The Beekeeper's Apprentice: or, On the Segregation of the Queen (A Mary Russell Mystery)

by Laurie R. King

Book Overview

The Twentieth-Anniversary Edition of the First Novel of the Acclaimed Mary Russell Series by Edgar Award-Winning Author Laurie R. King. An Agatha Award Best Novel Nominee - Named One of the Century's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312427360
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Picador
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Astonishing

Laurie King has written a captivating book that you will not want to put down. This is book 1 of her 18 book series of Sherlock Holmes. Absolutely excited to get into the rest of her books.

Like watching a movie

The Author says this is not a book about Sherlock Holmes, and it is not, I have to admit I was suspicious of anything with a beloved character. She does a great job of him as a side character and many of the familiar characters. Narration is by the main character Mary Russell written as her memoirs. On her own she is very unique and I enjoyed and thought of her as always having been associated with the Sherlock Holmes adventures. The preface and author's note set up the introduction and are must reads. What a unique way of introduction. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter are a nice touch also. Love the character interaction. My only complaint is the use of God's name at one time, but not in vane, but just like we would say OMG nowadays but still both names should not be used ever.

Powerful Sherlockian Prose

First thing first: I am perhaps the biggest Sherlock Holmes fan in Southwestern Ohio. This being said, I hate to come across anything in writing, official or even fan fiction, that inaccurately portrays my favorite detective. Anything from dear Holmes falling in love with a cliched Mary Sue to Watson meeting a horrible demise, I would refuse to pick it up or even give it a glance. Which was why I was so turned off from this book at first. Luckily, my best friend's mother is an English teacher, and she found out (see "couldn't help but notice") my love for all things Conan Doyle had graced. The first thing she did was suggest The Beekeeper's Apprentice to me. "Just read the first five pages," she told me, "and if you don't like it, just give it back." As soon as I registered the first sentence, I was hooked. The plot has been recited on this page many times before, so I won't indulge, simply try to pique your interest. Rarely does a book grab my attention so as to make me literally perch on the edge of my seat, or want to sink far back into the cushions. I've always been ridiculed by my friends for letting a tear stray down my face when a particular passage was weep-worthy, but never before have I felt like bursting into tears just because the book was OVER. It is one of those books that, after being unable to leave your chair for hours (quite out of your power to put it down) that you feel that you must run 20 laps in order to let loose all of the emotions inside. This book is not for the unread or uneducated. You have to have some wit about you in order to decipher the pages, and a considerable knowledge of Holmes Cannon would be optimal. But you do not NEED to. Bring only your love for literature and appreciation for the written word, and you will be pleased by this cunning, stunning and heart-warming novel starring the greatest detective of all time: Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

Holmes is resurrected like never before!

The Beekeeper's Apprentice, being the first of the Holmes/Russell novels, establishes the world of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes which will only be further developed and brought together in her later novels. Having read the first four (out of five so far), I have fallen in love with King's Holmes as much as I love Doyle's. We see Holmes in two very different stages of life, and with two very different people--As a matter of fact, he is portrayed -by- two totally different people. Mary Russell, the narrator and "author" of what fans call the Kanon, depicts Holmes in a very different way than Watson does in the Doyle Canon. Why? Because she sees him differently. Mentally, she is his equal. She is an audacious and modern woman, while Watson almost puts Holmes on a pedastol--and he is a strict Victorian gentlemen. No doubt their views on Holmes would be different. It's a shame that there are only second-person accounts of the Great Detective--Those who have read the Canon and the Kanon will long for a first-person tale from Holmes himself.This particular novel, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, is my favourite of the Kanon. The initial scene between Holmes and Russell is priceless, and is something I'll remember for the rest of my life. The narration is exquisitely charming and you can sense from how it is written that Mary Russell is a scholar, not a novelist (while Laurie R. King, if you read her other work from a third-person standpoint, is very much a storyteller--it just goes to show how far she goes for character and separating herself from Russell). Dialogue between Holmes and Russell is edgy and intelligent, and the chemistry between the two is phenomenal. Holmes's character remains full and intact, and we see sides of him Watson never was able to explore. Character traits that were two-dimensional in the Canon are brought into three dimensions in the Kanon, and we see precisely how human and real this genius of a man really is. The entire novel, as well as the rest of them, contains such a reality and charm that one can swear that the characters really existed. The only thing that I found to be strange was the trip to Jerusalem in the middle of the book. There didn't seem to be much of a point to it--However, at that time I didn't realize that the fifth book in the Kanon, O Jerusalem, takes us back to that point in Beekeeper's Apprentice and explains, in four hundred pages, precisely what went on there. It was left out of The Beekeeper's Apprentice because it was an entirely disassociated mystery.Even grizzled Baker Street Irregulars will enjoy this book--In fact, the people that seem to complain about the Holmes/Russell relationship the most are the people that haven't even read the Kanon at all. It's sure to charm even the hardest Holmes purist, and give others a glimpse into the humanity of Holmes, whereas the Doyle books were mainly about the adventure and the mystery. It's a brilliant start to an even better series, and I recommend it to t

A spectacular piece of work!

I read "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" about a year ago. When I first glanced at the blurb, I was tempted to laugh. Imagine undermining the great Sherlock Holmes by teaming him up with a fifteen-year old girl! It was almost too ridiculous to believe. Nevertheless, I borrowed the book from my local library, and since then, it has become one of my fabourite books ever. I bought my very own copy of it three months ago.The story is amazing. Supposedly written by an aged Mary Russell (a fifteen year-old girl at the beginning of the story), the book is a recount of her life from her meeting with the fifty-three-year-old Sherlock Holmes, to when she is about 19. Her narration, what she chooses to dwell on in her telling, and what she merely skips over, not only reveals to the reader which incidents most live in her memory, but also makes the story fast-paced, and vividly exciting.The book also shows a quite different Sherlock Holmes to the stories of Conan Doyle. While every bit as brilliant and perceptive, the Holmes we see through Mary Russell's eyes is very much human, capable of mistakes and intense emotion. Much as I tend to idolise the Legend of Conan Doyle, I can't help but warm towards the picture painted by Mary Russell far more than that of the good Doctor.I was miserable when I finished "The Beekeeper's Apprentice", so much so that I was almost crying. And I have to admit that I cried during the book, too, and still do when I reread it. I have read the other Russell-Holmes novels, but none come close to this, the first. Such is the fate of all but the most brilliant of serials. This is Laurie R. King's masterpiece, her other works cannot compare.

A truly excellent Sherlock Holmes Mystery

I must say, this is one of my favorite books in the world. I first read it 5 years ago and it has never grown old. Anytime I am without a book to read, I pull it out and, once again, I am caught up in the world of Sherlock Holmes. The book is about Mary Russel, a 15 year old girl who one day meets a retired Sherlock Holmes near his home on the Sussex countryside. She instantly catches his attention and becomes his protege for the next few years. Being an orphan, she is practically adopted by Holmes, who teaches her many skills that are useful in their line of work. When Russell turns 18, she goes off to Oxford to study-of all things-theology. While there, Holmes is attacked by a mysterious enemy who's plan is to not only hurt Holmes, but his close friends as well. This leads Holmes and Russell on a daring chase for a suprising enemy. And as their search goes on, Russell grows from being Holmes' student into his partner. I have always found the Sherlock Holmes in Laurie R. King's books to be much more sociable, and likable, than the Holmes in Conan Doyle's books. Conan Doyle made him out as an omnipotent, all-powerful being. In Laurie R. King's books you see the more human side of him. I've enjoyed all of Laurie R. King's books in this series. They are, so far, in order: The Beekeeper's Apprentice, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, A Letter of Mary, The Moor, and O Jerusalem. I would recommend these books to anyone, especially someone who loves a good mystery.

Excellent, believe it or not

I have to admit that I love this book. I think that I first read it at the time of my greatest Holmes obsession when I read anything at all related to Holmes. (Now I only read almost anything related to Holmes.) But I still had severe doubts when I discovered the premise. Really, it seems like this book shouldn't be good, but it's excellent. Mary Russell is a marvelous character, brilliant, opinionated, and best of all, the age I was when I was literally in love with Holmes. And King's Holmes is the best I have discovered outside of the real thing, Doyle's own creation. He's true to the original but with a lot of added dimensions. And though Mary is only a teenager you can already discern that the intellectual tension between her and Holmes may lead to something more in the future. I recommend The Beekeeper's Apprentice highly for open-minded Sherlockians--especially women, I have to add. This is the first and best of the Holmes-Russell series. A Monstrous Regiment of Women and A Letter of Mary are very good but not quite on the same level, and I found The Moor and O Jerusalem just a little uninteresting, at leat in comparison. Still, I'd rather read any of them than almost any other non-Doyle Holmes books.