Reviews

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

limmaren's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective sad
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

barsie's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

file_noah's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Be ready for some narrative whiplash. The book is great and a classic holmsian novel, but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle certainly has a stylistic flourish.

jeanjacquesrousseau's review against another edition

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3.0

il avait tout preshot

lenny729's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

ladyethyme's review against another edition

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2.0

Love you Doyle, and I’m devoted to Holmes…but I’ll say this is my least favourite. Holmes is barely in it, instead we read about Mormons for 3/4 of the book.
And it’s just as interesting as it sounds.
In other words….not.

thecosylibrary's review against another edition

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5.0

This story is the first to feature Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson and Doyle had no idea that they would become the most famous detective duo in literature. The story begins with Watson returning to London after serving in Afghanistan and after discussing with a friend that he is in need of lodgings is introduced to the one and only Sherlock Holmes.
Within a few weeks Holmes invites Watson to a crime scene after receiving a telegram. Upon seeing the victim of the crime Watson describes ‘On his rigid face there stood an expression of horror, and, as it seemed to me, of hatred, such as I have never seen upon human features.’ The story paired with Watson’s often humorous anecdotes and observations makes the story a delight to read.
With Sherlock’s incredible knowledge in botany (‘well up in belladonna, opium and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening’) , profound in Chemistry and ‘every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century. Paired with Watson’s modest calling as a doctor they make a formidable team.
I highly recommend this read to all Sherlock Holmes fans, old and new, fans of the tv/film adaptations or not. It is certainly a great introduction to the Holmes universe.

holly_keimig's review against another edition

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5.0

50 Book Reading Challenge 2015: A book more than 100 years old

I knew I wanted to do a Sherlock story for this one because, a) I love them, b) I hadn't read the original stories and knew I needed to, and c) not much else that is that old calls to me right away. I was not disappointed! I really enjoyed Doyle's style of writing and the action kept the story moving quite well. Although the story was familiar to me, it seemed new and exciting. I will definitely check out more of these and can't wait to read another one. I read it over a couple of rainy, foggy days and nothing could be better than a good mystery when the weather is like that! Highly recommend!

Note: I did not read this edition, but read this out of my BN leather bound collection that I own. Since I wanted to page numbers to be right for the year, I used this one. It was approximately 90 pages long. ISBN: 9781435114944

kaitib's review against another edition

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2.0

Wow . . . My interest in this book sprang from the BBC Sherlock series which was completely phenomenal!
But most of this book was so boring. I knew before reading it that this story is loaded with nonsense about Mormons in Utah so the inaccuracies were expected. The introduction of Sherlock's character and the mystery itself were interesting but then Doyle just had to throw in a long, dull back story about love that nobody cares about. It was obviously thrown together very quickly and done with very little research. Sir Doyle knew as much about Mormonism as Edgar Rice Burroughs knew about Africa. At least Tarzan was captivating despite all the racism and Tarzan's unrealistic abilities. Sherlock Holmes himself is an amazing character and Doyle should have stuck with him through the whole story. He could have at least kept the mind-numbing back story to a couple pages.
I really hope Doyle's later works have better plots. I give this book two stars instead of one because it was the birth of one of the best characters of all time and it inspired the fantastic pilot episode of Sherlock: "A Study In Pink."

mrd2's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0