So I wish the description had been a little clearer about this being Sherlock Holmes-inspired so I would've had a clearer idea of what I was getting into before I began reading. And, adding to that, I wish that the book itself had not adhered quite so closely to the Sherlock Holmes stories. It's fine to be inspired by something, but there's a line between inspiration and full-on fanfic; this needed to be more House, less Sherlock. Especially considering that Addison opted to bring multiple real world murders into it which...left me with a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth, honestly.

Doyle - aka Watson, aka our narrator - also kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Even after something major is revealed about him halfway through the book I found him to be really grating at points. He's such a judgy curmudgeon - and not in a way that would seem reasonable to me. But this, I know, is a very personal thing and other readers might enjoy him as a narrator.

All that said, when the book does break away from the Sherlock Holmes formula - that is to say, when it decides to put its attention to the angels and werewolves and vampires - it becomes a much more entertaining, engrossing read. I enjoyed every single foray into occult life this book took, particularly when it decided to lean into the creepiness of a moor (which is easily the book's best section). I would've liked much, much more of that, honestly.

All in all, this was an entertaining enough read, and readers who are bigger Sherlock Holmes fans than me will probably enjoy it a lot, but personally I was let down by how closely it stuck to that formula. There was way more interesting (and original) stuff that could have been focused on here.

THE ANGEL OF THE COWS by Katherine Addison is the reimaging of Sherlock Holmes as wingfic. In this case, the story is set in an alternate Victorian London, populated by angels, vampires, and werewolves. Here a madman named Jack the Ripper treads the streets at night.

With classic elements of Sherlock Holmes set into a fantastical fantasy world inhabited by angels, vampires, and Hellhounds.
Here, in this alternate London, Sherlock Holmes is envisioned as an Angel named Crow. His character comes complete with huge wings and the astute observation and deduction skills readers would expect. Dr. Watson is played by the eccentric surgeon Dr. Doyle who is recently returned from the war and finds himself a flatmate and assistant to the sleuthing Crow.

Told from Dr. Doyle’s perspective, Addison weaves into the main plot Crow and Doyle aiding the Scotland Yard in the grisly Whitechapel murders. Their search leads them into the dark underbelly of London, searching for the identity behind the notorious serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.

Readers familiar with the classic stories will find threaded among the plot such investigating cases as A Study in Scarlet and The Hound of the Baskervilles.
This is a fun read with its Sherlock Holmes retelling and mix of supernatural elements combined with the Jack the Ripper mystery. Angels, Vampires, and hellhounds—oh my! Fans of the classic will enjoy the character dynamics and brewing friendship between the feathery Crow and eccentric Doyle. As each case takes our duo one step closer to Jack the Ripper's identity, readers will feel like they're within familiar stories. An engaging plot and mystery round out the story. My only wish was for a better feel of the Angels and the Fallen's history.

My Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

This book reminds me of a classic Sherlock Holmes adventure but in an amazing paranormal society.

The characters are interesting and fun. The dynamide between Doyle and Crow is fantastic, full of moments of humor and a very good team work!

I really liked the paranormal universe and knowing about the angels, fallen angels and the other creatures. Also, the book has a couple of plot twists that are very good.

I would have liked a better development of the universe, but overall it was a very entertaining read and to be honest I want more adventures with Doyle and Crow

A very interesting read. It became confusing sometimes, but all in all I enjoyed this book. It has all the Sherlock vibes staged in a fantasy style London. Much different than your typical fantasy stories.

"The Angel of Crows" began as a piece of fan fiction, reimagining the Sherlock Holmes saga. Those familiar with those stories will immediately recognize them as their origins are certainly not hidden. Not only is this originally fanfic, but a specific sub-genre of fanfic known as "wingfic," which considers what would happen if characters had wings. So we get a late 1800's sort of steampunk London with airships and Angels, many of who are geographically inclined. Thus, there would be the Angel of the Tower of London and so forth. There are also the Fallen, Angels who are still endowed with mighty powers but the intellect of ferocious beasts.

Into this literary space we get Holmes reimagined as An Angel named Crow with huge mighty wings and a never ending intellectual curiosity and often consulted by the police. Watson of course is now Dr. Watson, the coroner, except when he wakes at night and turns into a hellhound. There are vampires, werewolves and other fell beasts about.

All kinds of intriguing ideas, but the Angels are the most interesting of all and their world and history is only barely scratched at here. It would have been great to learn more about the battle for Heaven, the Angels, the Nameless, and the Fallen. Overall, just so intriguing, but it had difficulty holding my interest at times and took awhile to get through.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

This is a wonderful Sherlock Holmes retelling! It mixes supernatural elements with the classic cases and also an overall mystery of Jack the Ripper. I absolutely enjoyed this book and would recommend for everyone. I loved the character dynamics between Crow (an angel and our Sherlock) and Doyle (a Doctor and our Watson). It was a compulsory read with a great pace. I liked the flow of the characters and how each case was experienced. This book is as if you’re getting a whole seasons worth of Sherlock mixed with Angels, Vampires, Werewolves, etc + Murder mystery! What more could you ask for?!
*thank you netgalley for sending me an arc!*

Delightful reworking of the Sherlock Holmes ethos with a supernatural and paranormal twist presented in an alternate 1880 London. Angels, werewolves, demons, witches, vampires, and hell-hounds walk amongst us ... as accepted members of society. This appeals to both aficionados of Sherlock Holmes and urban fantasy (ala Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne and Craig Schaefer) The Holmes novel, "A Study In Scarlet" mirrors the set-up for this novel ... with The Angel Crow assuming the mantle of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. J.H. Doyle accepting the role of Dr. J.H. Watson. Many of Arthur Conan Doyle's characters from his novels and short stories take a reprise is this connected narrative. Utilized as a connecting thread throughout is Crow's interest in solving the ongoing serial murders in Whitechapel .... apparently the work of Jack The Ripper. Delved into is the "life" and frailties of being an angel .... the possibility of joining the Consensus and being part of the hive mind ... as well as becoming "Fallen" from grace. Crow and Doyle actually share a flat at 231 Baker Street. It's perfectly acceptable in this universe to possess clairvoyance and practice scrying.
Addison weaves an amazing twisted but yet connected narrative to explore the phenomenal deductive skills of the Crow - Doyle partnership matching the brilliance of the Arthur Conan Doyle oeuvre .... with the added seasoning of the supernatural. Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan- Tor Forge publications for providing an electronic uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review
( at readersremains.com )

It would be fair to say I was delighted when I was approved for an ARC of The Angel of the Crows, as this author wrote one of my favourite fantasy books of the past couple of decades (The Goblin Emperor, in case you've been living under a rock). I knew this wasn't set in the same universe but was, in fact, a story set in Victorian London - I was still looking forward to reading it.

It's in this context that I start to try and review The Angel of the Crows, while trying to get my thoughts straight about it. I suspect, like many of the books I bounce off, this will be one that some people will absolutely rave about - for me, it was the afterword that told me everything I suspected as I read it, that this started life as Sherlock Holmes wingfic. The basic premise, after all, is that this is a world where angels and other creatures live alongside humans, so our Watson-surrogate who is the narrator comes back from Afghanistan after being injured encountering a Fallen one and with an unexpected aftermath in addition to a bad limp.

The setting itself holds most of the interest for me, as for the story the author chose to recycle both a number of the most well known Sherlock Holmes stories and the actual crimes of Jack the Ripper. Unfortunately, these are both things I know quite a bit about and that took some of the shine off the plotting. The character of Doyle, our narrator, is fairly well fleshed out but the same can't be said for Crow, who is an angel who stands in for Holmes himself. I think it was partly the frequent use of the word 'giggled' to describe this individual laughing, which always makes me think of small children.

In the end, The Angel of the Crows just didn't work for me: too much unanswered for me about Doyle's choices and also the relationship between Doyle and Crow. Oddly enough, it seemed to be the places where the story diverted from the original (for example, Holmes not turning up unexpectedly when Watson thinks he's in London) that left me feeling like there were missed opportunities.


Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Katherine Addison’s second book was absolutely 100% worth waiting for. Her way with characters and the detail of imagined worlds remains stunning and powerful, making the most magical and strange seen utterly plausible. In someone else’s hands, THE ANGEL OF THE CROWS would have been an enjoyable, if forgettable, pastiche. I Addisons’, this bits and pieces story becomes a master work that is definitely one of my favorite novels of the year thus far.

Katherine Addison once again creates a truly spectacular world that is elevated by a great story and plenty of fun and interesting characters, though this time the bones of the world are that ever dangerous territory of Sherlock Holmes. It is difficult to step into those bones and try to create something fresh and new, as the good detective's influence casts a heavy shadow of expectation over novels that tap into that familiar vein.

Fortunately, The Angel of the Crows handily steps out from under the shadow of Holmes and tells a very good series of short, interconnected stories featuring a heavily mythic cast of characters which help ground a fascinating new lore in a London that is strange and new. Despite all this, the altered London still feels very much like the London fans of the great detective might recognize, which is a feat in and of itself. It is a delicate balancing act that must be read to be believed, with surprises and twists that delighted me.

Welcome, to a Sherlock Holmes and John Watson-inspired mystery with vampires. And angels. And werewolves. Oh my!

Despite my great love for mystery novels, I've never read an original Holmes' story, much to my chagrin. And no matter how often I tell myself to remedy this set-back, new books continue to fall into my hands. Who am I to resist? I have, however, heard plenty of synopses for a few of these stories over the years, so it wasn't difficult to pick up on the theme of The Angel of the Crows as soon as I began to read.

In the likeness of Sherlock Holmes, we have Crow, the Angel of London. He's brilliant, amusing, thinks well outside the box, and is highly sought after by Scotland Yard. And in Watson's stead we have Dr. Doyle, a physician who has been discharged from his service in the military after a run-in with a Fallen angel that has left him not just injured, but in need of keeping a rather big and illegal secret about himself.

The composition of this book is clever: it's told through stories within the main plot of the novel. Featuring Holmes and Watson, one expects to (hopefully) explore their classical tales. And The Angel of the Crows does not disappoint. At the heart of it all is Crow's obsession with finding the murderer we now know as Jack the Ripper. Constantly called in by Scotland Yard to assist, he usually brings Doyle along so that he may offer his expertise. And as we close in on Jack, we're taken through the different investigative jobs that many come to Crow given his sleuthing popularity.

Despite the fact that the story is read through Doyle POV, and he is, in essence, the main lead, Crow steals the spotlight. It might be that as the embodiment of Sherlock Holmes he has no choice, but as his own character, he's fantastic. Not only was it incredibly enjoyable and interesting to learn, by his own words, how the angels' caste system and politics work in this novel, but Crow is simply endearing to know. He's intelligent, yes. And he's certainly quick-witted and fast to take charge. But behind all that, and for all that they state that angels don't show human emotion as much as they rather learn how to mimic it, he's got a protective and warm core that puts Doyle at the top of his small group of cared ones. You can't help but like him.

Even though Doyle and Crow are the two characters that we naturally become best acquainted with, there's a big cast to enjoy, and even an entertaining handful of encounters with Moriarty in the role of Vampire. You can imagine how fond of him Crow is. The various tales that run circles around Jack the Ripper are as absorbing as one might expect with two leads such as these, and full of the supernatural. I was especially fond of Doyle's visit to Dartmoor to look behind the riddle of the hound of the Baskervilles.

The Angel of the Crows smoothly transports the reader to the streets of London during the late 1800s in its style of writing. It's fast-paced, compulsory to read, and has a few surprises that were not even remotely expected, and will delight in their reveal.

The Angel of the Crows is a book that I liked at times but that left me feeling cold at others. One thing the blurb doesn't make clear is that this story is also a Sherlock Holmes retelling. In fact, at the end, the Author's Note states that it started life as Sherlock fan fiction, and when I saw that a lot of things made more sense to me, as I'd felt the book had a fan-fiction feel as I was reading. I did like the alternate history take on late 19th century London, though at times I would have liked a little more explanation on some of the paranormal aspects. However, the main difficulty I had was that it was just too familiar. The main story line follows the Jack the Ripper murders, but in between Crow and Doyle solve several other famous Sherlock Holmes cases. Although it was interesting to see how the twists would work with this setting and these characters, the tales were still so familiar that I knew in advance roughly how everything would play out, which left me a little bored. I enjoyed this on one level, but at the same time, I was left questioning at the end exactly what this retelling added. If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes retellings, or any retellings putting a fantasy spin on familiar stories, then I am sure you'll find something to love in The Angel of the Crowd. For me, it was a pleasant enough read, but it didn't blow me away, and I would give it 3.5 stars.