I- what?! This was all over the place as soon as they decide to go to Egypt.
I think this was the only book where the horses were not doing something that was weird or where something weird was done to them!
It was nice to see the aunt again for a bit of closure, and Matty is always good to have in an adventure. Was weirded out by what I thought were death flags (all this "you're my brother" talk) but apparently that's just a not so well working set up for the betrayal of Stone later, when Sherlock quite comically decides that no one is trustworthy while Matty - who has in my book never done anything wrong ever (lol)- is a few meters away having done NOTHING to deserve this thought and currently on an errant FOR Sherlock, because Sherlock asked it of him and he is his friend.
It's especially funny bc in the background is a sword fight going on as the climax of the book. Sure, he fought too before he got swapped out for someone who knew what he was doing, but it was kind of baffling.
The whole "Rufus Stone is evil" never worked for me. "Crowe didn't like him." Well, Crowe still owes me an answer to the question on which side of the civil war he had fought, and he works for the Pinkertons and allows his daughter to marry some student he had for a few months and who she hadn't known any longer than that. And she's 16 at that point. And clearly distressed because her crush didn't write to her when he got shanghai'd.
He also put horses in pastures full of rabbit holes. I wouldn't call that normal. Why are we listening to that man again?
There is also something weirdly suspicious about how Rufus is portrayed. Black haired, good-looking, with a gold tooth, roams the country, plays the violin, is a womanizer. Getting Roma vibes here, and not the good ones. Puts Crowes comment about him not being trustworthy in an even more horrible light. Good job, book?!
I like Emma's fianceé! The dialogue between Mycroft and Sherlock and him made me genuinely laugh at one point, which I didn't expect.
Emma was...there. The female characters in these books have always been underwhelming (probably for some ass reason like "historical accuracy" as if that stopped the books from ever going over the top.) and she is no exception. And the most remarkable thing Sherlock's mother had ever done, apparently, was dying.
I learned stuff about fencing I never intended to learn. "Fence" by C.S. Pacat did the same, but it was connected to story progression and characters that were interesting and mattered.
Sherlock learning to fence like a pro in a few weeks feels too unreal. And in the end, it was just a vehicle to set the teacher up, so we won't be confused about who he is, when he saved Sherlock's bacon.
I could have done without it. Would have saved around 10 pages that the book would have needed at the end. Because at least the german version just ENDS there. And it's driving me NUTS.
Not even an afterword?! An author's note?! What happened here?! And then there's no new book even though we are on a quasi cliffhanger?! WTF?!
The rift between Mycroft and Sherlock annoyed me so much. It's unnecessary, and having Mycroft utter the words "I'm just following orders" should be considered a war crime. If there's any character that would have found a way out of the situation with his brother and his country's pride intact, it would have been him.
Had a good giggle about the engineering marvel that is the Suez Canal. Man, all the British had to do was to build a very wide ship and let it get stuck in the canal in a false flag Operation, hehe.
So yeah, guess that's it. What a ride. Kinda glad I only paid 5 bucks and a few gummy bears for those books, but I do admit I would read another one.
....IF THERE WAS ONE...!