In this charming, witty, and weird fantasy novel, Alexis Hall pays homage to Sherlock Holmes with a new twist on those renowned characters.
Upon returning to the city of Khelathra-Ven after five years fighting a war in another universe, Captain John Wyndham finds himself looking for somewhere to live, and expediency forces him to take lodgings at 221b Martyrs Walk. His new housemate is Ms. Shaharazad Haas, a consulting sorceress of mercurial temperament and dark reputation.
When Ms. Haas is enlisted to solve a case of blackmail against one of her former lovers, Miss Eirene Viola, Captain Wyndham is drawn into a mystery that leads him from the salons of the literary set to the drowned back-alleys of Ven and even to a prison cell in lost Carcosa. Along the way he is beset by criminals, menaced by pirates, molested by vampires, almost devoured by mad gods, and called upon to punch a shark.
But the further the companions go in pursuit of the elusive blackmailer, the more impossible the case appears. Then again, in Khelathra-Ven reality is flexible, and the impossible is Ms. Haas' stock-in-trade.
Gods, I fucking loved this book.
I devoured it while reading. When I had to pause, my mind kept straying back, itching to find out what happens next.
It's so...gay and different. I didn't know what to expecting going in, just that I had to read it. It's better than I could've imagined.
The best way I've thought to describe it is thus: Futurama meets Soulless where everyone is queer with less Beavis & Butthead humor, narrated by Victor Melling from Miss Congeniality but instead of an FBI agent in a beauty pageant, he's got a rogue sorceress addicted to opium who can't go undercover to save her life.
Have I mentioned how much I fucking loved this book? All of it. Just...GAH.
Also, is this what straight white guys felt about Holmes and Watson this whole time??? A-fucking-mazing.
Also, NEED A MILLION SEQUELS!!!
I'll try doing a more coherent review in a bit.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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Finished reading
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9 April, 2019:
Reviewed