Brilliant, imaginative, original, and....fun!

Any additional comments?

Nancy Springer deserves much credit. The concept of a 'Sherlock Holmes Younger Sister' young adult genre could have been as dull, vapid, and predictable as -- sorry -- the old 'Nancy Drew' serials.

But Ms. Springer has created a genuinely inspired character of depth, passion, emotion, and isn't afraid to make her fallible and and occasionally unlikeable -- in other words, a believable fourteen-year-old girl.

While Enola can be a bit unlikeable at times, overall she is a magnificent, resonant character, easily as fascinating as her older brother, or brothers, to be precise, even if Mycroft doesn't appear all that often in Conan-Doyle's canonical tales.It's also impossible not to admire the detail and significant differences that a female point of view in Victorian England that Springer has decorated the tale with. It was such a male-dominate society that one forgets that females were little more than property of men, who generally had little regard for the distaff's intelligence, reasoning ability, or even sense of moral purpose. As we watch Enola, and -- vicariously -- her mother try to navigate these murky waters, I can't help but admire both female Holmes 'alternate' use of the imprisoning foundation garments of the day, the bustle, corset, and other various 'dress enhancers' to better, and frankly brilliant, purposes.

In this, Book the Second (to borrow Ms. Springer's chapter headings), Enola becomes somewhat more settled with the idea of 'doing quite well on her own', to use her mother's turgid phrase. This book flows more easily, inevitable as so much of the first book had so much unavoidable 'back story'. And readers may possibly be interested that this polishing and honing continue in the following books; they simply get better and better.

The performance by Katherine Kellgren is spot-on, as well. Her fine sense of timing, and of pitch, pacing and her excellent grasp of accents from Home Counties, to Eatonian, to East End Cockney was lovely, quite entertaining, and there was never any doubt as to whom was speaking. Brilliant!

While this novel may be directed towards a young adult market, it is so multilayered that adults will enjoy it as much as the teenaged reader. As I said at the beginning, Nancy Springer has a magnificent achievement in this book. She is an ornament to the writing profession.

However, I'm afraid that she has made a series so genuinely gripping that she might have to keep producing them for her eager audience. So please, Ms. Springer -- keep Enola away from Reichenbach Falls.

5 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Fantastic story but definitely PG-13

I got this story for my 8 year old since it was in the kids section. There were many college level words and Old English prose that were hard for her to understand. Then the story takes a dark and sinister turn so I stopped the recording for her and resumed listening by myself. I loved the unexpected villian and all the tension wondering whether Sherlock's sister was going to be discovered. I will listen to more with my 13 year old. Excellent writing, performance, and drama, just not for little ears.

10 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Good sequel but should be YA not J book

This book is a good sequel to the first but the whole seeies should be YA not J book.

3 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Fun story--even for adults

Any additional comments?

A fun tale and innovative twist on the ubiquitous Sherlock Holmes stories. Katherine Kellgren--best narrator in the business.The writer does a great job of taking the reader through the foggy streets of Victorian London. Characters are realistic but this story would not be as good if it weren't for the genius narration by Ms Kellgren

2 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Entertaining, a good ride, well-done

This book is solid but not for adults looking for a tricky mystery. It's completely unbelievable and the mystery isn't one the reader can unravel before Enola. But I don't care about that - I wasn't expecting more than a rollicking kids' adventure, which it is. I have been needing this sort of escape right now and it fits the bill. No 5 stars because it doesn't hit the magic of truly excellent kids' books or the performances where you can't help but wanting to keep listening. Solid and entertaining, and I like that it brings in some women's history.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

the long pause are annoying

the narrator has very long pause between chapters. if you can put up with that it good story to enjoy

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Plucky

I am just loving these tales. This series is for adults who enjoy fun as well as teens. Don't really think its all that appropriate for under 12's as some of the scenes are gory or stuff to make you a bit sick. Great details from the time period though.
Love how Enola plunders along learning as she goes. She's naive about lot of city ways, but seems to always land on her feet and not need help from a man all that often. She is growing in the ways of perditoria (spelling) and life.

Anything narrated by K Kellgren is fabulous in my book.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Number/word puzzles

It's hard for me to visualize anagram/number puzzles when listening to books. That made the book a chore for me.

3 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Very Entertaining

A very well written adventure. Wonderfully narrated. Deliciously entertaining. Can't wait to start the next one. Hope this one becomes a movie as well.

What a wonderful story!

How did she do such a great job of catching what it must have been like to be a 14 year-old girl at such a difficult time in history!? I am eager to get the next book and continue her adventure.