laughingwarlock

Gave this a try on a whim, glad I did!

Revisado: 12-19-22

I recently listened to the audiobook novella "1999" and was blown away by how much I enjoyed it. The creative premise - a society on the brink of a technological singularity - immediately grabbed my attention, and the dark humor delivered perfectly deadpan by the narrator kept me hooked from start to finish.

But "1999" is more than just a clever sci-fi story - it's also a thoughtful commentary on modern society and the dangers of unrestrained technological progress. As the characters navigate the chaos on the brink of the singularity, the novella asks important questions about what it means to be human and the value of connection and community.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the bittersweet ending of "1999," which left me feeling both satisfied and reflective. All in all, "1999" is a clever, thought-provoking, and ultimately poignant novella that I'd highly recommend. It's definitely worth a listen, particularly if you're a fan of stories set near dysotpia's edge. Five stars!

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Not a fan of how they mixed the stories

Revisado: 09-28-21

So I guess I should say that the story is perfectly serviceable and would probably do it for a lot of people looking for a Holmes / Cthulhu crossover.

The author clearly has a not insubstantial level of familiarity with the original Doyle / Lovecraft stories and demonstrates this in a variety of ways. Sherlock's banter with Watson is pretty much on point. The detective solves his problems through logic and deduction (at least mostly, we'll get to that). Not only are several of Lovecraft's old gods used effectively, but there's also a variety of unique horror scenes created to emulate a few of that authors' pulpy stories.

There's also fairly effective pacing, prose, and story structure throughout. So if you're DIEING for a crossover like this, it'll probably scratch that itch for you.

The parts of this book that didn't quite do it for me dealt with how the two fictional universes interacted with one another. Minor spoilers below but I'll do my best to be vague enough to not ruin any scenes for you should you still decided to read it:

-Watson's background is reworked he wasn't inured in the Afghanistan war by an enemy combatant, but rather a Lovecraftian monster he happened upon in a cave.
-Several of original stories written by Doyle are retconned to be untrue, including the first Sherlock / Holmes meeting as well as the first time a certain villain is introduced. (Yes, that one. He's a cultist wizard now).
-Once the monster stuff really gets going, Sherlock's problem solving skills get a lot more boring... in that he just reads a bunch of occult texts so he can learn magic. Then he uses it to get out of every situation. I find this a boring route to take a character who's supposed to be a logical detective because the joy of a Sherlock story is trying to figure out a case while he does but having magic be the solution to everything kind of ruins the point.

In short, while I believe these two fictional universes are fairly represented... I'm not a big fan of how the author decided to mesh them together. To me, making Sherlock decide to learn magic while retconning certain famous stories of his wasn't the way to go. I was hoping Sherlock would still be good ol' logical Sherlock... stumbling into a case where he learns there's things outside our mortal selves were meant to understand. A case where the slow reveal of the mystery turns into the slow dreading horror of a Lovecraft story, bringing things one should not know to the surface.

Or something. What I'm trying to say I was looking for a story where the two fictional universes violently clashed into one another. Instead, they bleed into one another... making Sherlock less logical and Lovecraft less scary in the process. James Lovegrove clearly has a fair bit of knowledge of the original stories but this crossover feels like superhero popcorn flick.

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Great follow up to the original

Revisado: 03-13-20

This is a great follow up to the original book, taking it in a bold new direction. I was happy to be in that world of MDT-48 and smart drugs again.

Certainly a better sequel than that network TV show that got canned. This book really examines what it would mean if a "smart drug" like this existed and how both individuals and society at large would react.

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