Friday, December 19, 2008
The Game
****½ The Game by Laurie R. King. Mystery.
This is the 7th book in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series. "The Game" of the title refers to the spy game, as Russell and Holmes set off to search for the missing secret agent Kimball O'Hara--Kipling's Kim.
It's an entertaining story; very atmospheric, with lots of details about India, and some fascinating intrigue dealing with the politics of the time. As you might expect from the subject, there are myriad characters, quite a few of whom aren't what they seem.
I'd read Kim decades ago and found I remembered very little of it. This has inspired me to put it on my e-reader, where I'll get to it eventually.
I do enjoy this series, but it's not a favorite--I don't anxiously await new books, and forget about it for years at a time. I think a lot of that is because Mary Russell remains a Mary Sue character, and the series is fanfic, albeit well-written fanfic. Russell is quite simply too good to be true. In this one, for example, she learns Hindi in record time, and charms pretty much everyone with her unconventional ways.
Still, it's an entertaining read, and I thoroughly enjoyed the espionage intrigue and suspense.
Categories: Books, 4.5stars, Mystery
Labels: 4.5 stars, books, mystery
