The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter

Executive Summary: This was alright, if you like well-written fan fiction and/or are a big fan of all the classic monster story elements she used as a basis. I just didn't seem to like it as much as others.Full ReviewReading this year has been a real struggle for me. My audiobook consumption is about the same, but my actual reading is way down. I found my last book a slog to get through. The description of this one didn't do much for me, so I opted to borrow it from the library rather than buying it, and unfortunately audio wasn't an option, because it has a fantastic narrator [a:Kate Reading 494654 Kate Reading https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1442464911p2/494654.jpg]. Maybe if I had, I'd have liked it a bit more.The style is a bit strange. We're apparently reading the story of the woman of the book who are in turn writing the story we're reading about their own exploits. Or at least one of them is, while all the rest are constantly interrupting her narrative/telling their own story in a dedicated chapter for each character. It's an interesting writing style. I think if I liked the characters more, I'd have enjoyed the creativity more.This was definitely a light, fast read. I did take a few days here and there without reading, but when I did sit down I found it easy to read a chapter or two, and never felt like things were bogged down.I'm a fan of Sherlock Holmes stories, but I'm much less familiar with all the other story elements she used. I almost feel like Holmes himself was superfluous. The woman of the book (all daughters of famous characters now in the public domain) were more than capable of carrying the story on their own.This book felt like a lot of setup. There was a central mystery of a sort at it's center, but mostly it told the story of how they all came to be together, and set the stage for the next book.I thought overall it was fine, but not enough that I'll probably pick up the next one. It was definitely a good choice for an October read with all the monster elements, but it just wasn't quite my type of book.