The Angel of the Crows

The Angel of the Crows was everywhere and it got me bit hyped before I started reading, I have to admit. A Sherlock based Victorian story but in a fantasy setting, what about that would not sound like it was going to be a great read.

In the beginning I liked it a lot, it was basically a retelling of A Study in Scarlet, and I thought the story would move from there to its own case, but this didn’t happen and I am not quite sure how I felt about that. The book is basically filled with several of Sherlock Holmes’ cases which are retold with a supernatural angle. It left me feeling that I was missing something ‘new’ here, since I had read some of them before and while details might have been a bit hazy, they came back to me while reading.

The cases are framed in the larger case of Jack the Ripper, but still I missed something new to hold my interest. The names are different, but it was all a bit too similar for my tastes. In the afterword, the author explains it started as a fanfic, and I think this is a little bit too apparent from the book. So, while I enjoyed reading it, I missed the originality which I had expected and would not really recommend it except to those who like to read the original stories but with a little supernatural twist to it.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!