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books...
56) "My Dearest Holmes," Rohase Piercy.
I could have sworn that I heard this was an older book, but the copyright was 2007. Perhaps I just had that impression because someone said they read it before they joined the HolmesSlash group; I guess they must have been a newbie.
Over all I liked it a lot and thought the author did a good job. There were a few out of place phrases; at one point Holmes says, "Cut it out, Watson!" and my immediate thought was "How did her beta reader let her get away with that?" Surely 'cut it out' is a phrase from after the era of movies? Like a 'cut that crap, I don't want it in the movie of my life' idea? There were one or two others, but I couldn't say for sure that they were anachronistic, as every now and then I'll be reading canon and think, "What?? Anachronism!" and then realize that's impossible.
There are two stories in this book, which fit together: The first is the events which lead up to Watson deciding he should get married, and the other dealing with Holmes supposed death at Reichenbach and his return four years later. The first, I initially thought, suffered a little from the "everybody's gay" syndrome of some stories, but later I decided that since they were dealing with a certain set of people who all knew each other it might not be unusual that they had this in common. And it had a fun twist to it.
I think that both stories drew on a lot of fanon ideas; either that or I've read bits of this before. Possibly she posted parts as fanfic while she was working on the whole story. Although that may be impossible to avoid a certain familiar feeling in a fandom like Holmes/Watson where every possible idea has been explored multiple times and I've read a huge chunk of the material out there. Regardless, she did a nice job with working it all together. And yes, there was Watson-angst, but I didn't think it was too much. About the right amount, I thought, given the style/time period.
It might read in an unusual way to someone who hasn't read a lot of fanfic, and to whom the way fanfic usually goes is not familiar. The end of the second story, which deals mostly with resolutions of emotional conflicts rather than external problems, might feel to the average reader like a strange sideslip. They might do a "But what happened to the story?" thing - to which the fanfic reader would reply "But that's covered in canon, we don't have to go over that ground again." Hard for me to know. I'm usually the biggest arguer of not leaving the casual reader in the dark re the world of canon that they might not have read, but I do hope that anyone reading a Holmes pastiche would be familiar with at least "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House." I found the resolution to be delightfully detailed and emotionally coherent, giving a satisfying sense of closure.
In conclusion - good fanfic, and I'm happy to see it published. :)
I could have sworn that I heard this was an older book, but the copyright was 2007. Perhaps I just had that impression because someone said they read it before they joined the HolmesSlash group; I guess they must have been a newbie.
Over all I liked it a lot and thought the author did a good job. There were a few out of place phrases; at one point Holmes says, "Cut it out, Watson!" and my immediate thought was "How did her beta reader let her get away with that?" Surely 'cut it out' is a phrase from after the era of movies? Like a 'cut that crap, I don't want it in the movie of my life' idea? There were one or two others, but I couldn't say for sure that they were anachronistic, as every now and then I'll be reading canon and think, "What?? Anachronism!" and then realize that's impossible.
There are two stories in this book, which fit together: The first is the events which lead up to Watson deciding he should get married, and the other dealing with Holmes supposed death at Reichenbach and his return four years later. The first, I initially thought, suffered a little from the "everybody's gay" syndrome of some stories, but later I decided that since they were dealing with a certain set of people who all knew each other it might not be unusual that they had this in common. And it had a fun twist to it.
I think that both stories drew on a lot of fanon ideas; either that or I've read bits of this before. Possibly she posted parts as fanfic while she was working on the whole story. Although that may be impossible to avoid a certain familiar feeling in a fandom like Holmes/Watson where every possible idea has been explored multiple times and I've read a huge chunk of the material out there. Regardless, she did a nice job with working it all together. And yes, there was Watson-angst, but I didn't think it was too much. About the right amount, I thought, given the style/time period.
It might read in an unusual way to someone who hasn't read a lot of fanfic, and to whom the way fanfic usually goes is not familiar. The end of the second story, which deals mostly with resolutions of emotional conflicts rather than external problems, might feel to the average reader like a strange sideslip. They might do a "But what happened to the story?" thing - to which the fanfic reader would reply "But that's covered in canon, we don't have to go over that ground again." Hard for me to know. I'm usually the biggest arguer of not leaving the casual reader in the dark re the world of canon that they might not have read, but I do hope that anyone reading a Holmes pastiche would be familiar with at least "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House." I found the resolution to be delightfully detailed and emotionally coherent, giving a satisfying sense of closure.
In conclusion - good fanfic, and I'm happy to see it published. :)
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