The Case of the Missing Marquess

Thankfully, this was almost as short as it was disappointing: In “[b:The Case of the Missing Marquess 606928 The Case of the Missing Marquess (Enola Holmes, #1) Nancy Springer https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1429150341l/606928.SX50.jpg 3313623]” by [a:Nancy Springer 22547 Nancy Springer https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1506873907p2/22547.jpg] we first witness Enola Holmes' flight from her older brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft. Yes, it's another case of a contemporary author trying to make a few bucks from the legacy of another...This uneventful flight takes up an entire half of the novel and it's just plain boring. The writing is simplistic, the language is old-fashioned but not in the way of Arthur Conan Doyle's historic works but reimagined by Springer, whose primary research material was colouring books... For example, Doyle would never (and indeed never did, I checked!) write about a lady's “unmentionables” (as in undergarments) like Springer does several times. As a matter of fact, authors of the Victorian era, including Conan Doyle, would often employ various techniques to allude to and mask such sensitive subjects rather than explicitly mentioning them. They would use euphemisms, subtext, or veiled references to address these topics indirectly.They generally relied on subtlety and insinuation rather than direct discussion. Not so Springer: She naïvely discusses all these subjects very directly which would have scandalised the society she tries to emulate.»Before he could do so, I hoisted my primitive weapon and brought it down with great decision upon his head.«Even the structure of the novel is disgraced by a miserable attempt at emulating older style: The chapters aren't simply numbered or called, let's say, “Chapter Two” as historical precedent would have it. No, it has to be “Chapter the Second” and so on... At “Chapter the Fifteenth” my patience had run thin. All this feels forced and just plain wrong.Especially in the beginning, Springer also doesn't build naturally upon Doyle's literary legacy but simply info-dumps a lot of well-established facts onto us, e. g. “[Sherlock] suffered from melancholia” - show us, don't just tell us! - in order to make this feel less like the tired knock-off it actually is.»Let my brother Sherlock be The World's Only Private Consulting Detective all he liked; I would be The World's Only Private Consulting Perditorian.«The story about the eponymous marquess itself was so simple, I felt like I was reading a children's book. The entire travesty around Cutter gave me a strong feeling of second-hand embarrassment... Last and least, I'm having a hard time when people infringe upon the legacy of the great detective: »I knew things Sherlock Holmes failed even to imagine.«No, dear Enola, you simply suffer from the same delusion as your creator: That you manage to know enough to create something that doesn't pale in comparison to the original.I cannot believe these novels remain as bland as the first one so I'm going to give the second one a try...A very generous three stars out of five. Blog Facebook Twitter Mastodon Instagram Pinterest Medium Matrix TumblrCeterum censeo Putin esse delendam

Enola is an interesting heroine, for sure! That said, the book is a bit different from the show in how it portrays characters and how quickly the plot moves.

This is a lovely little story, with some good characters, some vivid scenes and the perfect amount of mystery.
Very atmospheric read. Made me feel like an adventurous kid again.
I really like Enola's character and her back story. It was sad and hopeful, and very well illustrated in such a short book.
I took away a star, due to a few rather obvious conveniences and the slight dumbing down of Sherlock Holmes' innate attention to detail for the sake of the story.

I recommend this book to girls of all ages, and will continue with the series as soon as I can get my hands on book 2.

This one was kind of cute but also kind of meh, especially when it came to the mystery wrap up. Well, one of the mystery wrap ups.

This was a quick and fun read. It doesn't have much to it, though I feel like it's one of those books that gets better as you go through the series. It was bittersweet reading it as an adult because you can really feel Enola's loneliness and her longing for her brothers while also hurting due to the disappearance of her mother on her birthday. I'm not sure if I'll read the others, but it was fun.

Creative and easy to read

Kobiety zawsze zaburzały równowagę Sherlocka Holmesa, a pochodzenie rodzinne Holmesa jest jednym z aspektów jego życia, któremu poświęcono niewiele uwagi. Nancy Springer ośmiela się wyobrazić sobie najbardziej niekonwencjonalną matkę i tak samo nieokiełzaną młodszą siostrę słynnego detektywa. Obie potrafią nieco namieszać w teoretycznie uporządkowanym świecie detektywa.

Czternastoletnia Enola nigdy nie znała swoich znacznie starszych braci. Prowadziła stosunkowo odosobnione życie z matką w rodzinnym majątku, przekonana, że jej bracia nie chcą mieć z nią nic wspólnego z powodu plotek dotyczących faktu, że była „nieoczekiwanym” dodatkiem do rodziny. Jednak wszystkie założenia Enoli dotyczące jej życia i rodziny zmieniają się, gdy nadchodzą jej urodziny, a jej matka znika. Kiedy Sherlock i Mycroft przybywają do posiadłości w poszukiwaniu krnąbrnego rodzica, Enola odkrywa, że historia rodziny jest o wiele bardziej skomplikowana, niż się spodziewała. Enola szybko zdaje sobie sprawę, że nie ma ochoty godzić się z ich planami na przyszłość – postanawia samodzielnie odnaleźć matkę. Wyrusza w drogę, nie wiedząc, że znajduje się w większym niebezpieczeństwie, niż mogłaby sobie wyobrazić.

Charakter Enoli to prawdziwa perełka. Jest odważna i zuchwała, a jako młoda kobieta ma specjalny zestaw umiejętności których brakuje jej słynnemu bratu. Springer potrafi poprzeplatać wiele interesujących informacji na temat szyfrów i języka kwiatów, których znajomość pomaga Enoli w jej przygodach. Sprawa Zaginionego markiza to zbyt szybka, ale za to bardzo absorbująca lektura. Każdy rozdział jest przepełniony wieloma szczegółami z epoki, ale też sporą dawkę przygód, co daje jedną z najlepszych lektur dla młodzieży, z jakimi się spotkałem. Nie mogę się doczekać, kiedy odkryję dalsze przygody jedynej Enoli Holmes!

„Już dawno temu odkryłam, że jazda na rowerze umożliwia człowiekowi myślenie bez obawy, że ktoś będzie się przypatrywał wyrazowi jego twarzy.”

back with a review later :)