Pirate King by Laurie R. KingMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
When I picked up this book I was super excited. Sherlock Holmes! Pirates! A film crew! What more could anybody want?
Unfortunately, this story lacks a lot. I have never read anything by Laurie R. King before, or any of the Mary Russell stories and I'm not sure I missed out.
Mary Russell in this incarnation, is Sherlock Holmes' somewhat surprising wife. This story is set in the 1920s, where Holmes must be a great deal older than his wife, and he wasn't featured until over half way into the novel, which was a bit disappointing.
Mrs Holmes is a strong female lead. I liked her, and she is definitely one of the stars in my two star rating. She holds her own in a male led world and provides a fluent narrative.
But the other characters were all very one dimensional, and there were far too many of them. Pirate King is about Randolph Flytte an eccentric film director. His film is about a film crew making a silent film version of The Pirates of Penzance, who then get kidnapped by pirates. There are thirteen daughters of the Major General, constables, pirates, and the crew. It's hard to keep track of who is who. Maybe a cast list or a 'credits' would have been beneficiary.
The reason Mary Russell is involved is because of a secretary that has gone missing, who Russell replaces. By the time the book is finished the resolution of this is somewhat cast aside in favour of swashbuckling.
I enjoyed the first half of the book, where the cast are assembled. The insight into the film industry in the 1920s was interesting and the trip on the boat to Lisbon reminded me of Peter Jackson's King Kong.
But overall, it veered off track too much and got lost amongst action and adventure. Maybe if I start at the first book I will enjoy it more, but I'm just glad that this one is over.
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