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Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated The Stone of Destiny: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure in Books
Jul 30, 2018
Fans of Sherlock Holmes, fans of mystery, fans of adventure and suspense - this might be your next favorite book! Now, I have never read a Sherlock Holmes book before, so I can’t compare this book to the original books from Arthur Conan Doyle. But, what I will do for you is tell you all I thought about this book!
The story begins when during the funeral of Queen Victoria, a group of Irish separatists steal the Coronation Stone, on which every royal has been crowned. To retrieve this important object, the royals will hire Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery. Holmes and his friend Watson travel to Ireland and try to infiltrate the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a group they think is responsible for all that happened.
Even though this is a Sherlock Holmes book, we actually unravel the story through a Watson-first-person point of view. He, to me, is a very interesting character, even though he follows Holmes like a puppy and doesn’t seem to have a personal opinion.
As for Sherlock Holmes, even though I really like the mysterious aura about him, and how smart he can be - I also see him as one of the rude aristocrats that refuse to speak to other people that seem to be lower in the hierarchy to them. This is of course, not presented in the book in any way - but I simply had that impression.
I loved the beginning, and I loved the mystery and suspense throughout the whole book. I was never ahead of the book, and my assumptions were never correct. I loved how the author kept us in the dark right until the end.
The small things I didn’t like though, were the slow pace - I have to admit, the pace was really slow for me, and I couldn’t wait until a chapter is finished to see if there would be more action. Then, even the action scenes weren’t as thrilling as I would expect them to be. And finally, there were no big plot twists, which I think we might have used in the book.
But - we did have a lovely mystery solving story, and we had a lot of history information floating around. We also had another book with Sherlock Holmes, that for you - lovers of the Sherlock Holmes books will of course be something you enjoy.
I greatly recommend it to you if you love the good old Sherlock Holmes adventures!
Many thanks to the author, Richard T. Ryan, for sending me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The story begins when during the funeral of Queen Victoria, a group of Irish separatists steal the Coronation Stone, on which every royal has been crowned. To retrieve this important object, the royals will hire Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery. Holmes and his friend Watson travel to Ireland and try to infiltrate the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a group they think is responsible for all that happened.
Even though this is a Sherlock Holmes book, we actually unravel the story through a Watson-first-person point of view. He, to me, is a very interesting character, even though he follows Holmes like a puppy and doesn’t seem to have a personal opinion.
As for Sherlock Holmes, even though I really like the mysterious aura about him, and how smart he can be - I also see him as one of the rude aristocrats that refuse to speak to other people that seem to be lower in the hierarchy to them. This is of course, not presented in the book in any way - but I simply had that impression.
I loved the beginning, and I loved the mystery and suspense throughout the whole book. I was never ahead of the book, and my assumptions were never correct. I loved how the author kept us in the dark right until the end.
The small things I didn’t like though, were the slow pace - I have to admit, the pace was really slow for me, and I couldn’t wait until a chapter is finished to see if there would be more action. Then, even the action scenes weren’t as thrilling as I would expect them to be. And finally, there were no big plot twists, which I think we might have used in the book.
But - we did have a lovely mystery solving story, and we had a lot of history information floating around. We also had another book with Sherlock Holmes, that for you - lovers of the Sherlock Holmes books will of course be something you enjoy.
I greatly recommend it to you if you love the good old Sherlock Holmes adventures!
Many thanks to the author, Richard T. Ryan, for sending me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
LilyLovesIndie (123 KP) rated The Trust Casefiles in Books
Nov 5, 2018
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in return for an honest review, and I am pleased to say I very much enjoyed it.
It is, what reads like, a collection of stories which are based on a 'Trust' who protect the humans by destroying vampires and other supernatural beings. There are lots of different types of vampires mentioned, as well as lots of different 'agents' for the Trust.
The book has many positive aspects which make it a very good read, however there are a couple of areas that, with minimal work, could make this book much better and easier to read. Firstly, it's necessary to point out that it's not, in my opinion at least, an easy read. The snippets don't always seem to flow on from each other, and this can make it quite confusing as a reader. In addition, I feel there are too many characters to keep up with and the major characters could just do with a little more development earlier on in the book to encourage the reader to engage and invest more emotion in them from the early pages.
That being said, there are many positive aspects that are a credit to Cushing. Perhaps the best of these is the variety of vampires covered in this book. The imagination necessary to create not only one unique brand of vampires for a book, but to create a huge variety, and making out that they are as diverse as humans is a novel concept that I've not encountered in such detail before. The fact that Cushing also dabbles into other supernatural beings as well makes this book a must read for those interested in traditional stereotypes of supernatural creatures.
In addition, I feel huge credit has to be given for the plot in this book. Although not entirely easy to follow throughout, the amount of twists and turns that Cushing has included is admirable. Each chapter delivers something new and very fresh to the story, and that's something few books manage. Personally, it needs to be just a bit more careful in the plot structure, and a few more signposts are needed to really help the reader find their way through the book a little easier, but it is immensely enjoyable to read.
In conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes traditional vampire tales with a twist. It's a fast paced book with plenty of action and a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a few hours!
It is, what reads like, a collection of stories which are based on a 'Trust' who protect the humans by destroying vampires and other supernatural beings. There are lots of different types of vampires mentioned, as well as lots of different 'agents' for the Trust.
The book has many positive aspects which make it a very good read, however there are a couple of areas that, with minimal work, could make this book much better and easier to read. Firstly, it's necessary to point out that it's not, in my opinion at least, an easy read. The snippets don't always seem to flow on from each other, and this can make it quite confusing as a reader. In addition, I feel there are too many characters to keep up with and the major characters could just do with a little more development earlier on in the book to encourage the reader to engage and invest more emotion in them from the early pages.
That being said, there are many positive aspects that are a credit to Cushing. Perhaps the best of these is the variety of vampires covered in this book. The imagination necessary to create not only one unique brand of vampires for a book, but to create a huge variety, and making out that they are as diverse as humans is a novel concept that I've not encountered in such detail before. The fact that Cushing also dabbles into other supernatural beings as well makes this book a must read for those interested in traditional stereotypes of supernatural creatures.
In addition, I feel huge credit has to be given for the plot in this book. Although not entirely easy to follow throughout, the amount of twists and turns that Cushing has included is admirable. Each chapter delivers something new and very fresh to the story, and that's something few books manage. Personally, it needs to be just a bit more careful in the plot structure, and a few more signposts are needed to really help the reader find their way through the book a little easier, but it is immensely enjoyable to read.
In conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes traditional vampire tales with a twist. It's a fast paced book with plenty of action and a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a few hours!
An Introduction to Survival Analysis Using Stata
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Sean Farrell (9 KP) rated The Blessings in Books
Mar 15, 2018
I had been hearing some positive things about this book around the library and so I decided to give it a read, not knowing what to really expect. It wound up being a very relatable and enjoyable book. There isn't really much by way of a plot, rather each chapter winds up being basically a short story about one member of a very close, extended Irish Catholic Philadelphia family over the course of several decades. They are all connected, and so answers that aren't necessarily provided during the course of one person's "story" wind up being provided during someone else's. Each character is both different enough from the others and fully fleshed-out enough to keep things interesting, and the choice to follow different people in each chapter makes it hard to guess where things may be heading next. There are certainly some surprises in store for members of the family throughout. Growing up with a large family that was very close makes many of the moments immediately resonate with me, and some of the problems faced throughout the course of the novel strike close to home as well. Still, the aforementioned lack of plot makes it feel somewhat uneventful when all is said and done. The Blessings do wind up being a great cast of characters though, and the family's unwavering love for and faith in each other no matter how much life throws at them is a joy to behold, and that alone makes this one of the better works of fiction you might run across this Summer.
MF
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