The Language of Bees/The God of the Hive

By Laurie King

It was nice to get back to this familiar tale. Especially after the last book that was but really wasn't Sherlock Holmes.  The thing was that these two books read as one and the story was kinda slow.


The first has Russell working mostly with a pilot and in the second with Robert Goodman, a man they meet after the plane crashes. Oh there are interesting back stories to both characters but if you're really interested you can find them out when you read the book.

The second book delves deeply into Mycroft's dealings and life which I found very interesting. I didn't care how this book was in the fashion of current modern suspense thrillers. Very short chapters. I'm not a fan of the format.

What I really missed was the interactions and long discussions between Holmes and Russell. The mystery of the bees in the first book is sort of worked out? Maybe? I felt like it was a lame plot thread that seemed kinda pointless.  It merely served to give Russell something to do when Holmes went away.

The bad guys were interesting.  Reading how Mary and Sherlock tracked them down and put the clues together gave me a hint of a reminder to why I enjoyed the previous books so much.  Also I had forgotten that in the first (or maybe second?) book *gasp* Holmes' son was mentioned.  Well we learn all about him in these two books.

On a side note I liked how Laurie King slips in references to Cannon (eg. mentioning The Strand) and I think having bolt holes scattered throughout  the city is a neat idea.

Overall I liked the earlier books better.