Book Rec: A Monstrous Regiment of Women
Thanks so much to appleling and painless-j for my adorable little blue dragons! They are so cute. <3
Now to the book rec! I finally finished A Monstrous Regiment of Women, Laurie R. King’s second book in the Mary Russell series (after The Beekeeper’s Apprentice).
The series is about a young girl who becomes Sherlock Holmes’ apprentice and, later, his partner. So yeah, it’s essentially series-long, intricately-plotted, lovingly-characterized, painstakingly-researched, published fanfiction. Similar to the BBC’s Sherlock. Yay for Sherlock Holmes being in the public domain! I encourage more writers who love Holmes to go this route. There are definitely not enough spin-off works out there. :)
I say I’ve “finally” finished it because I’ve been reading this book, off and on, for about a year and a half now, with long interruptions where I read other books and novel-length fanfic, etc. It’s weird that it took me so long, as I basically devoured the first book. I think it’s because of two factors: 1) the pacing on this one was a bit weird, and 2) Holmes/Mycroft/Watson weren’t in it as much. And especially Holmes: there were long stretches of this novel where Russell was busy infiltrating a church/refuge for women whose leader is suspected of wrongdoing, and while I love Russell’s character, I’m really in this for her chemistry with Holmes.
First about the pacing: like Holmes, I don’t care much about theology or academia (though of course I appreciate the accomplishments of those who do), so I found the entire middle section of this novel a bit wearing, interspersed with much-welcome but far too short visits from Holmes (and, like once, I-have-a-revolver-under-this-jacket!Watson and I’m-fat-and-lazy-but-still-smarter-than-you-and-actually-very-loveable-in-fact!Mycroft). I missed the interactions that were in The Beekeeper’s Apprentice where everybody was hanging out at Mycroft’s hiding from assassins. And then all the action (and some really fascinating but horrifying torture) came tumbling out too quickly in the plot’s eagerness to resolve itself at the end (and without a good explanation for one mystery), and I was like, “Where have you been this entire book?” *rage*
The thing about this series is that so far, when Russell and Holmes are interacting together, it’s just electrifying. Their chemistry is jaw-dropping. It’s rare that I’ve rooted this hard for a het couple to get together (thanks, fanfic), and I am greedy for as much interaction between them as I can get. I’ve started the third book, A Letter of Mary, though, and so far it looks like King has caught on to this fact and is writing a ton more interaction between them, so I’m glad. Here’s hoping that Watson and Mycroft also show up a lot more.
BBC, look what you’ve done to me. I’d never even heard of Mycroft Holmes before seeing Sherlock.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that having recently read Ivyblossom’s explanation of how awesome writing in first person present tense can be, I find this series to be a good example (even though it’s in past tense, not present tense). We always know why Mary Russell is writing and to whom, and it’s logical and makes the series more engaging.
For more, please see:
- Brief Review of Book One, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
- Review of Book Three, A Letter of Mary
- Review of Book Four, The Moor
- Review of Book Five, O Jerusalem
- Review of Book Six, Justice Hall
- Review of Book Seven, The Game
- Review of Radio Drama, a radio adaptation of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
In other news, although I don’t much care about most of the movies up for Oscars this year-I’m still bitter that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows isn’t up for Best Picture-I am very excited to (hopefully) see Benedict Cumberbatch there! I hope that Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and War Horse get lots of love for his sake. :)
Post-Oscars edit: Unfortunately, Harry Potter, War Horse, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy all got no awards whatsoever, and that dog from The Artist got more screentime than Gary Oldman. After seeing Hugo, I felt that it was rather blatant Oscar bait-a movie about making old movies-and was disappointed that it won a ton of awards. Still, Benedict Cumberbatch was in two of the clips that they showed (no interviews, though): he was in the Gary Oldman clip for Best Actor (TTSS) and the Best Picture montage (War Horse). :D
Oh, and I just saw the Shakespeare-conspiracy-theory movie Anonymous, which was epic and fantastic and actually very plausible. Highly recommended, especially if you love hot British boys.
Now to the book rec! I finally finished A Monstrous Regiment of Women, Laurie R. King’s second book in the Mary Russell series (after The Beekeeper’s Apprentice).
The series is about a young girl who becomes Sherlock Holmes’ apprentice and, later, his partner. So yeah, it’s essentially series-long, intricately-plotted, lovingly-characterized, painstakingly-researched, published fanfiction. Similar to the BBC’s Sherlock. Yay for Sherlock Holmes being in the public domain! I encourage more writers who love Holmes to go this route. There are definitely not enough spin-off works out there. :)
I say I’ve “finally” finished it because I’ve been reading this book, off and on, for about a year and a half now, with long interruptions where I read other books and novel-length fanfic, etc. It’s weird that it took me so long, as I basically devoured the first book. I think it’s because of two factors: 1) the pacing on this one was a bit weird, and 2) Holmes/Mycroft/Watson weren’t in it as much. And especially Holmes: there were long stretches of this novel where Russell was busy infiltrating a church/refuge for women whose leader is suspected of wrongdoing, and while I love Russell’s character, I’m really in this for her chemistry with Holmes.
First about the pacing: like Holmes, I don’t care much about theology or academia (though of course I appreciate the accomplishments of those who do), so I found the entire middle section of this novel a bit wearing, interspersed with much-welcome but far too short visits from Holmes (and, like once, I-have-a-revolver-under-this-jacket!Watson and I’m-fat-and-lazy-but-still-smarter-than-you-and-actually-very-loveable-in-fact!Mycroft). I missed the interactions that were in The Beekeeper’s Apprentice where everybody was hanging out at Mycroft’s hiding from assassins. And then all the action (and some really fascinating but horrifying torture) came tumbling out too quickly in the plot’s eagerness to resolve itself at the end (and without a good explanation for one mystery), and I was like, “Where have you been this entire book?” *rage*
The thing about this series is that so far, when Russell and Holmes are interacting together, it’s just electrifying. Their chemistry is jaw-dropping. It’s rare that I’ve rooted this hard for a het couple to get together (thanks, fanfic), and I am greedy for as much interaction between them as I can get. I’ve started the third book, A Letter of Mary, though, and so far it looks like King has caught on to this fact and is writing a ton more interaction between them, so I’m glad. Here’s hoping that Watson and Mycroft also show up a lot more.
BBC, look what you’ve done to me. I’d never even heard of Mycroft Holmes before seeing Sherlock.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that having recently read Ivyblossom’s explanation of how awesome writing in first person present tense can be, I find this series to be a good example (even though it’s in past tense, not present tense). We always know why Mary Russell is writing and to whom, and it’s logical and makes the series more engaging.
For more, please see:
- Brief Review of Book One, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
- Review of Book Three, A Letter of Mary
- Review of Book Four, The Moor
- Review of Book Five, O Jerusalem
- Review of Book Six, Justice Hall
- Review of Book Seven, The Game
- Review of Radio Drama, a radio adaptation of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
In other news, although I don’t much care about most of the movies up for Oscars this year-I’m still bitter that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows isn’t up for Best Picture-I am very excited to (hopefully) see Benedict Cumberbatch there! I hope that Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and War Horse get lots of love for his sake. :)
Post-Oscars edit: Unfortunately, Harry Potter, War Horse, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy all got no awards whatsoever, and that dog from The Artist got more screentime than Gary Oldman. After seeing Hugo, I felt that it was rather blatant Oscar bait-a movie about making old movies-and was disappointed that it won a ton of awards. Still, Benedict Cumberbatch was in two of the clips that they showed (no interviews, though): he was in the Gary Oldman clip for Best Actor (TTSS) and the Best Picture montage (War Horse). :D
Oh, and I just saw the Shakespeare-conspiracy-theory movie Anonymous, which was epic and fantastic and actually very plausible. Highly recommended, especially if you love hot British boys.