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Sherlock Holmes: The Truth about Ludwig II
Hard to Find book
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 8, 2014
I started out with two stars, but this book is not even okay, and I'd feel terrible if a goodread chum picked it up based on my two-star rating.
I was hoping for some kind of neat Sherlockian plot twist about Ludwig's madness and death--I should mention that Ludwig's history has been one I've been really interested in since my teens--but this one just kind of says, yep, he was crazy. And a MEAN crazy. And surrounded by mean and crazy people.
The story was translated from German (poorly), and the editing job on the book is atrocious. I has a major sad about having bothered to finish this book.
I was hoping for some kind of neat Sherlockian plot twist about Ludwig's madness and death--I should mention that Ludwig's history has been one I've been really interested in since my teens--but this one just kind of says, yep, he was crazy. And a MEAN crazy. And surrounded by mean and crazy people.
The story was translated from German (poorly), and the editing job on the book is atrocious. I has a major sad about having bothered to finish this book.
February 13, 2023
Eine nette Idee, nur der Schluss ist wirklich über das Ziel hinausgeschossen.
May 26, 2021
I don't really do reviews (this is my first one ever), but I felt compelled to speak on the books behalf, since the only other review doesn't look very promising and to be honest, it made me quite wary of the book - now, after I've finished it, I would say unnecessarily so. As someone devoted to Sherlock Holmes and very much interested in King Ludwig's story, I found many pleasurable moments with the book and certainly don't regret having it sent to my country across half the globe.
I'm not saying the book is the best pastiche ever, it's true that the translation isn't perfect in all places (some sentences do sound strange) and that there are some editing mistakes, but not so much that it makes the book unreadable (at least it didn’t for me) and I quite enjoyed the inclusion of pictures, historical notes and details, scrapes of testimonies and the vivid description of the setting (in the sometimes a bit flowery victorian prose style). The book was nothing if not atmospheric and since I visited Neuschwannstein a few years ago, it brought back some beautiful memories. As for the plot, I want to remain spoiler-free, so all I can say is that after a slower beginning (which is however acknowledged in the foreword), it made me grab the book in all my spare moments until the end (and beyond, because the book doesn't end with "The end"). Speaking of the ending - "the neat Sherlockian plot twist" my predecessor missed could perhaps be neater and more Sherlockian, but unless there is something I missed, the solution (while a bit... surreal) isn't simply "he was really very crazy".
To conclude, I want to point out I'm not saying my preceding reviewer is wrong, reading enjoyment is quite subjective and what one likes others may hate. However, as I said before, I wouldn't want all the potential readers to be discouraged and miss on a book they might enjoy because there is only one unflattering review (which by itself nearly discouraged me, as I said, and I would have regretted it if it happened). I just want to say that there are people who enjoyed it very much (well, at least one person) apart from those who didn’t and the book deserves (according to me) to be given a chance.
I'm not saying the book is the best pastiche ever, it's true that the translation isn't perfect in all places (some sentences do sound strange) and that there are some editing mistakes, but not so much that it makes the book unreadable (at least it didn’t for me) and I quite enjoyed the inclusion of pictures, historical notes and details, scrapes of testimonies and the vivid description of the setting (in the sometimes a bit flowery victorian prose style). The book was nothing if not atmospheric and since I visited Neuschwannstein a few years ago, it brought back some beautiful memories. As for the plot, I want to remain spoiler-free, so all I can say is that after a slower beginning (which is however acknowledged in the foreword), it made me grab the book in all my spare moments until the end (and beyond, because the book doesn't end with "The end"). Speaking of the ending - "the neat Sherlockian plot twist" my predecessor missed could perhaps be neater and more Sherlockian, but unless there is something I missed, the solution (while a bit... surreal) isn't simply "he was really very crazy".
To conclude, I want to point out I'm not saying my preceding reviewer is wrong, reading enjoyment is quite subjective and what one likes others may hate. However, as I said before, I wouldn't want all the potential readers to be discouraged and miss on a book they might enjoy because there is only one unflattering review (which by itself nearly discouraged me, as I said, and I would have regretted it if it happened). I just want to say that there are people who enjoyed it very much (well, at least one person) apart from those who didn’t and the book deserves (according to me) to be given a chance.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews