Book Review: The Dark Lady

Book: The Dark Lady (Sherlock, Lupin and Me book #1) by Irene Adler, Iacopo Bruno (illustrator) and Chris Turner (translator)

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Rating: 2 stars

Review:

I'm not sure Sherlock Holmes purist would perhaps enjoy this. Although, I found the story to be entertaining (in parts), however the characterizations just felt off and there were quite a few things that annoyed me with the story. One of the things that annoyed me was how much attention was spent on telling the reader what is going to happen in the future to Sherlock, Lupin and Irene. I felt like the reader should have gotten the chance to get to know these characters as they are and not as they will be.

The story was about how 12 year old Irene Adler first met a 14 year old Sherlock Holmes and 13 year old Arsene Lupin as she vacationed in Saint-Malo during the summer. The three ended up stumbling upon a body of a man on the beach and then set out to solve the mystery and the possible connection to missing jewels.

You would think this would be exciting but the writing was boring and skipped around (as I mentioned above focusing on the future of the characters) and the plotting was rather slow. And I felt like the trio lucked up on information and clues most of the time instead of investigating.

There was also a lot of info dump in this story that had Sherlock, Lupin and Irene finding out information. For instance there was a scene that had the trio sneaking into a gambling den and listened in as the leader of the crooks gave out a ton of info that pertained to the mystery to all the other crooks.

The other thing that annoyed me was Irene Adler. The Irene Adler in this story was such an annoying little spoiled brat that it's hard to even like her. Her supposed strong will was nothing more than being a petulant child stomping her feet and yelling whilst having a temper tantrum. She added nothing to this story other than to be annoying and being delighted that both Sherlock and Lupin seem to both have a little crush on her. Not to mention she's a pretentious snob, I'm surprised she would even associate with both the Lupin and Holmes in this story.

Another thing that annoyed me was besides Sherlock constantly being called William, it was Irene who told him he should go by the name Sherlock instead of using the boring name William (as she called it). So basically he can't even decide for himself which name to choose.

Sherlock's characterization was okay but most of the time he was over shadowed by the attention seeking Lupin. Most of the time Arsene Lupin felt like comedic relief. Although Lupin and Sherlock were not as annoying as Irene, I still felt like all three characters were a little dull and lifeless and quite often bordered on being one-dimensional. Plus, they felt way too modern for a period piece fiction.

I would have preferred a story that focused more on Irene as she tries to figure out what was going on as she vacationed in the small sea side town. Sherlock Holmes still could have been there vacationing as well but the two (or three including Lupin) should not have met. Because with stories like this, they take away the mystery and intrigue of these characters meeting as adults.

Too bad Sherlock couldn't have stayed in the background with the reader perhaps seeing Sherlock through her eyes as a strange boy who has caught her interest but nothing more. I wish Irene had been written as a smart, witty and engaging person instead of being a whiny little brat. This story didn't do a good job of showing how intelligent Irene was supposed to be.

Lastly, the ending felt rushed and goes into information overdrive by telling the reader what happened instead of the characters figuring out the clues and solving the mystery.

So, you're probably wondering why I gave it two stars instead of one, as I said I did find it entertaining. There were quite a few scenes that were exciting and adventurous. But overall, the story was okay and yes, it's geared toward children but that shouldn't stop a story from being well-written and having an interesting plot and mystery. Because I've read some children/middle grade's mysteries that have been really engaging and this just wasn't one of them.

With that said, I don't have any desire to continuing on with this series. I may be a Sherlock Holmes fan but I refuse to read or watch something just because Sherlock is associated with it, especially if it's not that good.