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Ian Payton's Reviews > Inside the Mind of Sherlock Holmes
Inside the Mind of Sherlock Holmes
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This is a beautiful, detailed and intricate graphic novel of an original Sherlock Holmes story. The art style was meticulous, and showed a real love of the material. Victorian London is superbly represented, and it carried a sense of mystery and untold things happening behind closed doors all the way through the book. The storytelling was excellent, and the pacing was spot on. I absolutely loved it.
My experience with Holmes is limited and mixed: the only book I have read is Hound of the Baskervilles, which I didn’t get on with; but I absolutely love the TV adaptation with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the part of Holmes. I never understood how Holmes can be so engaging, interesting, and a deductive genius in the TV adaptation, but come across as arrogant and supercilious in the book. Thankfully, the Holmes in this graphic novel comes across as the deductive genius I love so much in the TV adaptation - slightly irascible and impatient at times, but always one step ahead.
The blurb says that the book “uniquely portrays the inner workings of the greatest detective’s mind” and “every thought and clue that flows through Sherlock’s mind is thoroughly explored and displayed in the art for readers to latch onto” and it absolutely delivers on this. At several points through the book, we see inside Holmes’ “mind palace”, where he analyses the clues that he’s uncovered up to that point. In between these, the clues are represented on a visual “thread” that runs throughout the entire book, on which various clues and deductions are placed as they turn up. It’s an excellent use of the graphic novel format to show the progression of clues and their relationships. Together, these techniques allow the development of the clues and deductions to be easily followed, and I felt like I was along for the ride.
The artwork is absolutely gorgeous - fantastic use of maps of London, and incredibly atmospheric locations. I loved the use of repetition across panels (and often within the same panel) to show movement and the passage of time (I tried to find a technical term for this, and I’m not sure there is one… polyptych?).
There is a dedication to Peter Cushing at the front of the book, and the depiction of Holmes is clearly on homage to Peter Cushing’s portrayal of Holmes in the 1960’s TV adaptation. A lovely touch.
Six stars, rounded down to five.
Thank you #NetGalley and Titan Books for the free review copy of #InsideTheMindofSherlockHolmes in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
My experience with Holmes is limited and mixed: the only book I have read is Hound of the Baskervilles, which I didn’t get on with; but I absolutely love the TV adaptation with Benedict Cumberbatch playing the part of Holmes. I never understood how Holmes can be so engaging, interesting, and a deductive genius in the TV adaptation, but come across as arrogant and supercilious in the book. Thankfully, the Holmes in this graphic novel comes across as the deductive genius I love so much in the TV adaptation - slightly irascible and impatient at times, but always one step ahead.
The blurb says that the book “uniquely portrays the inner workings of the greatest detective’s mind” and “every thought and clue that flows through Sherlock’s mind is thoroughly explored and displayed in the art for readers to latch onto” and it absolutely delivers on this. At several points through the book, we see inside Holmes’ “mind palace”, where he analyses the clues that he’s uncovered up to that point. In between these, the clues are represented on a visual “thread” that runs throughout the entire book, on which various clues and deductions are placed as they turn up. It’s an excellent use of the graphic novel format to show the progression of clues and their relationships. Together, these techniques allow the development of the clues and deductions to be easily followed, and I felt like I was along for the ride.
The artwork is absolutely gorgeous - fantastic use of maps of London, and incredibly atmospheric locations. I loved the use of repetition across panels (and often within the same panel) to show movement and the passage of time (I tried to find a technical term for this, and I’m not sure there is one… polyptych?).
There is a dedication to Peter Cushing at the front of the book, and the depiction of Holmes is clearly on homage to Peter Cushing’s portrayal of Holmes in the 1960’s TV adaptation. A lovely touch.
Six stars, rounded down to five.
Thank you #NetGalley and Titan Books for the free review copy of #InsideTheMindofSherlockHolmes in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
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Reading Progress
June 4, 2024
–
Started Reading
June 4, 2024
– Shelved as:
to-read
June 4, 2024
– Shelved
June 4, 2024
– Shelved as:
arc
June 4, 2024
– Shelved as:
graphic-novels
June 4, 2024
– Shelved as:
read-books-2024
June 4, 2024
– Shelved as:
fiction
June 8, 2024
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53.13%
"“The game is AFOOT!”
Absolutely delightful. Gorgeous graphics; lovely homage to Peter Cushing in the depiction of Holmes; atmospheric; fun; and the clues and deductions are perfectly pitched. I feel like I’m with Holmes on the ride, rather than waiting in darkness for the astonishing reveal."
page
51
Absolutely delightful. Gorgeous graphics; lovely homage to Peter Cushing in the depiction of Holmes; atmospheric; fun; and the clues and deductions are perfectly pitched. I feel like I’m with Holmes on the ride, rather than waiting in darkness for the astonishing reveal."
June 9, 2024
–
Finished Reading
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Rosh (is rushing to catch up after the break!) wrote: "I think the BBC version of Sherlock was also supercilious in the initial season, but Benedict Cumberbatch portrayed him with more humaneness later. Loved that series! :)Wonderful review, Ian!..."
Thanks very much, Rosh! You may well be right about the BBC series - and perhaps I’m remembering the later series with more fondness. Either way, Benedict Cumberbatch was excellent :-)
Benedict Cumberbatch was indeed exceptional in his role of Holmes. Sounds like a fun continuation in that regard. Good review, Ian.Weird that you didn't like Hound of the Baskervilles though. That's the only original Holmes story I actually really liked so far.
Thibault wrote: "Weird that you didn't like Hound of the Baskervilles though. That's the only original Holmes story I actually really liked so far."Thanks, Thibault. Yes, it could be a number of things, and I haven’t managed to tease them apart: I’m not a fan of whodunnit/mystery stories where critical information is revealed in a big “Ta-da!” moment at the end (in books or in film/TV) - always seems like cheap/lazy writing to me. But that’s definitely just me, because these are popular/classic works. And also I found that the Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles almost revelled in his arrogance - like he was knowingly arrogant and enjoyed it. In contrast, the Holmes in the Benedict Cumberbatch TV adaptation, and the Holmes in this graphic novel, are more unknowingly arrogant - the arrogance is just their natural state, derived from a long history of both being right, and of being right faster than other people. It’s a nuanced difference which I admit might also be in my head rather than on the page. Always happy to be proved wrong, though :-)
I think the BBC version of Sherlock was also supercilious in the initial season, but Benedict Cumberbatch portrayed him with more humaneness later. Loved that series! :)
Wonderful review, Ian!