A Study in Scarlet: Reviews by 2018 Reading Challengers

[Winter, Group Reads]

Tell us what you thought of the book! You can leave your review here. Even if you read the book outside of the group, please feel free to let us know what you thought of it.

Please make sure to mark your spoilers by typing "[spoiler]" at the start and [/spoiler] at the end but replacing the []s with <>s.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

By the way, if you finished this book and you enjoyed it you might like the short story A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman which is based on this Sherlock Holmes story and also mixes in some elements of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos.

You can read it in the anthology Shadows Over Baker Street or the author's excellent short story collection Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders.

Or you can just read it for free on the author's website: http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/...

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Also, if you enjoyed this book and you'd like to continue reading the Sherlock Holmes books, join us for a buddy read for future books in the series starting in July with The Sign of Four.

[MacKenzie]

The only thing that saved this read for me and made it worthwhile was the background story about what led up to the man being murdered (Part 2). I want to rewrite this so that it just tells the story that led up to the murder. The most interesting part of the whole book to me was the background story. It's also pretty hilarious that the root of everything is "those damn evil Mormons!"

I am not a fan of Sherlock because I think that withholding information is not a mystery. The way this was written, the reader and no one else knew anything but Sherlock Holmes knew absolutely everything. I cannot feel sucked into the story when I can't be part of it. I was never really trying to figure anything out because there weren't any clues or suspects that could be pursued in my own mind.

I am, however, looking forward to reading A Study in Brimstone and seeing how Warlock Holmes takes on a similar situation. I was interested in that book when I ran across it in BAM the other day, and reading A Study in Scarlet was the perfect excuse to buy it.

[Tim]

MacKenzie wrote: "The only thing that saved this read for me and made it worthwhile was the background story about what led up to the man being murdered (Part 2)."
I find this fairly interesting as part 2 actually lowered the score for me (to each their own though!). While I enjoyed the first section immensely, I found part 2 to be a bit disappointing. I wanted more detection and less flashbacks I guess.

The most entertaining aspect about the novel for me was, as someone who has read many of the stories but none of the early novels, is how the characters changed after the initial novel. I always think of Watson as something of the man of action, and here he talks about being lazy and being in such poor health that he feels it unlikely that he will fully recover. Seems quite a different Watson from the one most people I think generally know.

Overall I found the book entertaining, but I think Doyle greatly improved as he went on.

Also...

MacKenzie wrote: "I am, however, looking forward to reading A Study in Brimstone and seeing how Warlock Holmes takes on a similar situation. I was interested in that book when I ran across it in BAM the other day, and reading A Study in Scarlet was the perfect excuse to buy it. "

I didn't even know this was a thing... but it sounds somewhat amazing.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I really enjoyed this, although the middle part where the story completely changes is a little disorienting. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

[Amy]

I love Sherlock Holmes. Which is why this book only got three stars-- because for a good chunk of it there is no Sherlock to be found. No Watson. Just a separate story about Mormons in America. Which wasn't a bad story, but again, no Sherlock. Also, the fun of reading murder mysteries is using the clues, figuring out red herrings, and trying to guess whodunnit. Conan Doyle didn't allow us to do that in this one-- he gave Sherlock insider knowledge and quickly caught the bad guy without giving us readers a chance to play along. That being said, I loved seeing Watson and Sherlock meet, and it's always enjoyable to see Sherlock's mind at work.

[Ashley]

I am still reading but enjoying it to far. I think the later books are more interesting as you can figure out what is going on and it reads more like a mystery. I agree that it is interesting to figure out how Sherlock and Watson meet, especially as they seem so different. I dont't really see how these two parts go together and thought that I was reading a different book and this was a mistake for a few pages. I also think it is interesting to see how the writing and the book evolve. They get more interesting in my opinion in some of the later books.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Randy wrote: "Also, if you enjoyed this book and you'd like to continue reading the Sherlock Holmes books, join us for a buddy read for future books in the series starting in July with [book:The Sign of Four|608..."

Don't forget, buddy read of the series starting in July. Please feel free to join in!