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portiabturner's review against another edition
2.0
This was a mess of a book. I was so intrigued by it when it was described to me at a rep night and I needed to read a book in translation for my reading challenge with my roommates so I thought this was going to be perfect.
There are too many plots in this book. Yes, most of them end up tying together in the end but it took too long to get there. I didn't care about most of the plots because they didn't feel important or necessary. And then when they did start to tie together, I was completely lost. What I could tell was supposed to make me say "Oh wow, I can't believe it" left me scratching my head. Too much was attempted and not enough was successful.
There are too many plots in this book. Yes, most of them end up tying together in the end but it took too long to get there. I didn't care about most of the plots because they didn't feel important or necessary. And then when they did start to tie together, I was completely lost. What I could tell was supposed to make me say "Oh wow, I can't believe it" left me scratching my head. Too much was attempted and not enough was successful.
cwgrieves's review against another edition
2.0
For me, this book didn't reach the standards that I expect from Open Letter. I really struggled to get all of the way through it. The writing and the main plot were fairly mediocre, but the concept was great. I got to the end thinking that there was a lot more that could have been done with the idea behind the story.
The plot of the Canterel/Holmes story-line had far too many coincidences in it for me. It also wasn't clear when it was set (or if it was set in a completely different timeline). There were points where the characters seemed to be in the late 19th Century and points where they seemed to be in the early 21st Century. Those inconsistencies really pulled me out of the narrative. I saw the twist coming a mile off and the powers that one character acquired towards the end were neither explained, nor relevant.
My biggest two issues with this book though were the completely unnecessary racial slurs and the incidents of sexual violence. I think that racism and sexual assault are important topics and fiction writers shouldn't shy away from addressing them. In my opinion though, the author did a terrible job of handling both issues.
The plot of the Canterel/Holmes story-line had far too many coincidences in it for me. It also wasn't clear when it was set (or if it was set in a completely different timeline). There were points where the characters seemed to be in the late 19th Century and points where they seemed to be in the early 21st Century. Those inconsistencies really pulled me out of the narrative. I saw the twist coming a mile off and the powers that one character acquired towards the end were neither explained, nor relevant.
My biggest two issues with this book though were the completely unnecessary racial slurs and the incidents of sexual violence. I think that racism and sexual assault are important topics and fiction writers shouldn't shy away from addressing them. In my opinion though, the author did a terrible job of handling both issues.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs and Sexual violence