2 Jan 2014

REVIEW: Sherlock, Lupin and Me: The Dark Lady by Irene Adler




Title: The Dark Lady (Sherlock, Lupin and Me #1)
Author: Irene Adler, Iacopo Bruno (illustrator) and Chris Turner (translator)
Genre: Middle Grade. Historical. Mystery.
Publication Date: February 1st 2014
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Format: E-Book
Pages: 240
Rating: 5/5

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. 



I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m an absolutely massive fan of anything related to Sherlock Holmes even in the slightest, so when I saw this on NetGalley, I really had no choice but to request it. I’m so glad that I did.

Techanically, this book was already been released back in 2011 but it has just been translated into English by Chris Turner. Due to this, sometimes the word choices can be a little strange or not quite fit- personally, I didn’t find this to be too much of an issue- I think it added to that sort of Victorian feel.

As for the actual book, I loved the premise of it. A little child version of Sherlock, with Irene Adler too? It just sounds so unbelievably cute, and it was! I absolutely adored how Sherlock was written- he was this cute little child, a bit mischievous but as intelligent as in the original books. Irene was just wonderful too- she’s one of my favourite characters from the original, and I just love how she was written here. Lupin (though, admittedly I kept picturing him as a young Remus Lupin) was amazing too. I thought he was very charming and mischievous, but in a different way to Sherlock. I loved how the three characters interacted- I honestly cannot choose a favourite character now, I just love them all!

The plot was really interesting too. I liked seeing everything from Irene’s point of view because it gave off that slightly more girly feeling that you don’t find in the original. It wasn’t overpowering though, the story was still about the mystery and the murder rather than dresses or something. I felt like I could just connect with Irene better. The actual mystery didn’t work out how I expect at all- I had my suspicions on what might have happened/who did it, but I was completely wrong. I love it when that happens because I think it shows how good the writing is.

I don’t usually read Middle Grade, though I have been diving into it more and more lately. I like how this one doesn’t dumb it down for you- it doesn’t make you feel like a kid who might not understand the story. I think that if I’d read this as a child that I would enjoy it as much as I did now.

I hope that the rest of the series gets translated into English and released because I love to see the rest of the story. I’m also looking forward to buy myself a hardcopy once it’s released so that it can look all pretty on my shelves, because it’s a very cute book. I would definitely recommend this book to any Sherlock Holmes lovers out there!