few spots with bad language (mostly in the excerpts from published mystery books).

The section on collaborations was especially interesting.

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