Book Review - The Dark Lady

The Dark Lady
Author: Irene Adler
Series: Sherlock, Lupin and Me #1
Genres: Mystery | Childrens
Release Date: 1st January 2014
Publishers: Capstone
No. Pages: 240
Source: Review Copy - Capstone
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository

While on summer vacation, little Irene Adler meets a young William Sherlock Holmes. The two share stories of pirates and have battles of wit while running wild on the sunny streets and rooftops. When Sherlock's friend, Lupin, joins in on the fun, they all become fast friends.

But the good times end abruptly when a dead body floats ashore on the nearby beach. The young detective trio will have to put all three of their heads together to solve this mystery.

Well, what do we have here? A full 5 stars for what, a childrens book? Have you lost your marbles Amanda? No I haven't, this book was that wonderful, it deserves the full monty. *No dirty thoughts over in the back.* No seriously, although this was my first childrens book that I've read since I've been blogging, I enjoyed it a lot more than some of the really really good YA books that I've read this year which is saying something let me tell you. The entire style and plot was a breath of fresh air, and do I have to highlight how wonderful it was to have characters who aren't eager to either kiss the life out of each other or bed one another, not to mention the absence of an obvious love triangle. Oh how joyful this read was.

When it comes down to the writing it's really difficult to work out whether I enjoyed it because it was simple and stylistic, or whether it was because it was written for children, who are of course, much younger than me, but either way, it was wonderful. I was entirely enthralled at how easily I made my way through the chapters and how smoothly the story flowed. In the maddest way possible, it seemed almost as if it flowed so much easier and more beautifully than other books that are written by authors who are well known for their writing. It just amazed me.

The plot, well shoot me down it was brilliant. It was wonderful to come across a book that covered mystery and murder in a brilliant and thrilling way, while be friendly enough for children my brothers age, and congratulations to the author, who of course, is currently unknown because they've written under the name of Irene Adler, but I would love to meet and see who in fact did write this book, as it was well paced and had plenty of twists and turns throughout that would surprise some other people as much as they surprised me. As if the actual murder mystery plot wasn't enough, the relations and mentionings relative to the TV show adaptions and books written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were wonderful. Discussions of pirates reminded me of the most recent adaptation by BBC, while the quote of Elementary made me think of the American adaptation, so there's a few more brownie points towards the author. The characters within the story were also wonderful to read about, sticking with some tradition and adding some more into the mix to shake things up and make the story its own. Even in such a short amount of pages, the characters each went through a growth and development and it was wonderful to see especially our first person perspective of Irene Adler be so educational and exciting.

One more little touch was all it took to give this book the full five stars, and that, was the illustrations inside and the beautiful front and back covers. I mean, come, look at that detail and design, and considering I received this off NetGalley for review, I hardly expected a cover, let alone a real experience of reading the book; some books will have little symbols or small designs, but boy, this book took it to the next level, childrens book or not.

I was sold. Hook, line and sinker for this book. It was wonderful and gave one of my all time favourite literary characters a few more levels and made him much more relatable. It was wonderful to see Sherlock as a child, and the interpretation was beautiful. I can promise you, this is one series I would love to carry on reading and own for myself. I don't care if I'm a 19 year old girl, I want this series; you should definitely want it too, especially if you're already a Sherlock fan. For fans of the original stories and the two TV series, this is a must.