With his recent surge in local popular culture, Sherlock Holmes is bound to need some new challenges in his storied detective career. In The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: War of the Worlds, Manly and Wade Wellman take Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s popular character (as well as his Professor Challenger from The Lost World) into a battle for survival while E.T. reigns down destruction in London. The story follows a parallel story line to H.G. Wells’ classic novel but makes clear and distinctive turns in it’s plot that allow a new perspective on the classic invasion tale as well as taking shots at Mr. Wells throughout the novel for his sensationalism of the invasion as well as the ignoring of Sherlock Holmes‘ involvement. In the novel we get looks at former characters out of the original Holmes’ stories as well as new characters that fit right in with Holmes and Watson with really no noticeable issues. The biggest issue I have with the novel is the dumbing down of Watson as well as the authors’ shaping Holmes a bit more “normal” than Doyle has him painted in his novels. We must keep in mind that Holmes is a genius and an eccentric one at that but this book has him a more centered then I’m used to seeing as well as giving him a James Bond quality of magnetism over Mrs. Hudson doesn’t fit the character profile. I am not familiar with Professor Challenger but from what I’ve read, most agree that he has lost his hard edge in this book as well. Still a very enjoyable read especially when the invasion picks up about a third of the way through the book and moves briskly thought the last plot twist is shoe horned in to make one more tie to the original mythology. The book is a part of a series of novels from Titan books that has different writers taking Sherlock Holmes and pitting him against a variety of Victorian-Era nemesis. Overall: a nice light book but look elsewhere if you’re a Holmes purist.
IN SHORTWhat Holmes got up to when the Martians were invading.THINGS TO LIKEA better premise for a steampunk novel simply cannot be imagined. Because the world of Sherlock Holmes is so familiar, the reader can experience some of the thrill in its destruction that the original readers of The War of the Worlds must have felt. The lesser known Professor Challenger is also bought into the mix and there is a wonderfully cheeky revelation about Holmes' private life.THINGS NOT TO LIKEThe authors have taken all this potential and done absolutely nothing with it. Separated and alone, Challenger and Holmes simply wonder around following the exact events described in Wells' book and understand them. That is pretty much it.The bombastic and arrogant Challenger should be a joy to write for. But, as he is alone he has nobody to be bombastic and arrogant to. Holmes conducts no experiments, makes no deductions. He just understands what is happening because he is so clever. You would at least expect some sparks when the men are finally bought together, but no. It is just mutual appreciation.Even the cheeky idea about Homes' private life is handled in the most boring way imaginable. The reader is just told what it is near the beginning of the story.I suspect that the authors were just too timid to add anything, but in places it feels as if they are actually trying to be dull.THINGS IT IS LIKEThe War of the Worlds by HG WellsThe Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan DoyleEdison's Conquest of Mars, by Garrett P. Serviss War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches by Kevin J Anderson
The mash-up idea of Sherlock Holmes and War of the Worlds (not too mention the inclusion of another Doyle character: Professor Challenger), has an immense amount of potential. Sadly the Wellmans achieve nothing even close to interesting, not even coming close to having a grasp of the essential character of Holmes (pairing him off romantically with the Landlady, let alone saying shit like he thinks of himself as a perfectionist kisser (!) is so contrary to the character and just a waster of pages) and merely writing off the Well's characters as idiots...what is the point? Unreadable.
—j_ay
Despite some of its flaws I really enjoyed this take on Sherlock Holmes during the events of H G Wells famous novel. While some parts could be considered more alt-canon than anything, I thought it tied in with previous novels and some of the others in this series well. My biggest issue was the use of dialect for some of the Londoners in the book. Cockneys never have, and never will speak like they do in this! I wish people outside of the UK would do their research before falling into wrong stereotypes.
—Adam
This can be summed up as Sherlock Holmes meets The Lost World meets War of the Worlds.I haven't read The Lost world, so I'm not sure how accurate the bombastic Professor Challenger is (although he is somewhat softened by the care he shows his wife). Sherlock Holmes worked for me (although throwing in that he's been having a long-standing affair with Mrs Hudson, who must be much younger than most people portray her), but Dr Watson is almost a cartoon. Certainly, he's not a brilliant as the other two men, but having him cowering in fear and being almost intensely obtuse (really, he never figures out the Holmes/Hudson relationship?). I never saw Watson as stupid, just constantly feeling a few steps behind his more intelligent companion.I also would have liked a little more deviation from the WotW plotline, not simply inserting characters into what was in the original book. It was definitely a forebearer to the current mashup craze started with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.Still, the Wellmans are good writers, and it was a fun read. I just would have liked to have seen something a little deeper, with a little more originality put in.
—Lianne Burwell
