Yet another geek blog

1 April 2011

The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by John Joseph Adams

Difficult to give this a score because it is such a mixed bag.

Some stories strive to feel as if they are part on the cannon. Some stores are of the "Sherlock Holmes meets..." variety. Some twist the characters. Some really push the boat out.

They also treat the supernatural differently. There are 'Scooby do' plots where Holmes provides a natural explanation, Lovecraft type ones with true horror and ambiguous ones in which there is no single possible explanation.

Some reviewers clearly dislike this mix because it means that only a few of the stories are ones of the sort they like.

But for me, this is the great strength of the collection. The fact that you have no idea what is coming next keeps it fresh right up to the very end.

Labels: reviews