Thank you for the ARC, I love having the opportunity to review books before they publish and I hate give low review scores, but unfortunately this book didn't hit the mark for me. I struggled to get through to the 40% that I did read and after that it just did not entice me at all. I could not connect with the characters and the plot felt like a rehash of classic mystery novels with some fantasy elements thrown in. It fell flat for me.

The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison has so much potential to be a great new historical fantasy Sherlock Holmes retelling that incorporates Jack the Ripper. Unfortunately, it ended up falling flat for me. Perhaps my expectations were way to high, but I was bored by this. There's a lot of unique ideas here that are skipped over and not developed. In the end, it doesn't stand out from the crowd and is far too forgettable. I'm so disappointed.

Thank you for allowing me to preview this title. It just wasn't my cup of tea. I tried a few times to read it and just couldn't get past the 20% mark. The story was moving too slow for me and I would get distracted until I finally put it down. Best wishes for much success.

Interesting twist on Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed some parts, but I found the paranormal world a little difficult to get into.

The Angel of the Crows is the second* novel from Katherine Addison, the author of the Hugo and Nebula award nominated The Goblin Emperor. The Goblin Emperor was one of the biggest critical darlings (and fan enjoyed) books in the last few years, and even if I didn't quite love it as much as the general consensus, it was a masterpiece of setting and character-building. So people have been waiting for Addison's next novel for some time and finally with The Angel of the Crows, we have it. To add to the reasons this book is highly anticipated, it's another fantasy adaptation of Holmes and Watson, and seeing Addison put a spin on that is highly appealing.

*Addison is actually the pen name for author Sarah Monette, but this is the second novel for this pen name.

And The Angel of the Crows mostly delivers. Once again Addison pulls of a fantastic setting - a fantasy version of London filled with Angels, Vampires, Werewolves, and more - and main characters that are a hell of a different spin on classical archetypes. This Holmes is an Angel - albeit one who shouldn't be able to exist and is not trusted as a result - and our Watson is carrying very different secrets and traumas (which I'm not going to spoil here) than the original. These changes, plus the fantastic setting, draw you in and make this a hard book to put down (I literally finished this at 2 in the morning.) On the other hand, despite all the above, the book is at the same time often somehow also a by the numbers adaptation of a number of classic Holmes stories which will be of less interest to anyone with major familiarity with those stories.
--------------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------

Dr. J.H. Doyle never had any intention of returning to London, but Doyle's tour in Afghanistan was cut short when Doyle was injured by a Fallen and barely survived due to an experimental treatment. Doyle has nowhere to stay but a chance acquaintance introduces Doyle to a solution: an Angel named Crow is looking for a roommate for a flat on Baker Street. Crow is like no angel Doyle has ever met - Crow clearly isn't fallen, but he's not tied to any specific location like every other non-nameless angel Doyle has met....and Crow clearly has a name. Even worse, Crow probably can sense Doyle's own dangerous secrets.

But Doyle can't help but be intrigued by Crow's brilliant deductions from sharp observation and even more so by Crow's unusual relationship with Scotland Yard. Soon Doyle is accompanying Crow on cases, and finding out how strange murders and mysteries in London and its surrounding area can truly be. With Doyle's Assistance, they take on these cases - which feature all manners of supernatural creatures: such as vampires, hemophages, werewolves, hellhounds, etc. Many such creatures live ordinary legal lives in London - but they don' make solving these mysteries any less dangerous.

But then there's London's most dangerous killer - the unknown assailant who has been cutting up prostitutes and leaving no clues in the process.....can Crow and Doyle stop him before his murder spree continues? Or will all of London remain in utter fear forever?

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The Angel of the Crows is a Sherlock Holmes adaptation, with the angel Crow as our version of Holmes and Dr. Doyle standing in for Dr. Watson. It's not particularly subtle about that, with Doyle's backstory of being injured in Afghanistan being lifted straight from Watson's for example, but what makes this novel different than just a straight adaptation is the change in setting. This is a fantasy version of London where supernatural creatures are regular beings, although those who are them are supposed to register their status with the law. So you have angels - both the thinking type who are tied to a location and a mindless unthinking type who go everywhere without personality - fallen angels, hellhounds, vampires, hemophages, werewolves, etc. It's a really well done fantasy setting, which we see through Doyle's eyes throughout (again just like in classic Holmes stories told by Watson) that makes fresh something which may otherwise feel old hat and done before.

That said, despite the above, this is sometimes a really paint by numbers adaptation of Holmes and Watson, with each part of the book covering for the most part - with a few exceptions - a classic story from the original works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Addison changes some motivations, adds some supernatural elements to most of the stories, and deals with the problematic nature of a few of the stories (a convenient race flip helps one of these), but the names of all the players in each story remain the same, as do the general particulars. As some of these stories are longer than others, this works better sometimes than others - the longer stories have more room for interesting changes, but shorter stories, especially a few that close out the book, often feel kind of pointless and wasted: especially if you have any familiarity with the original stories....as the whodunit nature of them is basically eliminated by the fact that the culprits all remain exactly the same. The adaptation of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is a good example of this, as the story pretty much cuts out the mystery altogether by having it solved immediately, making me wonder why on earth it was included as such. Moreover, even the book's only non-Holmesian mystery, based upon the killings of Jack the Ripper, isn't resolved in a fashion that satisfies anyone with a craving for mystery, and functions more as a window dressing of the setting more than anything. Really the stories here no longer function as mysteries intended to puzzle the reader but instead as setting pieces for our characters to grow and develop.

And as a result, The Angel of the Crows really works, thanks to its tremendous main duo - its adaptation of Sherlock (as Crow) and Watson (as Doyle). It's become classic in mainstream adaptations of Holmes to adapt the man as an utter jerk, with some adaptations going so far as to have him deliberately being an asshole to others while others simply make it a result of him lacking any social awareness or dignity. Here, that's very toned down and explained: Crow (Holmes) is literally an angel, obviously most interested in doing good, and never wanting to be a jerk.....he just has little awareness of human social dignities, emotions and functions outside of what he can observe, which as a non-human is obviously incomplete and thus requires a lot of aid from Doyle. That's added to by the strange circumstances for which Crow exists as an Angel, which is fascinatingly revealed throughout.

And then there's Doyle, who is honestly perhaps more of the primary character here as the Watson surrogate than Crow is as the Holmes one. Doyle is a tremendous lead narrator, a character with secrets that intrigue and yet feel natural and explicable when finally revealed - despite Doyle's first person narration, it never feels conspicuous or ludicrous when these secrets come out that they weren't first in Doyle's own internal monologue. These secrets and changes to the Watson background make Doyle a fresh and really interesting character, as Doyle grows to accept who Doyle has become, and grows a relationship with Crow. In the end of it all, even if the mysteries themselves were kind of a bummer, I really desperately wanted to see more of what would happen to both Doyle and Crow.

I'm tiptoeing around character spoilers throughout this review, not even giving them up in ROT13, because this book is done so well in using them to grow the characters like Doyle, and I wouldn't want to possibly ruin anything for any reader. And I should add that the book does do interesting things confronting issues of race and gender throughout, even with the limited number of women in the classic Holmes stories, the most notable of whom actually does not appear in this novel. The result is overall a tremendous follow up to The Goblin Emperor, featuring a fascinating setting in this fantasy version of London, and two tremendous characters in Crow and Doyle.

This novel ends in a way that is satisfying on its own, but honestly makes me desperate for more, and if more does come in this world, I'll be there immediately.

Unfortunately, I am packing it in on The Angel of Crows. I just cannot get into this book and I was expecting something different than just a fantastical retelling of Sherlock Holmes.

Since I was unable to complete this book, I will not be leaving a review on any retail sites as I am unable to provide a full and fair assessment.

Thank you to MacMillian-Tor/Forge for my advanced reading copy via NetGalley.

Though I feel like it lacked in plot and world-building, The Angel of the Crows is entertaining enough to get you invested.
~
My thoughts on The Angel of the Crows

The Angel of the Crows is a good read! Did it blow me away as I hoped it would? No. Was it entertaining? Definitely! Did I get invested with the characters? Oh, yes.

As a whole, the story was entertaining. But I’m going to be honest and say that it has no real or main plot. Maybe the part about Jack the Ripper was supposed to be the bigger picture in the story, but it felt disjointed. It also wasn’t fleshed out for me (or maybe I was just looking for closure since Jack the Ripper was never caught in real life and I wanted to see how the author will go about it). The whole book is a series of different cases taken by Doyle and Crow, and we see them meet various people and creatures and solve one problem after another. For me, this allowed the book to be character-focused. It’s not exactly character-driven per se (since there were various sub-plots that moved the story forward), but as a reader, I was able to focus on the characters and get to know them. I adored Doyle and Crow as individual characters, and I also loved their tandem! (I also keep seeing gay subtext between, but that could just be me.)

As for the world-building, oh how I craved for it. It was good, but I wanted more! Details about the other creatures are vague and lacking. There was enough background about angels, but as for the others, no.

To my surprise, there’s also LGBTQ+ rep in The Angel of the Crows. (Watch out for spoilers!) Doyle was assigned female at birth, and said he’s neither a man or a woman in the later part of the book (I presume this is in regards to his gender identity). Crow is also an asexual being, considering he is an angel and angels feel no sexual attractions. It was also stated that angels can be both male and female. Though it was nice to see these representations, I feel like the author could have expounded more on it.

The author also said in the Author’s Note, that this story began as a Sherlock wingfic. Now, I’m not a fan of Sherlock Holmes (because I’ve never read the book, watched the movies, or anything), but I am very familiar with fanfics (as a fanfic reader myself!) and it was another pleasant surprise for me! Wingfics are fanfictions where characters (usually human) are reimagined with wings. I thought it was great that the author managed to create this story from what was once a fanfic. On the other hand, this also made me understand others’ sentiments about this book being a Sherlock “retelling”.

Overall, The Angel of the Crows is wonderful read. And if you feel like this book will suck you in, please read it!

So this book is Sherlock Holmes fanfic - no more, no less. I happen to appreciate fanfic, so I was perfectly happy about that, but it bears mentioning. There are many iterations of Sherlock Holmes, and this is fanfic of the BBC show <i>Sherlock</i> more than anything else. Specifically, this is "wingfic," which is fanfic where one of the characters has wings. (I learned of the existence of wingfic as a thing from the author's note at the end.)

This is in a re-imagined Victorian London filled with the supernatural. Holmes, known here as Crow, is an angel - the self-appointed Angel of London. Watson - here known as Doyle - is recently returned from Afghanistan, having suffered a wound inflicted by one of the Fallen. Moriarty, when we meet him, is a vampire. What we get is a series of familiar vignettes, re-imagined to incorporate the supernatural to one degree or another. And there's an overall arc of Crow trying to figure out the identity of Jack the Ripper, with lots of actual historical information worked in.

As is the case in all the best Holmes stories, the heart of this is the relationship between Sherlock/Crow and Watson/Holmes. Sherlock Holmes is usually presented as not-quite-right, in whatever version - in this case it's a product of Crow's not being human and not understanding a lot of what humans find embarrassing. It works.

Sherlock/Crow and Watson/Doyle both have some pretty big character development moments, which ... don't all work equally well to me. The revelation that <spoiler>Doyle was turned into a hellhound by his wound</spoiler> is a nice one, though Addison never really explained to my satisfaction why <spoiler>keeping it secret was so important. Registering doesn't seem like *that* big of a deal</spoiler>. The fact that <spoiler>Doyle and Crow are both women was very interesting in Doyle's case, but with Crow it didn't really seem to go anywhere</spoiler>. (Sorry for the spoiler tags - I usually try hard to avoid them in reviews - but I wanted to address that and didn't really see a way to do it without saying it outright.)

Overall, I found this to be disappointing for entirely unfair reasons. If I'd read this as a book by a new author, I'd say it was great, well-written, and imaginative. But having absolutely loved *The Goblin Emperor*, I kept hoping to find myself touched in a comparable way. It never happened, I'm sorry to say. "Not as good as <i>The Goblin Emperor</i>" isn't really a criticism, and this was excellent by objective standards.

I loved this book! It was very readable and just sucked me in from the beginning. I loved the way Addison took the familiar story of Sherlock Holmes and wove a tale both familiar and completely new out of it. The supernatural elements were incredibly well done and believable and I loved how they tied in to the original stories. Crow and Doyle were protagonists that I could immediately root for, and all of the side characters were fleshed out nicely as well.

I was left wishing it was longer and that there were more books about Crow and Doyle because I loved the way they fit so nicely together, and I would love more backstory on Crow and explanation of the worldbuilding around the angels.

There was one moment that jarred me out of the story, and that was the abrupt shift to the Hound of the Baskervilles section. It almost felt like there were pages missing there. But otherwise just a really excellent story all around. The cover is also bold and attractive and fits the story.

Also it made me immediately buy the Goblin Emperor and read it, which should say a lot about how much I enjoyed it. :-)

I will post a review on amazon and b&n on the release date.

Firstly, I’d like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison takes the well known stories of Sherlock Holmes and gives them a supernatural twist while also basing them around the Jack the Ripper murders.

I’ve recently become enamored with Sherlock Holmes myself, so this book was one I thoroughly enjoyed!

The author’s take on Sherlock as an Angel named Crow was refreshing and very entertaining to read about. Likewise the author created an equally intriguing character in Dr. Doyle, who (without spoiling anything) is not your typical Watson.

I really enjoyed this look into what an 1800s Victorian England looks like filled with the supernatural. The Angel species that is featured throughout the book became a very intriguing aspect of the plot, which I enjoyed learning more about as I read. That combined with the mystery surrounding Jack the Ripper created a very compelling storyline that I could not bring myself to put down.

Other than the obvious supernatural aspects, this book differs from your typical Sherlock Holmes story in a few ways. For example, Crow is a lot calmer and more gentle than Sherlock. Also, there is quite a bit less deducing throughout the book, which was a slight disappointment as that’s one of my favorite aspects of Sherlock Holmes, though it certainly didn’t sway my opinion of the rest of the book.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who, like me, is a fan of Sherlock Holmes, Victorian England, and a good fantasy.

Reviewed by my co-blogger, Celeste, on Novel Notions

I received a copy of this book from the publisher (Tor) and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Angel of the Crows is basically Sherlock fan-fiction. I can’t even say it’s thinly veiled, because it isn’t veiled at all. And I am completely okay with that.

“I may be on the side of the angels, but don’t think for a second that I am one of them.”
– BBC’s Sherlock

There were a couple of pretty big twists here and there, but for the most part this book is a collection of faithful retellings of some of Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes stories. A Study in Scarlet, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Sign of Four, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, and more are covered in this collection. The still unsolved case of Jack the Ripper, which has been included or alluded to in many secondary works about Holmes written by other authors, is the thread which ties all of these separate cases into one cohesive narrative. But what sets this book apart from other Sherlockian stories outside of Doyle’s original canon is the author’s truly fascinating addition of the supernatural. This is not mere whiffs of supernatural in and around certain cases. Addison created a world in which the supernatural runs rampant and is accepted as reality but civilization at large.

“You can not keep faith with the faithless.”

Where the supernatural is seen most interestingly is in the Sherlock and Watson characters. Crow, the Sherlock character in this story, is an angel. Kind of. He doesn’t have his own habitation, which is what gives angels their identity. He isn’t one of the Nameless, because he managed to wrest an identity almost out of thin air. And he isn’t one of the Fallen, who are basically angels who lost their habitations and went crazy. Crow is something that no one can define, and it freaks everyone the heck out. Everyone, that is, except for Dr. J.H. Doyle, the Watson character in this tale. After being wounded in the war in Afghanistan, Doyle finds himself sharing a flat with Crow at 221B Baker Street. Addison barely deviated from the original meeting of the two, which I appreciated. From there they embark on the adventures that have become so well known over the past century, with just enough differences to keep things interesting.

“Shepherds watch over their flocks. And angels watch over shepherds.”

The Angel of the Crows is very much rooted in the Victorian London of Doyle’s original canon. Addison stays incredibly true to the stories that provided her inspiration. But what kept this book from feeling like a stale rehashing, besides the supernatural elements, were all of the references to the BBC series that Addison included. Some of the dialogue was word for word from the show. I’ve read and loved every Sherlock story Doyle penned, but the reason behind that love is my adoration for the BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. I have watched each and every episode multiple times; the first six episodes I’ve watched half a dozen times at least. It’s my sentimental favorite series ever. When Addison opened the book with a quote from the show, I was already won over. But every time she gave the series even the slightest of nods in the narrative it made me giddy. I mean, she gave Crow wings with the same level of moodiness and sass as Sherlock’s coat gave him in the show. The biggest change was Crow’s complete innocence and joy over the smallest things. Since these personality traits make him very believable as an angel, so I’m totally in favor of them. And I really don’t think they’re too far off from Sherlock’s portrayal in the show.

“Your real name has power.”

If you’re a fan of the original Doyle canon, this is a fun replay of some of its greatest hits, so to speak. Does it do anything truly new? No. The core of the stories are exactly the same. But the trappings are a lot of fun. And if you’re as obsessed with BBC’s Sherlock as I am, The Angel of the Crows is going to make you really happy. It’s as light and sweet and frothy as any plot relying on murder can get.

All quotes above were taken from an uncorrected proof and are subject to change upon publication.

U.S. Release date: June 23, 2020
U.K. Release date: September 17, 2020

Fair warning - there’s no way to review this one without at least minor spoilers so read on only if you’re okay with that!

Going into The Angel of the Crows, I had absolutely no idea what to expect because the blurb was so vague. But I knew it would was urban fantasy so I was sold. Luckily, The Angel of the Crows turned out to be a delightfully updated version of Sherlock Holmes set in an urban fantasy world. Addison captured the characters so perfectly but still managed to make them feel new. And the world!! I could have read about it all day.

This one read more like a short story collection (which holds true to the original). But I frequently found myself wishing that Addison would stretch beyond the original stories. The parts where she did were brilliant but the majority of the book stuck very closely to the source material. So, depending on how familiar you are with Holmes, you’ll know how each part ends. Although the author’s note states that this book began as a wingfic (a subtype of fan fiction), I think the author could have really delved into this rich and fascinating world to create something special.

As it is, The Angel of the Crows is one of best Holmes retellings that I’ve read. I’d just recommend knowing what you’re getting into before you start reading! And I really hope that the author writes a sequel with an entirely original plot because I loved both her take on Watson and Holmes and her urban fantasy world.

*Disclaimer: I received an advance digital copy of this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I can sum up this novel in one word: frustrating.

The Goblin Emperor is my favourite novel, but I’m actually not heartbroken that I didn’t love this second novel by Katherine Addison because I wasn’t sure if it would be for me when I read the blurb, which is why I’m glad I was able to receive a copy via NetGalley (and a big thank you to the publisher for letting me read it early). I love The Goblin Emperor so much that I don’t expect another book by Katherine Addison to wow me as much as that one still does, so I’m genuinely fine that this one isn’t for me.

I do have some issues with it, though, and one of my first issues is with the way it’s been marketed. Once you get to the Author’s Note at the end of this book you’ll discover that this novel started out as Sherlock Holmes fanfiction, and yet the fact that this novel is essentially a Sherlock Holmes retelling hasn’t been mentioned anywhere in the blurb. I wish I’d known it was because I have no real interest in a Sherlock Holmes retelling – I’d much rather just read Sherlock Holmes – and I do think it’s a little sneaky for them not to market it as a retelling when so much of this novel is borrowed from the original stories.

This is a novel made up of several little novellas and novelettes which retell various Sherlock Holmes stories with the over-arching plot of the Jack the Ripper murders (we’ll come back to that, believe me), but if you’re a huge Sherlock Holmes fan you’re going to know exactly where each of these stories are going. I know you could say that for any retelling, but because these stories are also set in a version of Victorian London there isn’t an awful lot of difference at the very core of this novel.

The really frustrating thing is that the differences – the fact that this is an alternate London with vampires, werewolves, angels and hell hounds – are so compelling. I still love Addison’s writing and, for all their similarities to Holmes and Watson, I did really enjoy her protagonists, Crow and Dr. Doyle. This could have been a book I loved if she’d only changed the plot, because while I think the best way to describe this book is as a Sherlock Holmes retelling it feels more like it’s been rewritten, and it often left me wondering what the point of the book is.

I know that sounds harsh, but if a novel is going to be so similar to its source material then am I not better off just reading the source material? Gah! There were so many elements of this story that I could have loved, but I couldn’t get over how all this cool, supernatural content Addison added to her version of London ended up feeling rather bogged down by its need to be similar to a Sherlock Holmes story.

I also had a real issue with how this novel handled Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel murders. Unfortunately for this novel, it’s publishing the year after Hallie Rubenhold’s fantastic The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper was published, which was my favourite book of 2019. It’s such a brilliant piece of research which sheds light on the lives these women led and how there’s no evidence that three of the five women were ever sex workers.

To then see all of these women referred to as ‘prostitutes’ throughout this novel was really frustrating—particularly when Crow is supposed to be a master of deduction. The Five was hardly under the radar last year and I’m surprised Addison nor her editor decided to make some changes, even if they just changed some of the wording in this book, because they have had time. The Five was published at the beginning of 2019, and the hardcover of this novel isn’t due out until September 2020. It seems like such a strange book to ignore if you’re going to publish a novel about Jack the Ripper in its wake.

I so wish Addison had ignored Jack the Ripper and ignored the original Sherlock Holmes stories to tell us a more original tale with this very cool alternate Victorian London she created. I’m not usually a fan of angel books but I loved the way Addison wrote them and I think she has a real talent for writing about this century – in similar way to the way Marie Brennan writes The Memoirs of Lady Trent, which are set in a world inspired by Victorian Britain – but I don’t think she strayed far enough away from her source material in this instance.

2.5*
I hate to give this such a low rating, but 2 stars equates to "it was okay". And this book certainly was okay. It was totally fine and I'm thrilled so many have given it 5 stars, but for me, I wanted more from it.
I think this will be a long review, because I have a lot of thoughts.

I'm very confused how I feel about this book.

This was not what I was expecting at all....at first.
The blurb gives little indication as to what this is actually about.
For some reason I envisioned this as a YA version of Anno Dracula, but I'm quite wrong there. This is neither YA, nor Anno Dracula.
This is Sherlock Holmes.

But the thing is, the blurb hypes this up to be something mysterious and exciting and out of this world.

This is not the story you think it is These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting.

Actually, no. I know exactly what to expect because I've read a lot of Sherlock Holmes books. And besides the supernatural element, very little originality has been injected into this story.
After the initial surprise of learning this is a new version of Sherlock Holmes (minus Sherlock Holmes himself), it very quickly lost its sparkle when the crimes started to play out almost identically as those in Conan Doyle's original books.
...sorry, wut?


Characters

As this is literally a Sherlock Holmes retelling, Crow and Doyle may as well have just been called Holmes and Watson to make it feel more deliberate. Considering most of the basic principles of Sherlock Holmes is present here, I'm not sure why their names are changed.
It would make more sense for their names to just straight up be Holmes and Watson, but of course with their very obvious differences that makes this story such a unique version of the classic tale.

Crow is an angel and a consulting detective living on Baker Street. Doyle an injured ex- army doctor, and something else entirely, and lives with him.
Their personalities very accurately represent Homles and Watson, which on one hand is fantastic, cause it really makes me feel like I'm reading a new version of Sherlock Holmes. Until I remember ... this isn't Sherlock Holmes.
Which bring me to the other hand. Why aren't they Holmes and Watson?
This author is clearly a big fan and has studied their idiosyncrasies enough to depict them perfectly. This is the perfect opportunity for a straight up alternative world, supernatural retelling of Sherlock Holmes.
And yet it's not. It feels almost like a wasted opportunity.

Crow and Doyle were so similar to the original characters that it caught me off guard every time Crow introduced himself as Crow and not Holmes.

Though I like Crow and Doyle, I find I like them only because they are Holmes and Watson under different names. Their personalities, natures, temperaments, and dynamic as a duo is what I love in Holmes and Watson, so it's difficult for me to extend that love into Crow and Doyle as they aren't individualistic enough to stand on their own.

The characters are a perfect emulation. But still only an emulation. And it leaves me a little confused as to why.


Plot

It's very difficult to review the plots of this story. On one hand I like them because they are the plots to various Sherlock Holmes tales, but on the other hand, this isn't Sherlock Holmes and these plots have been lifted entirely from the original text with a few supernatural elements thrown in. The scenarios are more or less the same, the supporting characters are more or less the same.
It's basically just supernatural Sherlock Holmes... except IT'S NOT.
I found that the more I read, the more I questioned why the hell this wasn't just Holmes and Watson.

Basically, what I'm saying is, I'm struggling to review the plot because it isn't an original plot created by this author. She's lifted Arthur Conan Doyle's work and stuck a couple of original characters in it (by original I mean they have different names because everything else about them is the same).


Writing Style
The writing is without a doubt the best thing about this book. It's authentic and very true to Conan Doyle's original text.
A lot of research has clearly gone into, not only replicating the stories of Sherlock Holmes, but also the depiction of the historical setting.

I had few complaints about the writing and that was how I knew straight away this was an adult book and not a YA. It just reads like an adult book. It reads like a Conan Doyle book. It's mature and sophisticated.

Taking into consideration how good the writing is, I'm going to say that the faults in this book lie primarily in this story and not in the author. This author is quite clearly a very capable writer and I have little doubt her other books are fantastic.

Possibly the only complaint I did have with the writing was the sheer amount of adverbs. I counted them for a while when I started to notice them (if a reader notices it, there's too many). I counted between 5 and 9 adverbs on a single page, on an ebook page no less. On a physical page there was probably more. Now I'm not against adverbs, I think they are highly necessary at times, but I don't like to notice them everytime they're used.


Final Impression
This is just Sherlock Holmes, but without Holmes or Watson, and a few vampires and werewolves thrown in.
The frustrating thing is, if this author had simply written a supernatural retelling of Sherlock Holmes and marketed it as such, I probably would have loved it.
But it wasn't meant to be Sherlock Holmes, and I just can't understand why.

I imagine that if you've never read a Sherlock Holmes book, then you'll probably love this, and I'd would whole heartedly suggesttrying it if you haven't. There's nothing ardently wrong with it. This book just wasn't for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

J.H. Doyle, a doctor wounded in Afghanistan, returns to London and finds an unexpected flatmate: a mystery-solving angel named Crow. From their home ase of 221 Baker Street, the two solve a series of mysteries, and we get to explore a London populated with vampires, werewolves, hellhounds, and other monsters.

This begun as a wingfic of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. I'm usually not particularly keen on rehashes of popular stories, but this works so well in Addison's hands that I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The classic Sherlock stories take on a different twist in a world where ghosts and the like really exist, and Addison does a marvelous job of showing rather than telling.

Addison's other novel The Goblin Emperor has been one of my favorite books from the last few years. The well-intentioned, imperfect, utterly real protagonist won my heart, and the slice-of-life feel was a bit like settling into a comfortable bath. This shares some of those qualities: Doyle and Crow are delightful, complex creatures, and the episodic nature with an overarching mystery worked really well.

Well. I certainly had high expectations for this book. I loved The Goblin Emperor and the concept seemed amazing – a retelling of Sherlock Holmes with magic and “This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting.” as the tagline, so presumably a fresh approach and some giant twist? Gimme. Now.

Unfortunately, it didn’t come close to living up to its promise. No matter how much I try to avoid it, the main word that comes to my mind when trying to describe it is mediocre. Deeply, painfully mediocre.

At its heart, The Angel of the Crows is a classic Sherlock Holmes retelling. Structurally, it’s pretty unique, composed of several largely independent short story to novella length arcs all connected by a framing story of Jack the Ripper. As per the author, it started as a wingfic of Sherlock (fanfic where a character has wings), which I thought was quite interesting as well. It was definitely a draw rather than a detractor.

However. What I’m looking for in retellings of classics are new takes on an old story. In a new setting, queerer, crossover, whatever. Here, the names and plot points are different and there’s magic and angels, but it even though it promises to reinvent the wheel, it…doesn’t, really. Admittedly, I’m not even remotely an expert on Sherlock Holmes, and it might work better for someone who is and gets a kick out of catching references, but changing a few details in a isn’t-this-clever way and adding magic do not a good retelling make. Not on their own. And before anyone gets their hopes up: no, it’s not even queer. As in, I don’t think there’s a single unambiguously queer character even among side characters. And if there was subtext, it’s too subtle for me to see.

There’s nothing horribly wrong with it. It’s competently written and I have no complaints about the structure or style. It was just a slog. This book’s version of Watson isn’t a particularly interesting character and of course, Crow (the Sherlock), the far more interesting of the pair, somehow isn’t around as much as I’d wish. I quite like fantasy mysteries, but here, even the plot was dull to follow and without any real tension. And yes, it can be challenging to add tension to stories everyone knows. But it’s surely not impossible.

But the main problem of The Angel of the Crows and the biggest dealbreaker for me is that it throws a whole lot of cool concepts at you and then absolutely refuses to explore them in any kind of depth. Angels are fascinating, but I can’t help but feel that more could be done with them. How does the magic impact society? What do magical beings add beyond cosmetics? Not much. Even the promised big twist is nearly forgotten a few pages later and even though I was suitably shocked by it at first, the more I think about it, the less I like it.

Ultimately, retellings of Sherlock Holmes have been done to death and unless they do something dramatically refreshing and new with the source material, I don’t see much point in reading them. This one, alas, failed to convince. If there was a 2.5* rating, I'd use that, but as it is, I will be rounding down to 2*.

really enjoyed this book. I had not read anything by the author previously but I had heard very positive things and this was a great entry point to her writing. I loved the twist on the Sherlock stories and the "usual" characters were well portrayed with enough familiarity but enough difference that it felt unique and interesting. I would be very interested in learning more about this world and it's twist on London, particularly the angel and other supernatural communities. Really, that was the most interesting part! It's a fun read and well done.

I have never actually read any fan fiction before, and I thought this was marvelous fun. Mix Sherlock Holmes and his cases with an angel (Crow) who helps the police solve cases, a hell hound (Doyle) who becomes his friend and helper, and numerous Sherlock Holmes references, and voila! you have the Angel of the Crows. Of course you know all will end well, but I still thought it was an interesting and enjoyable read. I particularly liked Crow, and would like to know more about him. Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the e-arc. I would definitely read more if this becomes a series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor publishing for providing a copy for review.

Do you like books about supernatural beings? Werewolves, hellhounds and vampires? How about angels, and mages? Yes? How about Sherlock retellings? Yes? Well then my friends, this is the book for you! Katherine Addison has managed to blend all these elements into a fun and unique take on Sherlock Holmes. This book was not at all what I was expecting, and after a bit of mental whiplash initially I ended up loving this. It's such a fun read.
Our main characters are Dr. Doyle and Crow. Crow is the Angel of London. In this world angels fall into three categories: those that have names and a domain, Nameless, and the Fallen. When an angel gets a name, they have a public domain that is there job to watch over. So we have beings like the Angel of Waterloo station, and the Angel of Scotland Yard. Crow is unique as he has a name but no. actual domain. Fallen angels are essentially evil from what I've gathered, but I'm a bit foggy on how they become Fallen. Nameless angels can be called upon to run errands (at least they do for Crow). Crow is such a sweet, slightly obsessive angel. His and Doyle's friendship is just adorable. They lean more on the BBC version of Sherlock and Watson. This covers a lot of the bigger Sherlock mysteries like the Hounds of Baskerville, but the overarching storyline is Jack the Ripper. There are smaller mysteries where we get to see how all of these supernatural beings interact with each other and the humans of this world. I loved the magical/fantasy additions to the stories. Doyle's character has some fun twists thrown in along the way that I honestly can't discuss without spoiling things. Overall I really enjoyed this book, and I honestly hope there are more because I love Crow and Doyle. If you enjoy the above mentioned things definitely keep this on your radar.

I received an e-arc of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was not the story I expected from the summary, and to be honest it left me with mixed feelings. I really enjoyed the writing style, which has reinforced my desire to check out The Goblin Emperor, and there were aspects of the world that were fascinating. The strongest part of the book were where the author was exploring the supernatural/fantastical aspects of the world, and I would happily have read an entire book focused on that aspect, especially as I would have loved more exploration of the Nameless and other Angels. Unfortunately, this was counterbalanced by the negatives, the main one was that this was too close a retelling of Sherlock Holmes for my liking, and I found myself being jarred out of the story because of that. I understand from the author's note that this was originally Sherlock wingfic, and I feel that it would have done better if it had leant further into the second part rather than the former. The Ripper storyline was somewhat lost beneath the Sherlock Holmes retelling, and especially from the blurb I feel that should have been more of a focus. Still, it was an enjoyable read despite this.