The List of 7 ... thoughts

Well...

It was an interesting book. And since I have a tendency to get lost in my thoughts and wander of track I'm gonna list what I want to cover in this post.

Similarity to Holmes' Stories

....how plot relates

....The characters relate

....Conclusion (how differ)/loose ends

....Supernatural

The link present between the two.

And overall opinion.


So... the plot.
Typically in a Holme's likeplot there is a evident/puzzling problem. In Hounds it was that someone had died and they were wondering how/what caused it and how to prevent it from happenign on the next heir. In a Study in Scarlet..it was that someone had been killed in a very stange way and they were trying to solve the murder.

In this one however, it was that the main character, Doyle, had been unwittingly been "targeted by a diabolical coven of satanists - the Dark Brotherhood" according to the book jacket. He witnesses a murder, which is what first pulls him into the story... however the plot does not revolve around solving the murder. (Well it vaugely does but that is not the centerpoitn of the story) The main plot revloves around "tracking" the group of Satanists that are practicing dark magic to find out exactly what they are doing and why... because there is no otber option essentially.

Because Doyles life is being atacked by them.. and staying in one place alone will prove fatal... since they are tracking him down.

So they follow these leads and you find out more and more about the group of atttackers. And so they connect the clues. But, though they follow clues and hints that lead them towards discovering what is really happening and though DOyle has the same logical skills that Holmes has... it's almost by chance that they find out what's going on. THere aren't any alternative theories that go on in his head with circumstancial evidence... without strange and uncertain evidence. Everything is pretty straightforward.. .blah blah bought this land... whoever has this job... blank is a very evil and crazy person. the only bit of unsure linking together occurs as the end of the book when Doyle is tryign to save his own life and makes lucky guesses... which he himself admits to. ..."Doyle chanced his most daring leap of the offensive... and you are currently preparin a second attempt becuase your first effort - involving the birth of youyr son... has sadly and tragically failed".... Doyle had gambled and come up aces". --very unHolmesy.

Holmes knows exactly what he's doing

Jumping to how the stories relate... according to Doyle.... Sparks who is a person wiht similar logical skills to him is who he bases the stories of Sherlock Holmes on. But though its interesting to think of it in that way.... besides his keen logical skills, he is very unsimilar to HOlmes. Sparks, who is another main character that helps Doyle out a lot and whom is tracking down these people, doesn't balance theoriesi out liek Holmes, but rather is a man of action and disguise that solves cases by lauching right into them. For example, he pretends to be a patient of a doctor because he's tryign to figure out information on them. Truthfully he also resembles a bit of Dr. Kreizler from the Alienist and the Angel of Darkness because Sparks, like Kreizler retrains/corrects/helps criminals become good citizens again that help him with their skills instead of using them against the law.

For refereces to teh supernatural... I think i already covered some of it in a previous post.... so moving a long. THe conclusion..

A lot of pieces tied together towards the end... and information that made no sense in the beginning makes more sense in the end..

But, i felt there were a lot of things left up in the air. We finally understand a little more of the supernatural forces... of why mummies come back a live. But, I still don't understand about the "grey hoods" which could move at great speeds and power.. blah blah... If tbat's true then how are they formally people?... and more than that... people that have had their souls taken away from them for absolute obedience? If they are lifeless people like that... then how do they have this great spped adn power about them? Maybe I missed something along the way.

What i didn't like about the book also was that there were a lot of different pieces and elements that eventually tied together in some way or another... but a lot of it was almost irrelevant/unnessecary.. The plot would have been simpler, clearer and made more sense if it wasn't so intricate - and the intricate was unnecessary in my opinion.

So.. though this has a lot of allusions to the Holme's stories and is set in Victorian England... I really don't think it has quite the same elements of Holme's storise that I had expected.

In its own sense it was entertaining though.