Alex Woolf (2) (1964–)

Honestly, this feels like a clumsy abridgement, and it led me to want to verify with the actual text as to whether or not wording was changed vs mere abridgement. It didn't save the tone of a Holmes story, which even when I was a child was what drew them to me.

The art made me expect to see a New Yorker cartoon caption underneath each panel. It's nowhere near what I expected from the cover art. I was disappointed.

I have very high standards, admittedly, but I would not want this to be my show more child's introduction to the canon.

I received an eARC from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

Sherlock Holmes with illustrations is a great idea. Give me an edition with the original Paget illustrations from The Strand and I'll give you my money.

But the abridging is too much - it reads like a far too simplistic version - and the illustrations are likewise too juvenile. I read a pop-up version of The Hound of the Baskervilles to my child when she was about 6* and it was not even close to this simplistic in either language or art. There is no need for things for young people to be show more without wit and spirit.

*I do not advise this as I was then subsequently called to her bedroom for a few nights as she feared that the Hound would crash through her bedroom windows and attack her at bedtime, which I could only admit was a problem I had brought upon myself.

I received a free electronic ARC of this book from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

Three cheers for Alex Woolf and Arcturus Publishing! I enjoyed all the Sherlock Holmes novels and most of the short stories as a teenager, and this one was no exception. How glad I am that Woolf and his publisher are making Sir Arthur Conan Doyle accessible for the younger set!

For those unfamiliar with the original short story, a pawnbroker consults the Great Detective about a very odd but lucrative job in which he was asked to spend four hours a day copying out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. show more But after two weeks, the job disappears. What gives? What follows is another of Holmes’ brilliant bouts of deduction. Even adults will love the Alex Woolf adaptation.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less

This second book in the series begins with a brief but comprehensive recap of Time Out of Time before jumping straight into a fast and gripping plot. Since we left the characters behind at the end of the last book their lives have been quiet and idyllic but this peaceful state is about to come to an end. The Malfunction happens and everything starts to go wrong. The temp-al chambers have stopped working so no one can leave or enter the Chronosphere. The temp-al ducts are also not working show more meaning that the supply chain is broken. Very quickly services start to fail, and then the technology starts to act very strangely. Within a few chapters this magical place to get away from it all is starting to look like a living nightmare.

All of the characters we got to know in Time Out of Time return in this book, we again tag along primarily with Raffi. This book allows us to get to know the characters even better, and by the end of the book many of the questions I brought with me were answered. I particularly liked the way we got to understand some of the “baddies” better, I always like it when characters’ motivations are understandable rather than a character being bad just because s/he is.

I loved this book, and really liked the way we got to understand more about the Chronosphere, both how it works and why it exists. I also liked the examination of the society within the Chronosphere, I always find accounts of societies disintegrating interesting – particularly the way people try to survive.

At the end of the book there is a sneak peak for Book 3 – Ex Tempura. Whilst it is merely 3 pages long it has already got my interest, I shall certainly be looking forward to reading it! show less