8/10
The narrative begins with a very bored Sherlock Holmes at 221b Baker Street. With nothing to focus his incredible powers of deduction on at the present time, he decides to spend his days injecting a seven-percent-solution of cocaine. Conveniently a client with a particularly peculiar and complex case appears that very day. The potential customer, Miss Marstan, who wishes to employ the world’s only consulting detective explains the scenario. (more…)
9/10
“If in 100 years I am only known as the man who invented Sherlock Holmes then I will have considered my life a failure.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
This review will contain minor spoilers.
Although Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John Watson, Mycroft Holmes, and Professor James Moriarty are Doyle’s most known creations, Professor Challenger, the hot-tempered scientist is another character that many readers will be familiar with. This is the first of the Professor Challenger series and the only one that I had read previously. I started reading religiously in 2012 and The Lost World was one of my favourite stories from my pre-review era. I decided to revisit this exuberant and vivacious science heavy adventure tale that features dinosaurs – and I’m truly glad that I did. (more…)
9/10
Voltaire’s novel introduces the reader to Candide, a wide-eyed, calm and slightly bland young gentleman who resides at Castle Westphalia and who believes in the philosophy that “everything in the world is for the best.” One of the first scenes is filled with two emotional opposites for Candide who first gets to kiss his love, Cunegonde behind a screen, only to then be kicked out of the castle, literally, by the Baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh. (more…)
7/ 10
“I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first.”
We find ourselves in Bonny old Scotland – circa June 1751 – King George and the red-coats rule this empire. Following on from the Jacobite Revolution; we are introduced to an innocent teenage gentleman known as David Balfour. (more…)
7.5/10
Treasure Island is arguably one of the most influential tales in the world of fiction. Every pirate stereotype that we take for granted these days we can see the foundation somewhere in this magic tale. Approaching this story; I am quite lucky that I knew nothing about the plot except that there was a map where X marked the spot showcasing Captain Flint’s legendary treasure. I went into the task of reading this like a happy youth, wide-eyed looking forward to experiencing a legendary story for the first time without being hindered with prior knowledge of the narrative, the characters, the pace and the plot twists. (more…)
8/10
“As long as the heart beats, as long as your body and soul keep together, I cannot admit that any creature endowed with a will has need to despair of life”
I thought this book was brilliant and superbly well written by Venre as I will summarise below.
It follows 3 main characters:-
1) Professor Lidenbrock: a scientific genius who does not know when to quit even when the odds are less than 1% of success. (more…)
9/10
“Truly, would you not for less than that make a tour around the world?”
This is the second Verne book I have devoured in under two days which have both been accredited five stars. I could end the review at that and I would be content!
Similar to The Journey to the Centre of the Earth which I completed yesterday – Verne creates amazingly awesome and complex characters. The main protagonist Mr. Fogg is an obsessive-compulsive routine loving timekeeper who bets his chums at the club that he can travel around the world in 80 days, (more…)
