This is a great parady of the Sherlock Holmes adventures wherein the charictor of Holmes is played by an Angel of Lundon, and the charictor of Dr. Watson is played by a hell hound. It is a very delightful read. I recommend it to all Sherlock Holmes fans.

To be honest, this book just wasn't for me. I tried so hard to enjoy it but I couldn't finish it. The writing was just too drawn out, I think this will be a good book for readers who like slow moving fantasy. I made it about 20% in and felt like I was forcing myself to read for way too long.

I gave this a three out of five stars, it was a fan fiction of Sherlock which was okay. It wasnt what I thought though.

this was good fantasy book, but not what i was really wanting. i will try another novel from this author

I got a free copy of this book through Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This book took me a really long time to get through. The writing wasn´t bad, and it was very fitting for the era it is set in. The thing is I´m not really a fan of Sherlock Holmes, and didn´t know that this was a fantasy retelling of the Sherlock Holmes stories, before starting on this book,

I didn´t care at all for the characters or the plot. And I only kept on reading this book because I try not to DNF ARCS.

I do think that I would have enjoyed this if it had been either a movie or a tv show, but it wasn´t for me as a book.

Compulsively readable and a very fun translation of the Sherlock Holmes story to a fantasy setting! Without revealing too much in the way of spoilers, I will say that I was a bit disappointed that a book billed as "Sherlock wingfic" didn't actually feature a romance between the Sherlock and Watson characters, but I did enjoy the depiction of their friendship, and the dialogue and worldbuilding were really fun, too.

I started reading this book and found that it was not for me. It didn't seem fair for me to review a book that I didn't finish.

The tagline of this book is 'This is not the book you are expecting' and I think that sums up The Angel of the Crows fairly well. What you should know going in is that it's a fairly to the book re-telling of Sherlock Holmes but in an almost fan fiction style, complete with fantasy world, intricate magic system & queer characters. Sherlock's an Angel and Watson is, well... I can't tell you but he certainly isn't the Watson you think he is. You have to take this book at face value, it definitely still deals with some important and timely themes, but if you're looking for a wholly unique story line to go with it then you might be a little disappointed.

The Angel of the Crows is seriously hard to sum up, mainly because, although we have the one underlying case running throughout the story, it flits between a lot of well known Sherlock cases, some of which get a few chapters and others only a few pages. I did love the nod to the original works, especially when some of my favourite cases popped up and, though Addison stuck to the original plot well enough, her addition of magic and the supernatural twist made sure that we as the readers were kept on our toes.

Without a doubt the thing I loved most about this book was the characters. Our 'Sherlock' is an Angel called Crow. In this 'world' proper Angel's are tied to a habitation be it a pub, train station, cathedral etc. but Crow is one of a kind. After his 'dominion' was destroyed he should have fallen, become an 'evil' Angel, or become one of the Nameless, Angels with no dominion to look after who have no knowledge of who they are or have ever been, but he managed something no other Angel in history ever has, to neither fall nor become nameless, rather managing to make the entirety of London his dominion. Not being human he can be tactless, a little overbearing and has an insatiable urge for knowledge, basically the perfect Holmes.

Dr Watson, of Dr Doyle as he is known in this book is recently returned from Afghanistan with a magical injury inflicted by one of the Fallen and, in looking for a cheap place to stay, ends up rooming with our notorious Angel. His injury, medical knowledge and history draw Crow to him like a moth to a flame and before long he ends up embroiled in Crow's mystery solving shenanigans. Doyle is gruff, withdrawn and a little fed up with life, but spending time with Crow, helping to solve the mysteries and inserting himself more in the supernatural side of London bring him out of his shell a little and allow him to accept things about himself he had been unable to before.

While Addison may stick to the script when it comes to the cases Crow and Doyle investigate, the addition of her fantasy world make sure that were never 100% sure where the story will go. I will say there's no easing into the story or magic system, we're simply left to pick up things as we go and it did take me a while to get into the swing of things. Her supernatural London is filled with Vampires, Werewolves, Hemophages (you don't want to know), Angels and even Hell Hounds, which certainly make for some intriguing twists to the stories we know and love, I just would have liked to be eased into it a little more. Knowing a friend of mine loved this book meant sure that I kept reading, but had I not had a good inkling that I would love it, I may have given up around 15% in.

As a whole I did thoroughly enjoy this, I just wish that Addison had made this story more her own. Instead of throwing out Sherlock cases that we already knew, I would have loved for her to bring a mystery of her own to the story, if only to keep us on our toes a little more. Like I said, if you take it as it is, I'm 100% sure you will love it. It's witty, a little scary in parts (I'm a wimp ok), and filled with some brilliant characters, some we know and love from the Holmes series, and some new to us, but all together it makes for one fun and fast paced read.

I really enjoyed the book's universe, it's intriguing and fun, I would only have liked a better development. The crime case itself is a bit boring, but the plot was pretty cool.

What I loved about this book was the characters, they are so interesting and fun. Doyle and Crown have a dynamic that brings the book to life, their interactions made me laugh and intrigued me. They are very well-developed characters, I loved them.

It's like a Sherlock Holmes book, but with some twists I liked and with a paranormal society. The synopsis alludes to a very dark and dangerous universe, and although that seems a little... it's not enough. The universe needed more development and I say this because I loved what was shown of the angels and the fallen angels and other creatures. The book has a lot of potential.

Loved the writing!

This was a really fun read - a really different retelling with some awesome lgbtqia+ elements, and also paranormal elements. I was very very happy to read this. Also just a touch of disability representation, which is always welcome - more on that in a minute.

I was really happy to note that I felt like I was reading fanfiction whilst reading this one and, when I finished it, to find out that this whole book started as a wingfic - as a fanfic writer myself, this was unbelievably cool. (For other AO3 fans' reference, I am definitely throwing the kudos at this one.) I really loved the tweaks that Addison had made to the Sherlock Holmes stories included here, and I honestly feel like I could read loads more of this. (Please.)

All of the characters felt really interesting and real to me, and the paranormal elements were so well-written and explored. Crow's character is brilliant - I wanted to know so much more about him and about the other Angels, and I loved witnessing the meeting and rapport-building between Crow and Doyle. This really was a joy to read and get lost in.

I had a couple of caveats here and there, but they were mostly pretty small. I didn't really like how one of the LGBTQIA+ elements was introduced - it felt a little like it was there for shock value (just a little.) and I didn't enjoy that. The other thing was Doyle's injury/disability and use of a cane - mostly this was absolutely fine, but there were occasional moments, like when he kicked another character whilst standing without any difficulty, that I (as an occasional cane-user) found hard to believe. Other than these, however, I really thought this story was fantastic and would be happy, as mentioned before, to read much more of it.

Oh how much I love Katherine Addison! THE ANGEL OF THE CROWS takes the richness of a historical fiction novel and combines it with the best of science fiction. I could not put this one down!

I took ages to read this book, despite being really eager for it, because… well, I didn’t think I’d love it as much as The Goblin Emperor, which holds a pretty special place in my heart, and also because I heard some bad things about the portrayal of some of the characters which made me a little wary. In the end, though, I ate it up — I read it in a few hours flat, and it was very compulsive.

It’s essentially a retelling of Sherlock Holmes, only what if Sherlock was an angel and Watson was… well, there are a lot of things about the Watson character, which I shouldn’t share too much about for fear of spoiling the surprise. Sometimes the retelling is fairly close, and you’ll recognise a lot of the Sherlock Holmes stories if you’re familiar with them, but twisted into a new shape by the changes to Crow (Sherlock) and Doyle (Watson), and the world around them.

If you’re not a fan of Sherlock Holmes (or Sherlock Holmes derivatives), in the end this isn’t going to bring you joy. I’m lukewarm on Holmes as a character and a phenomenon, though I loved the movies with Robert Downey Jr, and ended up loving this, so it’s not that you have to be a Holmes superfan in order to enjoy it. The context helps, I think, though sometimes the story was so close to the familiar one that I kind of wished I wasn’t as familiar with the source.

That said, by the end I just wanted more, more of these characters and their bond, and more of the worldbuilding surrounding them.

A fantasy from an alternate 1800s London. And the mention of Jack the Ripper in the description. Yes please! The 1800s England is one of my fav tropes in books. In Katherine Addison` s story we meet vampires, werewolves and angels -and a very different Sherlock Holmes. The latter was a huge surprise for meg. I have seen some reviewers refer to this as Sherlock Holmes fan fiction, and I agree with that.

I read the book expecting a fantasy, but ended up with a fantasy mystery that sadly was not my jam. The protagonists did not appeal to me, and I ended up putting the story away before I was finished with it. Lovers of alternate history may still like this. The author has clearly done a lot of research, and based the book on existing Holmes-mysteries. I would recommend putting the Sherlock Holmes-trope more clearly in the description of the book, as that may and earn the author more sales.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

This book was really good. I enjoy the plot and the characters. It was quite funny and it keeps me glued to the pages. I can’t put it down.

I highly recommend it

Angel of crows came with a lot of high expectations as Katherine Addison’s Goblin Emperor became one of my top ten reads of all time this year plus it was a paranormal retelling of my favourite Sherlock Holmes.
It didn’t quite meet all of my expectations but I did enjoy reading this book.
The retelling was made unique by the differences the author brought to it in the form of the characters and also by adding a magical twist to it all. This is a world inhabited by angels and other magical creatures including hell hounds. The setting and the genre the story is set in reminded me a bit of The Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clarke. It was interesting and I enjoyed the changes it brought to the original Holmes stories.
The characterisation of Holmes or Crow, an Angel, in this case was also something I loved . Crow was a more humane version of Holmes. Not so cold and clinical but filled with this child like curiosity to decipher the mysteries made them a lot more endearing than the original Holmes. I also somewhere felt like they were overtaken by the counterpart of Watson in this retelling and not in a way that I liked. It made the figuring out the mystery seem like an afterthought rather than the main point of the story.
I also had a problem with how the author made the various mysteries too close to the original. It took away the mystery aspect completely as I was already familiar with culprit and the motive and the only thing left to figure out was the method in this alternate paranormal world. It took some of the thrill away from reading a mystery.
All in all a good effort but too close to the original in terms of plot to make it exceptional. If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes retellings, give this a try but if you are looking for something remotely like Goblin Emperor, this is not for you.

Have to say I quite liked this book even though I am not massively in to the whole Sherlock Holmes thing as this came over very strongly as a Sherlock fan fiction book with a supernatural twist. The only exception as well being the writing was absolutely beautiful for me, I really enjoyed the writing, there doesn’t seem to be a genre that Katherine Addison can’t write.
I had a great time with this book and highly recommend to all. It really is a great book

This is pure Sherlock fanfic, with a queer Watson, vampires and hellhounds. Very entertainig and would highly reccomend to Sherlock fans.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

The Angel of Crows

3 stars

What I like

I want to say that this is a unique story but it really isn’t. It is essentially Sherlock Holmes with a minor twist. Not even a major twist. That being said … I did really enjoy it. The story was dark and intriguing as one might expect from something that mimics the great classic stories involving Holmes and Watson.

The twist of course is that this takes place in a work with angels and demons and other creatures of fairytale and lore.

I don’t have much else to say as to my enjoyment of this book as it was just simply that … enjoyable.

The writing was good. The characters were interesting. The plot was intriguing.

What I did not like

I feel that when you are dissecting a famous story or fairytale, and reimagining it … you have to pay careful attention to making it entirely new at the same time. This story failed to do that. It took a classic, put black cursed wings on it and called it a new release. I'm not mad at it. I could read Sherlock Holmes stories all day. But I am disappointed in the fact that The Angel of Crows did not take the dissection as far as it could have. And by the same token did not take the reimagining nearly far enough.

I still don't exactly understand the fantasy aspects of this story and feel like this was a major missed opportunity. It’s like I have the groundworks of a truly fascinating world-building opportunity that was never truly realized.

In Conclusion

This book was still enjoyable given its lack of uniqueness. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Sherlock Holmes retellings.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

This was basically a Sherlock Holmes fan-fiction. I felt like this was pretty clear throughout the book, they didn't even try to hide it. I'm not mad about it, because I feel like the quality of the writing made up for it. (I also LOVED the Holmes books growing up) It caught my interest.

Sherlock Homes in a fantasy setting, except they're in London. I loved the ambiance of the whole scheme. The characters were stunningly crafted. Very fun and interesting, something that stands out.

A must read for Sherlock Holmes fans ;)