11/12/11
Ah, bliss.
I really enjoyed the ending to the series, even though it's a bit bitter-sweet - both because of some happenstances in the story, but also just because I like the series so much I'm sort of sad to see it ending. Better than that continuing into perpetuity and getting boring, though.
Anyway - the mystery aspect of the story was ok but, in my opinion, it as heavily overshadowed by all the family drama and developments that were going on. Since the two parts of the story are very intertwined this isn't necessarily a bad thing, though, as I did really enjoy the coming together of Enola with her two brothers for this final tale.
I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say there's a HEA kind of ending which my cheesy-ass self just grinned widely about. Really, despite there being some serious and dark things discussed in the books, they're really a very fun, entertaining and feel-good kind of read, at the end of the day.
**
I will say that I agree with one reviewer in that I found when Enola was discussing fashion, at times, with a bit of relish seemed a little bit out of character, and I was a bit distracted by it once or twice. That said, as someone who considers herself rather independent minded and certainly not a sufferer for fashion, I am still into my clothes, and I liked the notion that you could be a non-typical female and still be feminine.
**
One last thing. One thing that intrigued me throughout the series was the depiction of Sherlock, and the debates I had with myself about how accurate the portrayal was. There were times where it seemed dead on, but other times seemed possibly out of character. But, then, we're also seeing him in situations beyond the ken of the Doyle mysteries, really, and I think Springer did a good extrapolation of his character in odd situations.
That said, I did like that while Enola eludes and sometimes out thinks her oh-so-clever brothers, they are never portrayed as being dim or easily fooled or anything - as so many adult characters are in children's books where the child is the hero. Rather, they, Sherlock, in particular, (as he has a much larger presence in the books), are shown to have some blind-spots when it comes to things female - such as the secret language of fans, the meanings of flowers, the arts of beautification, and other things that would've been the purview of women and not something men would interest themselves in.
Seeing things through Enola's perspective certainly gives you a view of the time period and takes you into situations that would've never been mentioned, perhaps never even thought of, by Doyle and his characters. I really appreciated those aspects of the stories a lot.
*****
4/11/12
Re-read