A STUDY IN ASHES by Emma Jane Holloway

Everyone knows about Sherlock Holmes even if you’ve never read any of the stories.  There have been t.v. series and movies made based on the original tales of this iconic private investigator.  Personally, my experience goes back to a couple of original stories read a few decades ago.

Plus Star Trek The Next Generation.   http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes

Oh, yes, Trekkies are very well read and the Next Gen especially interwove a lot of classic literature.  Commander Data, the android, was especially fond of Sherlock Holmes. 

But, this isn’t a review of Next Gen.

A Study in Ashes is the third book in a series, the first two of which I have not read.  This is good though, because it gives me and you, a potential reader, a fresh look and a hint at how easily it is to pick up a story that’s already going on.

Evalina, the heroine, starts the story a student at a prestigious English college, frustrated with the limits put on her because she is female.  That’s the cover story.  The real story is that, plus the fact that she is imprisoned on the school campus by magic.  In frustration, she breaks into the men’s laboratory because they have much better equipment.  She wants to learn how magic and science are related.

The Professor who discovers her there is not at all amused.  I suspect she could have talked herself out of this trouble, but that doesn’t appear to be her style.  Instead, she outright resists and, in her fury, accidently sets the whole dang place on fire.

Normally, Evalina would have been expelled.  Instead, she’s shuffled away in what I can best describe as “You naughty, naughty little girl, now you go to your room and just think about what you’ve done!”

Anyway…then we have a Point of View switch, but it starts a new chapter and it’s male so it’s not hard to keep up.  Tobias remembers the last battle of the last book, catching you up on important details.  This is an excellent way to reintroduce the story for those who haven’t already been in on it.  He’s watching over his magically comatose sister, Imogene, who, in turn, is being pined for by her fiancé, Bucky.  She’s been a sleeping beauty for a year and the two blokes are not hopeful.

Remember, this is set in the late 1800’s England, so you gotta recall the social restrictions and styles of the time, plus it’s Steampunk, so you’ve got cool airships and such going on.  The appeal of Steampunk, for me, is similar to Time Travel.  It combines history with techno-geekiness, love that.

This book is not written in First Person Point of View.  I should clear that up.  It’s Third Person Limited.  But, it’s done so well that I felt like I was right inside the characters, the same feeling you get from First Person POV.

Okay, so enough wallowing, dudes, a large group of troublemakers arrive on the scene and start howling.  Huh?  Do we got werewolves here?

And romance?  Well, apparently, Evaline’s boyfriend, Nick, died in the last book, because she’s in mourning at first.

Then, the professors assign someone to escort her back to the ladies’ college and he’s very intriguing, but his last name is also Moriarity.  Now, if you know anything about Sherlock Holmes, you know Professor Moriarity was his archenemy.

Further on, the Point of View switches again, to Poppy who is Imogene’s younger sister.  She’s fifteen years old and expertly portrayed as such, fierce in her friendships (she adores Imogene), impatient with her family.  Seems like every fifteen year old thinks her family is dysfunctional, barely tolerable, the mother’s a wicked queen, the father doesn’t give a dang about his children, the brother is totally screwed up, and she’s bored out of her mind.  All normal fifteen year old girl stuff, but in this case the fifteen year old is right, as is occasionally true in real life too. 

Bigger problems that bored teenagers have arisen though.  At some point, somebody crashed an airship into Big Ben.  Oh, yes, and Queen Victoria’s children have been dying off and now the Crown Prince is mysteriously ill.  Getting swept up into this mess will certainly dispel Poppy’s boredom.

With another POV shift into Imogen’s head, you’ll wonder how the author is going to bring this ensemble cast together.  Clearly, loose ends are being expertly tied up.

Verdict:  Good book, get it.  Even if you haven’t read the first two.  You won’t get lost.  Trust me.

;)

Much love, Buds.