This was my first Sherlock Holmes book. It is a collection of short stories, and I am generally not a big fan of short stories. They were mostly o.k., but I had a hard time focusing on it. My mind tended to drift. And, as with most collections of short stories, some are better than others. Although, I thought they worked well as short stories, but given how much my mind wandered, I can only rate it o.k. I will likely try another Sherlock Holmes, but a novel instead next time.

I was introduced to Sherlock Holmes at the age of nine, and now I am nineteen and yet I remain an ardent connoisseur of Holmes. Anyone who has not read the work of Sir Doyle has not experienced the true beauty of the English language! “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” contains the first twelve stories of Holmes that Sir Doyle published and they became an instant sensation. I do not think that I have to ponder anything further on this subject, for even the most simpleton of person must have heard of Sherlock Holmes. In these immortal adventures of Holmes and his associate (and narrator), Dr. Watson, we follow them into a paradoxical and exciting Victorian world. We see London’s High Society and the ugly, grey streets of the East-End of London. In my humble opinion, only Agatha Christie can rival Doyle’s genius in the mystery genre; however, even the late Dame fails when it comes to the narration of these illustrious and unforgettable stories. One just wheezes at the beauty, and levity of the prose! VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENED! I would also recommend buying the entire Sherlock Holmes collection!

My first Sherlock Holmes mystery was "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and I said that it would be hard to top. I was right. None of the stories in "Adventures" was a good or as mysterious as "Hound". However, there were some good stories to be found in this first collection of short fiction starring the great detective. My favorites were "the Boscombe Valley Mystery", "The Five Orange Pips" and "The Speckled Band". The stories were rather formulaic: someone comes to Holmes with a problem then fully discusses the issue at hand while Holmes ingests every detail. Holmes then performs some seemingly meaningless act which turns out to be important to the solution of the case. Now, I did enjoy the fact that while Holmes was rarely wrong, he did not always apprehend the criminal / suspect (he especially loathes Irene Adler who escapes from him as he solves the Scandal in Bohemia). I can certainly see why Holmes is so well liked as I found myself trying to figure out the case before the detective, only to find (more often then not) that I was wrong. Good show, Holmes.

With short stories in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," it is very easy to follow along. If you aren't happy with one of the many short stories in the book, you can always move onto the next, that is what I love about this book. I wouldn't recommend it to those not at a high reading level yet as it uses some old english but otherwise, it's a great read.

I bought this book for myself. Though I've just begun reading it myself, and can't give a full in depth review, I would not recommend this book to anyone younger than 13. The language and the subject matter (A Scandal in Bohemia) is far too advanced for that level.