Boneseeker

Boneseeker by Brynn Chapman

So Arabella Holmes (daughter of Sherlock) and Henry Watson (son of John) practice forensic anthropology at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. How could I resist?! I love any halfway decent Sherlock story, the Mütter Museum is frankly fascinating, and forensic anthropology is (as the kids say) my jam.

Now, I didn’t go into this expecting a literary masterpiece. I wanted nothing more than a good time. Unfortunately, the book was simply not for me. The trouble begins when we find out that our leading lady is being targeted by Darwinists for seeking out the remains of a nephilim (Angel offspring, watch the Prophecy movies). There have certainly been plenty of Holmes-supernatural crossovers, but the character (even when dealing with offspring) carries a certain expectation of a scientific approach. Coming in with Holmes’ daughter talking about Angel skeletons is a bit off-putting.

And then, we enter into the angst-ridden “I love him/her but we can never be together” portion of YA fiction almost immediately. While I like angsty romance in single serving portions, cracking that egg open within the first twenty pages is simply more teen angst than I can handle.

So, this book is likely aimed at an audience younger than me. At my advanced age, some of the idiosyncrasites of the YA genre just don’t appeal as much as previously.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Boneseeker is the story of Arabella "Bella" Holmes and Henry Watson, the next generation of the infamous Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. While this book does include elements of mystery and crime solving to it, there's no comparison to a Sherlock Holmes mystery. What readers will get out of this one is a story about a woman living outside the norm for this period and a man trying to overcome his past and win the heart of said woman. It was way more of a love story than I was expecting. Sure, while the characters are falling in love, they do make some interesting discoveries and solve a crime. I felt the author did a decent job of portraying Bella and staying true to her character throughout the book. I had a harder time believing that someone like Henry Watson would find interest in Bella that way he did. I recognize they had a past, but I still had a hard time wrapping my head around it. The writing was enjoyable and provided a good pace. I did enjoy the character of Bella and would definitely be interested in getting to know her more.

The plot resembles Stalking Jack the Ripper and this really intrigued me. :)

Whilst Stalking Jack the Ripper was set on 1880s, Boneseeker is on 1910s. Arabella Holmes , an aspiring Scientist, isn't like any other girls of the society. Introvert? Maybe. Anyway, she prefers the company of bones rather than people. As the only daughter of the infamous Sherlock Holmes, that's not at all surprising. Henry Watson , (yep, son of Dr. John Watson) has two mission on working at Mutters Museum: to join the team of forensic anthropologists and to watch over Arabella who secured a job at the said museum with the help of her father.

Honestly, this book has a very promising plot. The idea of pairing Sherlock and Watson's children romantically and also as the next generation of badass detectives was just amazing and very much intriguing. Throw them in an adventure that involves an unearthing of bones that might be of giants or Nephilims, added to the awesomeness of the idea of this story. It has a touch of paranormal in it, depends on how you see it.

Sadly, it didn't deliver as I expected it should.

The Characters were okay. I understand Arabella's impulsiveness and stupidity sometime because of her state. She's not normal. What do you expect of Sherlock's child? That sociopath raised her. Dr. John Watson has a big part and loved the idea of seeing him as a father to Henry. And yeah, there's Henry. I found him lame. The story was told with Bella's and Henry's POV and whenever it is Henry's turn, it is impossible not to find one of these words: fear, afraid, panic, control, pause, mute. Maybe i'm exaggerating but I was expecting a hero who's at least not feeble. He seems handsome as Bella mentioned it everytime she saw him in ever effing scene. Anyway, his character just isn't that appealing for a hero in this kind of story. And all his lameness involves Bella.

The romance became annoying as it turned out Bella and Henry would be acting like Lovesick teenagers who can't be together because of this and that. The mystery lose its appeal as the story goes by.

Also the writing did bother me. The first thing I noticed is the abundance of dashes (-). Unnecessary italicized words and it's in first person POV. There should be lesser, right? There are also distracting sentences that need a little more editing.

Anyway, there are parts that i really liked that's why it still got three stars from. I love the last part specifically.

Hope you guys give this a chance. But I really hope the second book is so much better. I want Henry to grow up as a character.

Brynn Chapman's Boneseeker offers Boneseeker chronicles from journals of Arabella Holmes. Arabella is on the trail of the nephilim(angels) bones. Only average story without originality.

Enjoyable start to this series. Arabella Holmes is not like other females of her time. She has a wonderful analytical mind. It seems her friend, Henry Watson, is the only one who understands her. This is a fresh take on the Holmes and Watson story with a new generation.

This was a unique book, with mystery and romance twists thrown in. I liked to see how Arabella and Henry interact with each other. I hope I am able to read more books from this author.

Boneseeker
The Boneseeker Chronicles
by Brynn Chapman

I was approved to review an e-arc of this book however I attempted to download it both to the NetGalley app and to my kindle app unsuccessfully neither of which I’ve had any other issues with.

So this review is a reflection of what is available to read in the kindle sample which is through the beginning of the third chapter.

The very beginning while slightly disorienting once into the actual book felt both vividly family and new and exciting. It was very easy to extend my knowledge of the characters and locations to these new people and scenes. The report between the main characters was magnetic and intriguing and I would love to read more. 4/5 stars for the sample.