A Study in Charlotte » Book Review

I was prepared to have A Study in Charlotte occupy my literal and figurative favorites shelf. After all, I'm an absolute nut when it comes to anything Sherlock Holmes. But sadly, this book just didn't do it for me.

Charlotte & Jamie

Charlotte Holmes is the descendant of Sherlock Holmes. Though is anybody out there (besides me) astonished at the fact that Sherlock managed to spawn children? I'd just as well believe that he somehow cloned himself rather than go through the icky ordeal of procreation.

Jamie Watson is the descendant of Dr. John Watson. Seeing as how John was a bit of a ladies' man, this part is more believable. Jamie is sent to a boarding school in Connecticut after acquiring a rugby scholarship. And lo and behold, that's where Charlotte happens to be!

Mycroft Holmes: Oh, Sherlock, what do we say about coincidence?
Sherlock Holmes: The universe is rarely so lazy.
- BBC's Sherlock "The Sign of Three"

Jamie has a strong fascination with his counterpart, Charlotte. He also hopes to be a writer like his ancestor, and wishes for a bond with Charlotte like his predecessor had with Sherlock. He finds out that Charlotte has been solving crimes for Scotland Yard since the age of 10 and has been well-trained in deductive and reasoning skills.

Fascinating, right? But I found it all SO dull. To me, this was essentially a retelling. Even with the change of setting, the contemporary time period (both of which had already been done before), the Holmes and Watson families, and changing Holmes to a female character, nothing felt fresh. Everything was recycled from the original Sherlock Holmes stories. Even down to the existence of the Moriarty family.

Friendship & Romance

My friend's little sister is named Jamie. So when I skimmed through the synopsis, I thought ooh, female friendship! Alas I realized that not to be the case. I always worry when either of the main characters are female. In fact that was the very reason why I refused to watch Elementary. I did not want a romantic dynamic to come into play at all. Luckily romance between Watson and Holmes did not come into play in Elementary (at least as far as I've watched). I sadly cannot say the same for A Study in Charlotte.

Luckily romance didn't play a central role in the story. But I found myself SO BORED. Honestly, I have very high standards when it comes to Sherlock Holmes. I need it to be clever. BBC's Sherlock did a wonderful job in modernizing Holmes and Watson, by creating strong yet likeable characters with a bond everyone can't help but root for, and updating the stories to fit the contemporary time period. And let's face it, Season 3 was basically fan fiction come to life *fans self*.

Last Thoughts

NOTHING surprised me in this book. The mystery should have intrigued me, but I just didn't care. I should have been cheering on the friendship that develops between Watson and Holmes but again, I couldn't care less. My favorite character was Milo, only because he was almost an exact replica of Mycroft (aka Mark Gatiss) from Sherlock.



I should have just re-watched Sherlock instead. I may give the next book in the trilogy a try when it releases next year. But I sure as hell won't be re-reading this one.

Burning Glass » Review

Burning Glass wasn't perfect by any means, but I was enraptured nonetheless.  I am always on the lookout for a good romantic fantasy, trying to relive the glory that is Graceling, and while Purdie's novel doesn't come close to that genre standard, it was a very promising start. I blazed through this book.

The story follows a young woman, Sonya, who is an auraseer — a person with the power to read the emotions of others.  Every identified auraseer in the kingdom of Riaznin must be trained by an order, in preparation for serving the crown.  And the crown needs the help of auraseers more than ever, because the political climate is tumultuous: taxes are high, people are starving, and the legitimacy of the new emperor is in question.

Sonya, our protagonist, eluded conscription for seventeen years, growing up with freedom, before being discovered and sent to the auraseers' remote, wintry covent. As the story opens, Sonya, who has been mercilessly ostracized by her new peers, is rendered insane by the ravenous hunger of a raiding party of peasants. Driven mad with empathetic hunger, she triggers a series of events which has devastating consequences.

As a consequence of these events, Sonya is sent to the home of the emperor to serve as his auraseer.  She tumbles straight into a pit of court intrigue and a nasty feud — between two brothers, who were raised separately and who are almost like strangers to each other. Burning Glass most definitely has an "out of the frying pan, into the fire," element to it.

The style of narration is first person, and highly introspective.  We receive a lot of detail about what Sonya is feeling at any given moment, and those feelings often wavered and were definitely inconsistent.  This almost made Sonya an unlikable character for me, and I have no doubt that it'll be too much for some readers. However, I found myself getting behind Sonya, even when she made questionable choices.

There is quite a hefty love triangle in this book, by the by, which is resolved before the story's end, thankfully.  Usually, I cannot abide that kind of geometry in my literature, but I felt that the romantic complications were well integrated into the storyline in Burning Glass.  Part of the whole point of the book is that Sonya stands between the two brothers, Anton and Valko.  They are like those two friends you have, who, for some reason, just hate each other and won't get along.  The one thing they have in common is that they like you.

It makes for some intriguing drama, that had me riveted, in between my eye rolling.

Ultimately, I think this was a fabulous and promising debut.  I am going to read the sequel, with absolutely no hesitation, and while I hesitate to recommend the book to readers who are allergic to youthful drama, I can say without reservations, that I really enjoyed reading Burning Glass.