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.
