Book Rec: The Game
“The next time Mycroft asks us to do something,” Russell says wryly to Holmes toward the end of The Game by Laurie R. King (on page 363), “we really must tell him no.”
Ah, deus-ex-Mycroft, the trope that launched a thousand casefics-and at least two novels so far in this series. Mycroft needs some serious legwork doing in a foreign land (here, India) and sends his brother (and also, in this case, his brother’s wife) because he can trust Sherlock and Russell: at least they don’t spy on people for money. Well, I’m certainly not going to complain about any additional Mycroft interactions, and in the beginning of this book, he’s ill (sadface; I only like hurt/comfort when Sherlock is involved).
It also doesn’t hurt that doing legwork in a foreign land tends to make for some pretty exciting reading, leading us to what is the best novel in the series, O Jerusalem (book five), and this one, book seven, also very good. In this installment, we get Russell and Holmes traveling to India, and Russell again dying her skin and hair (multiple times!), passing as a man (both as an Indian and as her twin brother, “Martin”), acting as an itinerant magician with Holmes, making daring escapes, performing incredibly dangerous maneuvers in the sport of “pig sticking”-oh, and stuck on a sprawling estate with a dangerously bored psychopath.
This novel wasn’t as enjoyable to me as O Jerusalem chiefly because it lacked the characters of Mahmoud and Ali, whom we got to know so well in that book and in the following one, Justice Hall. They’re replaced here by Bindra, a curious/suspicious hired Indian child, and Geoffrey Nesbit, Mycroft’s British intelligence agent in India, who is a loyal friend. Neither is nearly as enigmatic and intriguing as the cousins were.
I also felt this novel had several wasted opportunities with regard to life in India. We’re told of the country’s long and rich history, including its fascinating and “hugely complicated” (page 43) caste system, but then we spend most of the novel amongst either the lower rungs or the uppermost echelon, giving us very little of daily life for the average citizen. Also, I’m not well-versed in Rudyard Kipling’s works and thus couldn’t completely visualize the character of Kim O’Hara, whose inexplicable disappearance drives the plot. And while seeing Holmes perform magic tricks was mildly diverting, his trek with Russell and Bindra across the countryside seemed to drag endlessly.
Despite its setbacks, though, this was fairly enjoyable. The character of the maharaja, Jimmy, stole the show with his veiled menace (and incestuous implications), the emphasis on pig sticking was new and exciting, and there were some very lovely relationship moments between Holmes and Russell. For example, Holmes affectionately calls her “Russ” (page 15), aww. Also, when mistakenly called “Mr. Russell,” Holmes doesn’t bother to correct the error-in fact, he actively prevents Russell from correcting the error-and instead seems to delight in it (page 37). And he brushes and styles Russell’s hair! And when that turns her on, there’s even a reference to them having actual sex (page 51). *gasp* So I was satisfied.
For more, please see:
- Brief Review of Book One, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
- Review of Book Two, A Monstrous Regiment of Women
- 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 Radio Drama, a radio adaptation of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
Ah, deus-ex-Mycroft, the trope that launched a thousand casefics-and at least two novels so far in this series. Mycroft needs some serious legwork doing in a foreign land (here, India) and sends his brother (and also, in this case, his brother’s wife) because he can trust Sherlock and Russell: at least they don’t spy on people for money. Well, I’m certainly not going to complain about any additional Mycroft interactions, and in the beginning of this book, he’s ill (sadface; I only like hurt/comfort when Sherlock is involved).
It also doesn’t hurt that doing legwork in a foreign land tends to make for some pretty exciting reading, leading us to what is the best novel in the series, O Jerusalem (book five), and this one, book seven, also very good. In this installment, we get Russell and Holmes traveling to India, and Russell again dying her skin and hair (multiple times!), passing as a man (both as an Indian and as her twin brother, “Martin”), acting as an itinerant magician with Holmes, making daring escapes, performing incredibly dangerous maneuvers in the sport of “pig sticking”-oh, and stuck on a sprawling estate with a dangerously bored psychopath.
This novel wasn’t as enjoyable to me as O Jerusalem chiefly because it lacked the characters of Mahmoud and Ali, whom we got to know so well in that book and in the following one, Justice Hall. They’re replaced here by Bindra, a curious/suspicious hired Indian child, and Geoffrey Nesbit, Mycroft’s British intelligence agent in India, who is a loyal friend. Neither is nearly as enigmatic and intriguing as the cousins were.
I also felt this novel had several wasted opportunities with regard to life in India. We’re told of the country’s long and rich history, including its fascinating and “hugely complicated” (page 43) caste system, but then we spend most of the novel amongst either the lower rungs or the uppermost echelon, giving us very little of daily life for the average citizen. Also, I’m not well-versed in Rudyard Kipling’s works and thus couldn’t completely visualize the character of Kim O’Hara, whose inexplicable disappearance drives the plot. And while seeing Holmes perform magic tricks was mildly diverting, his trek with Russell and Bindra across the countryside seemed to drag endlessly.
Despite its setbacks, though, this was fairly enjoyable. The character of the maharaja, Jimmy, stole the show with his veiled menace (and incestuous implications), the emphasis on pig sticking was new and exciting, and there were some very lovely relationship moments between Holmes and Russell. For example, Holmes affectionately calls her “Russ” (page 15), aww. Also, when mistakenly called “Mr. Russell,” Holmes doesn’t bother to correct the error-in fact, he actively prevents Russell from correcting the error-and instead seems to delight in it (page 37). And he brushes and styles Russell’s hair! And when that turns her on, there’s even a reference to them having actual sex (page 51). *gasp* So I was satisfied.
For more, please see:
- Brief Review of Book One, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
- Review of Book Two, A Monstrous Regiment of Women
- 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 Radio Drama, a radio adaptation of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice