Series: Sherlock Holmes #5
Genres: Classics, Mystery, Fiction
Publisher: Alma Books Ltd
Source: Paperback
Pages: 256
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SYNOPSIS: When the corpse of Sir Charles Baskerville is found on the grounds of his Dartmoor estate next to a mysterious animal footprint, thoughts turn to a fabled family curse: that of a hellhound set out to avenge a crime committed by one of Sir Charles's ancestors. As the only surviving heir of the Baskervilles is terrified for his safety, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are called in to investigate.
The most famous novel in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes cycle, The Hound of the Baskervilles is a masterpiece of terror, suspense and mystery which has enthralled readers young and old since it was first published in 1902.
As the vast majority of the people, I have heard about Sherlock Holmes all my life. Usually because my parents would see a movie about it or a TV series and then they would not-so-politely point out how they've read Sherlock's books and how they considered those books to be amazing and not today's hmm dull books... I completely disagree because we have amazing books nowadays although I can also understand them because Sherlock is a classic. I am not a fan of classics but Sherlock has always been interesting to me, unlike Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and those romantic novels.
THE WORLD: We are dealing with what it feels like ancient times to me... 1879. Sounds way to far back although a lot of people may disagree... we are set in London. You know the address too well don't you all? 221B Baker Street. In this particular novel we are in the country side of England though.
CHARACTERS: It feels like all this shouldn't be necessary but I'll write it down in case there are isolated people out there who don't know about our main character, Sherlock Holmes. He is a "consulting detective" (a term he invented himself) with fantastic crime-solving abilities. He is known to rely only on his logic and on science to solve all the mysteries that escape the police. Always accompanying Sherlock we have Dr. John Watson who is a doctor and is more sociable than Sherlock but they get along well. Together they solve the mysteries of all Sherlock's cases and in this particular adventure Sherlock has the mission of solving the murder of Sir Charles Baskerville whose family people believe to be haunted by a deathly hound but Sherlock doesn't believe in nonsense so he has to untangle the myth from the facts. This is one of his most famous adventures folks, sure you have heard about it because it is a good one.
LOVE: We all know Sherlock has no interest in romance. Everything is about murder.
PLUS: What is there not to like about Sherlock Holmes? I really appreciate Sherlock and John as characters, probably more because I have a special affection to the famous TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, they're portrayal and connection on screen are just unbelievably good! I'm going off topic here... but yes, the leading pair are legends. I also appreciate all the mystery, actually the first time I didn't have a clue of who was the suspect! The cases are always so tangled and confusing but entertaining therefore.
Also this cover is gorgeous. I really like this black hellhound with the red bloody spots, it goes really well with the story itself.
MINUS: Mostly the "old English" language is what I had more trouble with. Darn! Someone should rewrite the whole series in modern English (not slang though but just more familiar English). I get that it's a classic but there is no harm in rewriting a well-known series for non-natives. The Spanish equivalent would be El Quijote and I really hope English speakers studying Spanish don't ever have to go through the pain of reading it in its "old Spanish" edition because that is unbearable even for natives.
I also didn't like how they explain the whole case so quick after but it's okay, everyone can understand the conclusions even though they're a bit rushed.
PLUS: What is there not to like about Sherlock Holmes? I really appreciate Sherlock and John as characters, probably more because I have a special affection to the famous TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, they're portrayal and connection on screen are just unbelievably good! I'm going off topic here... but yes, the leading pair are legends. I also appreciate all the mystery, actually the first time I didn't have a clue of who was the suspect! The cases are always so tangled and confusing but entertaining therefore.
Also this cover is gorgeous. I really like this black hellhound with the red bloody spots, it goes really well with the story itself.
MINUS: Mostly the "old English" language is what I had more trouble with. Darn! Someone should rewrite the whole series in modern English (not slang though but just more familiar English). I get that it's a classic but there is no harm in rewriting a well-known series for non-natives. The Spanish equivalent would be El Quijote and I really hope English speakers studying Spanish don't ever have to go through the pain of reading it in its "old Spanish" edition because that is unbearable even for natives.
I also didn't like how they explain the whole case so quick after but it's okay, everyone can understand the conclusions even though they're a bit rushed.
OVERALL: 4.5 stars. Sherlock is and probably will be my favorite classic series, it has no romance (not much at least), awesome murder cases that sometimes are inaccurate but it was written at a time where a lot of new discoveries hadn't been made so I'm okay with punctual inaccuracies, and we have the characters! Sherlock, Watson, and Moriarty (who is not present in this novel). Those three were the golden trio of late 19th century and early 20th century.
What do you guys think about THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES?
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