Plot: 5/5
Characterization: 5/5
Ideation: 5/5
Worldbuilding: 4/5
Overall: 4.75/5
A Study in Charlotte is a modern, Young Adult take on the famous adventures and antics of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. The main characters, Charlotte Holmes and James Watson, find themselves at the same Connecticut boarding school, each with their great-great-great-grandfather’s past defining people’s first impressions of them. While James is smitten with the idea of Charlotte and the adventures they could have together, Charlotte appears as an incredibly independent, highly capable individual (not unlike her ancestor, Sherlock). Things reach a fever pitch when a student is found dead and all the evidence points to one Charlotte Holmes as the culprit, with James caught in the crossfire, and they work together to solve the mystery of who has a big enough vendetta against Charlotte to frame her for murder.
Let me begin by saying this: A Study in Charlotte appears to be a very flat novel… at first glance. The beauty of Cavallaro’s work is in the fine details and notes that bring her characters, world, and plot to life. I am predominantly a reader and writer of fantasy. I take flight and intrigue myself with magic, mythical creatures, and the highest of stakes (the fate of the world, or several, in the balance). But, A Study in Charlotte has none of this. Or does it?
Magic: the magic of this novel comes in the form James Watson’s (referred to as Jamie) perspective and Cavallaro’s adept characterization of even the most minor of characters. Anyone who knows me understands that flat characterization leaves me feeling unfulfilled and stymied in my efforts to enjoy what I am reading. But Jamie's perspective is unique in that we have a teenage mind that is both intensely sharp, but also very human in how he misses certain details. Details that Charlotte Holmes picks up on. Charlotte and Jamie's are a classic Sherlock and Watson duo, their banter and care for one another coming through in even the most intense or relaxed scenes of the story. Other minor characters, such as school administrators, roommates, and other students have their own unique personalities that lends a very real-life feeling the book.
Mythical Creatures: Seeing everything from Jamie's perspective is a lot like a Muggle seeing magic and mythical beasts for the first time. This choice keeps the magic, mysteries, and inner workings of Charlotte Holmes (a mythical creature in her own right) a devious and delectable secret until Cavallaro wants to share a morsel that adeptly develops the plot. This extends even beyond Charlotte and Jamie and into their families and history. The eternal feud between The Holmes and Moriarty families feels ancient and bloody and borderline epic. Everyone exists in a state of high society and grand genius, but they are also doomed to their ancestors’ legacies. Even the Watson family, which has historically been as “average” as John Watson himself next to Sherlock Holmes, stands in fame for Dr. Watson’s collective works on the adventures of the great detective. When dealing with very classic characters and giving them a unique spin while remaining true the source, it is very easy to fail spectacularly. But Cavallaro dazzles us with her ability to retain the personalities of such classic characters while making them feel modern and, all together, her own.
The Highest of Stakes: what Cavallaro does brilliantly is that she shrinks the scope of the novel down to a small boarding school in a small state and, almost like magic, manages to make us feel like the world itself is on the brink. “The world,” in this context, is actually something more teenager-sized and perhaps more meaningful: Jamie's and Charlotte’s world. These two teenagers live in their own world, in many respects. They are held to different standards than other people and experience life through a lens of mystery, danger, deceit, and lies. Each new bit of information that comes to light, each new development of the plot that brings us closer to the brink of loss, these are the things that magnify Charlotte’s and Jamie's personal stakes into ones that resemble a world’s fate in the balance. Because, truly, there is a world in the balance: their own, which encompasses their future and their relationship. And like any good fantasy character, they fight like hell to keep that world intact, or die together trying.
A Study in Charlotte is a fantastic read that kept me turning page after page. While the lack of magic and mythical creatures made it feel mundane (for a fantasy buff, such as myself), there was a different kind of magic and intrigue that revealed itself, in the form of Cavallaro’s characterization, staying true-to-source with regard to classic characters, and creating world-shattering tension that really only exists between two teenagers in as small a space as a boarding school in Connecticut. The thrill lasts until even the last pages and, in the end, this novel blossoms into a beautiful first installment in the series. I will surely be reading the rest of Cavallaro's Charlotte Holmes series.
If you have yet to read this wonderful work, I suggest that you do.
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Reviews with images
A promising beginning to a new series
If Hollywood is anything to judge by, we're all suckers for a good Sherlock Holmes reboot.The concept of this one is both silly and perfect. Holmes and Watson (and even Moriarty!) are back and up to their usual hijinks, only this time through the form of their great-great-great-great (et al) grandchildren, Charlotte Holmes and James Watson. I am a complete and total sucker for a female Holmes. A brooding, teenage female Holmes with a drug habit and private lab in her picturesque boarding school science wing is my own personal crack. And Watson (James. Jamie! Omg do I swoon for a good 'Jamie') is the perfect narrator for their story.He's warm and emotional and dynamic- the perfect foil to Holmes. Of course, none of that is new. Their funny and compelling character dynamic has been keeping us coming back to reboots for generations. I don't want to get too spoilery, but there is a thread of tenderness running along the pulse of this story that is done really beautifully and (dare I say it?) differently to other Sherlock reiterations. It's more than the usual Watson hero-worship. Jamie really brings heart to the story with the way he cares for Holmes. You'll see what I mean when you get to the part under the porch. Not even in a romantic way (though obviously that's gonna happen- and let it be known I'm HERE for it) but in the way you love anyone very important to you. Deeply and painfully, through the good and the bad."I kept stifling the urge to ask her if she was okay, to touch her forehead to see if she had a fever. To take care of her. I brought her food, but it stayed untouched on the plate no matter how I tried to cajole her into eating. When I caught her taking twenty minutes to eat a single almond, I began wondering if there was some kind of Watsonian guide for the care and keeping of Holmses."The mystery was pretty good too and kept me guessing. But I was reading for Charlotte and Jamie and will keep reading for them too.
