Writer - Jose Prendes
Series - Elementary, My Dear Watson #1
Published By - Curiosity Quills Press
First things first, I got this book from publishers as an ARC for review, so thank you Curiosity Quills Press for this opportunity.
What if Sherlock and Watson were kids in a boarding school? What if other important characters from the original stories such as Moriarty and Irene Adler also were students in that same school? There is bound to be a mystery and conflicts against the villains and there is bound to be that arrogant and genius trait of Holmes. Sherlock Holmes in such a setting and in a book for middle graders was a fun read in the end although there are some parts I am not sure is appropriate for kids with the extreme violence.
This novel starts with Watson leaving his home to go to a boarding school as his mother is very ill, first he is quite depressed as he knows his mother might die soon. But on his first day he meets this kid called Sherlock who is really weird yet smart, who eventually saves him from a bully ( yeah you guessed, Moriarty) and becomes his friend. Then they learn about the mystery of the missing students and gets into an adventure of solving it which takes them to various locations and leads to quite an extreme level of action. To be honest while the mystery was not much of a mystery and Sherlock's deductions skill were thus not that spectacular seeming as the original yet the adventure overall was fun to read.
Sherlock is a character that is done very rightly and really seems to be how he should be if he was 12 years old, Watson on the other hand was a bit too dumb for my liking. Moriarty needs further improvement as the awesome villain he is to be and hopefully that is to be achieved in the next books of this series. Other characters never really shines or makes an impact except may be Lestrade who was quite funny in his own way.
The main problem with the book is the amount of violence that is present in the last few chapters as Sherlock and Watson kills quite a few bad guys nonchalantly which is a bit too much for middle graders in my opinion.
But in the end it was a fun read and I just might check out the next book in the series if it is also a short and fast read like this one. This is for children who likes adventure and mystery stories and to all dedicated Sherlock fans out there, cause you will not find Sherlock and Watson in a boarding school anywhere else.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
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