Tag Archives: Murder – Investigation

A Study in Emerald

Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews A Study in Emerald [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by Neil Gaiman, Rafael Albuquerque, Rafael Scavone, Dave Stewart, & al.

Gaiman Albuquerque Scavone Stewart A Study in Emerald

This graphic novel adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s short story was pretty disappointing to me. The text is very faithful to the original, with only a few omissions to smooth the reading experience, and these are compensated in every case by the illustrations.

On its own terms, the art is passable, but I didn’t find it compelling. It was markedly inferior to my own visual imaginings when I read the text-only version. More importantly, it collapsed important ambiguities in the original telling, and sometimes in ways that were unhelpful to the cleverly disorienting effects of the tale. An important instance is the portrait of Queen Victoria on the coins in the panels at the bottom of the final page of part 2, “The Room.”

Reading this version is probably better than not reading the story at all. But the text-only version provides a superior experience, especially for those with the relevant background in Holmesiana and Yog-Sothothery. And that version is freely available online.

Fugitive Telemetry

Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Fugitive Telemetry [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by Martha Wells, book 6 of the Murderbot Diaries series.

Wells Fugitive Telemetry

“I guess the feed isn’t adequate for all forms of communication, particularly those that involve a lot of glaring.” (13)

And I’m all caught up on Murderbot. In this most recent book, it looks as if there might be a significant shift from considering Murderbot someone who commits murders to someone who solves them. The action is restricted to the orbital station of the world Preservation, and begins with fresh corpse, unidentified and clearly murdered.

Jacket copy describes this volume as a “standalone adventure in the … series,” which is intended to hearten anyone who hasn’t read the other five books, I guess. But this one didn’t seem too heavy with orienting exposition, or notably any more independent of the series than any of the other books. While it does document a possible pivot in Murderbot’s professional career, its contribution to the overall character arc and plot development of the series is in fact negligible.

If future Murderbot stories do consolidate the character as a sort of space opera Sherlock Holmes, then this book will probably become an ideal point of entry to the series. In any case, it was interesting to see Pin-Lee in the Mycroft role, and Indah made a good Lestrade. The Watson part went to — Ratthi?

As usual, it was a fast read. I wasn’t planning to read it in a single sitting, but I did.