Enola Holmes and the case of the Missing Marquis (read for fun)

Mark another notch for the local library because this book is another win.  I should mention that this is the comic/graphic novel adaptation of the original novel. 

This book stars Enola Holmes, the younger-by-twelve-years sister of Sherlock Holmes. It features her attempt to live her life on her terms, independently and without going to charm school. To be frank, the book sounded like it was going to be cringe-y. I was expecting Sherlock Holmes being used to showcase how fantastic this newer original character is by having her outsmart him.  You know, the Cousin Oliver trope. The only reason I was interested is because I had read another story with a similar premise ("Young Miss Holmes") and liked it a great deal, so I gave this one a chance. I'm glad that I did. 

Sherlock and Mycroft have a small role in this story. They are basically here as scaffolding for the plot, i.e. setting in events in motion so that the first act is a proper Call to Adventure for Enola. Then the story fully focuses on Enola herself. As far as I know, the first case she solves is an original one, so there is no direct comparison to Sherlock himself.

Indeed, while she is shown to be clever herself, Enola is aware that she cannot outsmart her  older brothers, and so she considers it a win if she can merely stay off their radar. She is also shown to be clever in a different manner. Sherlock is known to be a logical thinker. He is famous for deductive reasoning. Enola solves the case of the missing marquis by emphasizing with the marquis in question through memories and experiences of her own, and she communicates with her mother through the subjective and metaphoric language of flowers. 

Furthermore, the story does not shy away from showing the risks that Enola takes by running away to live on her own. The missing marquis is her foil in this regard. What happens to him is what could happen to her if was less prepared, less cautious or processed of a weaker mind. Even by avoiding all these things, Enola would still be dead in the water if her mother hadn't set things up for her. 

I like the art. It looks kinda water-color-y cartoonish. Not cartoon-ish as in comical or silly, but that it reminds me of the style of something animated.  It is certainly beautiful. 

The only reason I didn't give this book an A+ is because of the Sherlock connection. I just can't get my head around a Sherlock Holmes that spends so much time searching for his own sister. If he were presented as being particularly close to her, that might be different. Or if he considered her disappearance to be puzzling enough case to arouse his interest, that might also be different. Or if it were Watson who was interacting with Enola in the first act, that too would work.  If Enola's older brother were not Sherlock himself, but an original character otherwise exactly like him, that would be fine. What I see here in the graphic novel is a Sherlock Holmes who regards the whole affair as a chore, which is too out-of-character for me (disclaimer: I've only read A Study in Scarlet.)

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Enola Holmes and the case of the Missing Marquis" a B+

Click here for my next book review:  So I'm a Spider So What? manga volume 1

Click here for my previous book review: Avatar the Last Air Bender - Team Avatar Tales

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.

Avatar the Last Air Bender - Team Avatar Tales (read for fun)

 Avatar the Last Air Bender - Avatar Tales. 

This is a collection of short story comics, penned by the original creators of Avatar the Last Air Bender and a variety of artists. There does not appear to be any theme or connection to these short-stories, although most of them take place between seasons 1 and 2 of the show. So you get a little "how are the characters doing after the finale" sort of thing, which is nice. 

One of them shows Mai working in a flower shop owned by her aunt, and she has some family trouble. This story says a lot about the various sides of her outside of "gloomy Azula minion", without her saying much at all. Another focuses on Ty-Lee, and how she's doing with the Kyoshi Warriors. I like this one the best of the lot, because it answers a question that puzzled a lot of people when the season 1 finale aired: why is Ty-Lee with the Kyoshi Warriors? I say this is a perfect answer. It is also funny, and provides some good lessons too. 

A lot of these are about lessons. It was surprisingly, frankly, how many of them were built around a PSA style lesson. There's one about how the necessity of hope and how "paper-bending" (a.k.a. Origami) can be just as useful, albeit in a different way, as the superpower known as water-bending. There's one about building self-confidence, particularly through martial art practice, which I am totally onboard with, being a martial artist myself. This second story also has a secondary lesson -  don't be a jerk gatekeeper about your hobby, but let other people join. 

The art varies from story to story, because each story has a different. Some are more cartoonishly silly, like the story featuring The Boulder. Some are more serious, like the one with the Origami. All of them look good. 

Tricktser Eric Novels gives "Avatar the Last Air Bender - Team Avatar Tales. " an A+

Click here for my next book review:  Enola Holmes and the case of the Missing Marquis (read for fun)

Click here for my previous book review: I've been killing slimes for three hundred years and maxed out my level

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.

I've been killing slimes for three hundred years and maxed out my level - volume 1 (read for fun)

Add another notch for a great find at my local library. 

After working herself to death in a prior life, Azusa wants a laid-back and lazy life in her next one. Another story would dangle this goal like a carrot in front of her to make for a dramatic and tension fueled story. This one does exactly the opposite, which is fun and relaxing comedy. Indeed, this is a great example of a slice-of-life story. 

This is for the manga version by the way, not the original light novel. 

This story explores new ground in the Reincarnated-Isekai genre (from my experience at least). There is no grand adventure awaiting Azusa when she reincarnates, as is the case in many Isekai stories.  But neither does the story go into a deconstruction by showing her have similar real-life problems in her second life as she did in her first, and it doesn't go into a  dark-and-edgy angle either. Azusa literally spends 300 years killing slimes, gardening, and making medicine for a local village. She might have continued doing that forever if she didn't discover, on a whim, that she had become an almighty witch simply from killing slimes. 

See, this world works on RPG Mechanics. Killing monsters grants experience points, which increase one's level, which improves stats such as magical power. Azusa requests "immortality" as a reincarnation bonus, so she reaches the level cap simply by killing the weakest of all monsters every day for three centuries. This makes her a celebrity, and people seek her out once word of her maxed level gets out, from those  seeking to test their strength against the best to those who want to learn from the best. 

So the entire conflict of the story is Azusa trying to preserve the laid-back and lazy life of obscurity she enjoyed for three hundred years (by the way, Living Forever is Awesome). 

One such manifestation of this conflict is the group of adventurers that seek her out to challenge her, dojo-style. First, she tries to dissuade them by making up a sad story about how she got drunk on her own power in the past and killed people and so she has sworn off fighting, when the truth is she hasn't fought or killed anything other than slimes. It sounds like a parody of a sincerely tragic atoner story, and the adventurers totally buy it. 

At the same time, this story is not quite a Status-Que-Is-God sort of story. It definitely has a progression to it, and Azusa's life has definitely changed by the end of the volume, because killing slimes for three hundred years has not been entirely consequence free. 

Trickster Eric Novels gives "I've been killing slimes for three hundred years and maxed out my level" manga volume 1 an A+

To read my review for the light novel version (volume 1) click here.

Click here for my next book review: Avatar Tales

Click here for my previous book review: Aria volume 1 the masterpiece edition

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.