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Read The List Of Seven (2005)

The List of Seven (2005)

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3.93 of 5 Votes: 3
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ISBN
0380720191 (ISBN13: 9780380720194)
Language
English
Publisher
avon books

The List Of Seven (2005) - Plot & Excerpts

This was a very unusual book, which shouldn't be terribly surprising, since the author, Mark Frost is a co-creator of the TV series Twin Peaks.I definitely enjoyed the book, but it is difficult to do it proper justice in a review without giving away too much of the story. I will do my best.Arthur Conan Doyle, doctor and aspiring author, and occult de-bunker, receives a mysterious letter on Christmas Eve from a woman begging him to come to a seance and help her. When he does, he witnesses a horrifying series of events, and is against his will drawn into a plot of evil with epic proportions, one that will involve him with the mysterious Jack Sparks, and that will take him far and wide, and see him embroiled in events he knows nobody will ever believe.Jack Sparks is either an escaped lunatic from Bedlam hospital, or, he is a trusted secret agent of Queen Victoria, who is on the trail of a group of seven - hence the title - calling themselves "The Dark Brotherhood" - really, Doyle can't be sure moment-to-moment which is more likely to be true of Sparks, who seems to have an unbelieveable list of skills, knowledge and resources at his disposal.Doyle, who has been targetted by the Brotherhood because of a novel he wrote that seems to suggest that he knows more about their plans than he could possibly know, agrees to help Sparks despite his confusion and distrust, because it seems that the evil being planned really could destroy the world. The two go off on a thrilling, suspenseful adventure, involving the occult, evil science, zombies, criminal [but likeable] twins, secretive but beautiful women, and all manner of unlikely close calls as they try to figure out what the Brotherhood is really up to, and how to stop them.The story is very exciting, certainly a first-rate thriller, and the under-story suggests how Conan Doyle *might* have come to create the character of Sherlock Holmes, which Sparks is the model for in this book - there are several aspects of Sparks in which we see the fore-runners of Holmes, and they are quite cleverly and subtly introducted in the book.The Doyle character is quite likeable and spunky, as he attempts valiantly to deal with the surreal events he finds himself involved with, and he is quite smart, brave and intelligent - I liked this portrayal of him very much in this story.The one thing I did NOT like, was the very ending, which I cannot explain, because it is clearly a set-up for future books and I don't like to do spoilers in my reviews. I suppose some might find the ending - presented in an epilogue - a clever twist, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. That's why I gave this three stars instead of four.I really like the Doyle character, so I might consider giving a second book in this series a try, but I am not optimistic I will like it if the storyline is going where I suspect it is. This book however, was very entertaining and I enjoyed it greatly

Arthur Conan Doyle, doctor and aspiring author, witnesses black magic and murder at a seance. Soon, he finds himself on the run with Jack Sparks dragging him along. But is Jack Sparks an agent of the crown or an escaped mental patient? And why does a mysterious group want Doyle dead? And who are the people on the List of Seven?A friend of mine started bugging me to read this in 2004. A decade later, I finally gave in.The List of Seven is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche written by one of the co-creators of Twin Peaks, Mark Frost. It reads like Tim Powers writing an episode of Sherlock. In fact, I kept imagining Benedict Cumberbatch as Jack Sparks and Martin Freeman as Doyle.Sparks and Doyle prove to be an effective team. I found Sparks' background incredibly interesting, as I did his sociopathic brother, Alexander. Doyle was a little more capable than Watson is normally portrayed, a master of deduction rivaling Jack Sparks.This is a throwback to early steampunk, not the style over substance steampunk that's so popular these days. There are appearances by Victorian figures like Bram Stoker, Nigel Gull, and Queen Victoria, and also trains, mummies, zombies, and various other Victoriana, like seances and mediums. Again, it reminds me of Tim Power's Anubis Gates and other works, and also Jonathan Barnes' The Somnambulist and The Domino Men.The writing itself was pretty good. There was a surprising amount of humor in the dialog. The plot about the cult was nothing spectacular since most cults in fiction have the same goals. The characters of Arthur Conan Doyle, Jack Sparks, and Alexander Sparks eclipsed the plot somewhere around the halfway mark.If I had to complain about something, it would be the ending, which seems like it was probably changed at some point in the writing process to allow for sequels. It was kind of a copout. Other than that, I have no complaints. Four out of five stars.

What do You think about The List Of Seven (2005)?

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)I recently had occasion to think again about the exquisitely strange 1990s television show Twin Peaks, co-created by David Lynch and Mark Frost; and that got me thinking again about Frost's two genre novels from that time period as well, 1993's The List of 7 and '95's The 6 Messiahs, the first of which I read way back when it originally came out, which inspired me this month to check them out from the library here in Chicago. Essentially steampunk tales from the dawn of that term's creation, they tell related stories based on the idea of the real Arthur Conan Doyle going on a series of occultish adventures in the late 1800s, accompanied by a secret agent of the Queen named Jack Sparks who ends up providing many of the traits for Doyle's later Sherlock Holmes stories.Almost twenty years later, I had mostly fond if not dim memories of the first book, one of the first steampunk tales I ever read; and indeed, re-reading it again this month, it was in fact as entertaining as my memory had it. But twenty years of genre development has made steampunk a much more sophisticated thing now than it was at its inception, and unfortunately these books now display the weaknesses that come with their age; read now in the wake of much better books that have come after, they seem a little clunkier than they did before, a bit more obvious in their machinations, and with a bad Hollywood tone much of the time, as if Frost were only writing them so that he could then sell the film rights, not surprising when it comes to an industry veteran like himself. Now combine this with the fact that the very concept gets kind of muddled by the second book -- the whole charm of the first one laying mostly in the idea of Doyle being a young, clueless, untested doctor, thrown into the middle of shadowy conspiracies he doesn't understand, an aspect missing in the sequel where he is now a field-tested veteran of the strange -- and it's easy to see why Frost eventually abandoned what could've been the start of a lucrative franchise, and has only penned sports-themed novels in the years since. Interesting for a lark, and for those curious about steampunk's origins, but not something you should go out of your way to read.Out of 10: 7.9
—Jason Pettus

A fun, fast-paced read combining adventure with elements of horror. The plot careens along like a boulder hurtling down a hill, bouncing this way and that but always keeping the reader's attention. In it, a young Arthur Conan Doyle encounters Jack Sparks, (who eventually becomes Doyle's inspiration for Sherlock Holmes), and together with Spark's trusted comrades, they battle a gang of evil-doers bent on world domination, led by Spark's brother, Alexander. (Suffice it to say, the Sparks family had more than its share of dysfunction and Freudian complexes. Must've made for some seriously chilly holiday dinners.) With chase scenes, monsters, zombies, and weird and creepy imagery worthy of Frost's co-creation, "Twin Peaks," The List of 7 is continuously entertaining through its 400 pages.
—Ray

Un joven Arthur Conan Doyle que en sus ratos libres se dedica se ve involucrado en una conspiración siniestra cuando asiste a una sesión de espiritismo que termina con muertos por todos lados. Por suerte, Doyle cuenta con la ayuda de Jack "no puedo creer que no es Sherlock Holmes" Sparks (lo que lo convierte en el Dr. Watson de esta historia) para llegar al fondo de una intriga que amenaza con liberar fuerzas diabólicas que pondrían en peligro al imperio británico. Y al resto del mundo. Quizás.La portada de la edición que tengo de este libro anuncia orgullosa "Mark Frost, guionista de Twin Peaks" y vaya que se notan los antecedentes. La premisa es interesante, el diálogo es ágil y los personajes aunque sencillos tienen encanto, en especial un par de gemelos que ayudan a Doyle y Sparks. Además, hay referencias esporádicas a la Inglaterra del siglo XIX y a la obra de Doyle, lo que es bienvenido.En el lado negativo, la trama se enreda al grado que a mitad del libro parece que no habrá oportunidad para darle solución a todos los conflictos planteados de manera satisfactoria, lo que al final del libro se confirma. Da la impresión que el autor planteó eventos porque proporcionaban el giro más inesperado a la historia pero no pensó que tendría que darles una solución más allá de "por que sí". Justo al estilo Twin Peaks. En particular (view spoiler)[Sparks estuvo ingresado en el hospital psiquiátrico Bedlam, lo que hace a Doyle y al lector dudar de la cordura de este personaje. Esto se resuelve cuando Doyle le pregunta a Sparks sobre ello y la respuesta de consiste en esencia en "sí, pero ya estoy bien" a lo cual Holmes no pone reparo y el tema se olvida para siempre. Lo mismo ocurre con su adicción. (hide spoiler)]
—Juan Bosco

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