Desicritics Author: Fleiger

Book Review: Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

Fleiger — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:16:34 EST

Pirate Latitudes reminds you more of Eaters of the Dead or Timeline (minus the time travel aspect) than Michael Crichton’s more famous books like Jurassic Park, Prey. Like many historical novels starring pirates, it is a bit cheesy in pieces.

Port Royal, the lonesome British colony in the Caribbean seas, is surrounded by the Spanish waters. The undeclared (and unacknowledged) war on the Spanish empire is carried out by the privateers, who find support from the colony’s influential citizens, including the governor. Hence, when the governor comes to know about a treasure nao possibly kept in the Spanish harbour of Matanceros, he brings the lucrative venture to Capt. Hunter.

Unfortunately, Matanceros is an impregnable island fortress, with garrison led by a vicious Spanish commander, Cazalla. Hunter and his crew is well motivated to carry out the raid, many having personal grudges against Cazalla. But the waters of Caribbean are infested than more than just Spanish warships, and Hunter’s Cassandra faces natural and man-made obstacles on the journey. Not to mention, the new Secretary sent by His Majesty Charles II to Port Royal has a grudge of his own, against Hunter.

As I said, the novel has the true historical, piratical flavour to the narration. The story (like in Timeline or Eaters…) doesn’t shy away from the more gruesome (or lascivious) details of the life in the colonies in 17th century. Cazalla’s bloodthirsty nature is as well portrayed as the often lawless life in Port Royal. Cassandra is manned by such names as the Moor, Lazue, The Jew and Sanson the French assassin. Each one has his own interesting backstory, excluding the captain, Charles Hunter. Then again, you can spot the good guys and the bad guys right from the start, and none move away from their side of the fence.

While Hunter’s crew is filled with such experts, the Spanish don’t fare so well on their side. True to the maritime nature of the novel, the actual raid and the land battles are almost too easy to win, and too quick to finish. It is the sea battles and the voyage of Cassandra and El Trinidad which are the truly thrilling aspects of the action.

Don’t expect to read something like Jurassic Park or Timeline. But this will be very interesting for the fans of Michael Crichton, or the fans of pirates. After all, add pirates to anything, and it becomes good, right?

Book Review: The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson

Fleiger — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:33:35 EDT

If ever there was a book which personified conspiracy theory version of Poe's law, "The Men Who Stare at Goats" by Jon Ronson is it. The history of PsyOps in American security forces often stretches credulity.

The author starts with Maj. Gen. Stubblebine's (US Army's Chief of Intelligence '81-'83) unsuccessful efforts to walk through his office wall. The efforts are provoked by Lt. Col. Jim Channon' field manual for First Earth Battalion (FEB - I dare you to google that). Gen. Stubblebine's efforts are mirrored in Special Forces, where among other things Guy Savelli once killed a goat just by staring at it (or close enough), and there are a group of officers of an underfunded, unacknowledged unit, in a building with no coffee, trying their hands at remote viewing.

What they are trying to create is a "Warrior Monk", or a Ninja, a supersoldier. There is an actual psychic or supernatural war going on between Gen. Stubblebine and Panama dictator with shamans and spells involved. The descriptions of human potential groups and the Jim Channon's vision of FEB is so bizarre, that you start wondering whether it is a fiction. (And even if it was fiction, you would dismiss it as just too far-fetched).

And then suddenly, within a page or two, you start wishing the book was a work fiction. We read about a man described by a trainer for Special Forces as 'Luke Skywalker'. Except, the comparison would be with Skywalker Sr. in this case, as the man walked out of his house, boarded United Airline flight 93, and hijacked it. Guy Savelli is contacted by various men from Axis-of-Evil countries, who are interested in learning about psychically killing a goat.

And on the home front, PsyOps have developed into something FEB and it's proponents would never have guessed. Iraqi prisoners placed within containers are bombarded continuously with songs from Barney the Purple Dinosaur and Sesame street. A British citizen imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay talks about other forms of aural stimulation of prisoners and such unusual tortures there. The scandalous pictures from Abu Ghraib take a whole new, and deeper aspect when seen from the author's talks with members at PsyOps HQ at Fort Bragg. As the author says, the book is "about the changing relationship between Jim Channon's ideas and the army at large".

At some level, you understand the motivation of early proponents of the idea, the officers like Channon, Alexander etc. Post-Vietnam, when FEB was first floated, they wanted to create a supersoldier who was as much a deterrent as the Atom Bomb was post-WW II. Some of the ideas can only be a product of '60s, like the FEB soldiers carrying "symbols and sounds of peace [sic]" in enemy territories. And they have resulted in some good - some early converts have become advocates and experts on non-lethal weapons in armed forces and police forces in US.

There are a lot of crazy-sounding excerpts from human potential, sublime sound etc. companies. But what you don't expect is to read about a Special Forces Colonel refusing a demo of mind reader machine, because he cannot risk divulging the classified military information stored in his brain. Or a General offering to bend spoons with his mind in a black-tie affair in front of his superior, only to be shot down because his superior believes that the Satan is bending the spoons. The psychic, supernatural battle between Gen. Stubblebine and Panama dictator Noriega has to be read to be believed.

At this point you are almost ready to believe that the author's next book will be on how moon landings were faked. Even Ronson mentions that he felt like a conspiracy nut asking certain queries. It's hard to keep yourself from chuckling while reading this.

And then, you realise that the techniques you found so crazy are being used in Guantanamo Bay, in Abu Ghraib, or behind that train station where prisoners live in cargo containers. And suddenly, phrases like aural stimulation, mind control, subliminal messages start sounding a whole lot less crazy and lot scarier.

There are perhaps better reasons to read a book than the author's interview on The Colbert Report, or an upcoming movie with George Clooney. But once you get into the book, you forget everything else.

During the aforementioned Sesame Street songblasting episode, there is a page or two, where the creators of Sesame Street discuss about how much royalty they should be getting for Army's use of the songs (calculated for about 14000 or so times over three days). They discuss whether they should be getting money on per container, per prisoner basis, or should apply jingle rate, with some knockdown (there's a joke there that it is being used to knock down the prisoners). For me, this half-serious, half-joking, entirely surreal conversation caught the mood of the book perfectly.

30 Second Summary - August '09 Edition

Fleiger — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:22:48 EDT

In today's busy world, the attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. In the world of information superhighways and consequent information overloads, people don't have time to read long pages and pages of reviews of the movies they want to watch, when they can just as well spend that time doing something else.

Now, thanks to us, you don’t have to worry about losing the thread of the post you were reading just because your boss dropped by for a “quick discussion”. Or you don’t have to choose between a long (but interesting) movie review and that floor-mate you want to talk to so much, who just walked over to the coffee machine.

So, dive into this August (as in month, not the other meaning) Edition of 30-second Summaries:

Love Aaj Kal:

They say the dhai akshar prem ke of yore have been replaced by 2 syllables of “Love” today (And if posters are anything to go by, the syllable loss has come with some serious damage to the wallet.)

They also say Saif Ali Khan looks like young Hrishi Kapoor from certain (camera) angles.

Agyaat:

For completely agyaat reasons,

film crews continue to go into creepy forests with no means of quick escape.

and against all reasonable laws of jungle, young females continue to go into deep forest quite alone, often wearing nothing more than bikinis or shorts.

ditto for men, although, praise the gods, they do it dressed more sensibly in most cases.

RGV continues to use loud background music in places where silence would have served a whole lot better.

G. I. Joe:

Seriously? you want the story of G. I. Joe movie? ~~A young man finds himself torn between his duty to his country and his lost love, the tragic love story painted on the canvas of today’s world full of hate and violence, betrayal and greed.~~

All right, here’s the straight and narrow: G. I. Joe foils the plans for world domination by the ruthlesss terrorist organization Cobra, led by Cobra Commander, who is supported by Destro and his M.A.R.S. Industries. EOS. Yo, Joe!

Till next time… go on, she is still stirring some sugar in her coffee.

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Fleiger — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:51:37 EDT

Continuing the tradition started with Order of the Phoenix, I went ahead and watched Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince almost a day before it is released everywhere. Since it is hard to review a film like this for me, here are just some of the thoughts, fresh from watching the movie.

First, for those who haven’t read the book, here’s a short story, with minimum spoilers: Due to events at the end of Order of The Phoenix, Harry Potter finds himself once more the darling of (most of the) wizarding world. While Harry and his friends return to Hogwarts for their sixth year, the war within the magical community continues to escalate, and even spills over in muggle world. So while romance is the order of the day for the teens at the school, Harry also needs to prepare for his impending clash with Lord Voldemort. Meanwhile, nobody will believe Harry that Draco Malfoy is up to something sinister.

The movie opens with a shot of destruction of what most “spoiler-free” articles are referring to as “a prominent London landmark” (I did too, though anybody who has seen the trailers will know which one). This is immediately followed by a scene where Harry is flirting with a waitress in a cafe. This basically sets the tone for most of the movie, where the darker scenes, with Deatheaters and Harry’s quest, are interspersed with lighter ones, with romantic comedy between the various pairs.

The Half-Blood Prince subplot seems heavily curtailed, and you may miss its significance entirely if you haven’t read the book(s). Indeed, many subplots from the book progress more in the dialogs from different characters, than on actual screen. Even two memory-trips from the book don’t find a place here, one actually important, another not so much. In fact, the whole movie seems to rush towards the climax, and the end even starts towards the next movie.

This doesn’t mean the parts which are kept back, or added are not interesting. The lake scene is all it promises to be on paper, so is Ron’s unfortunate acquaintance with a love potion. Ginny is, as in the book, much more aggressive and confident. And though Ron does the "hit by the love" impression perfectly, Harry with Felix Felicis behaves more like he has had a few fire whiskies too many.

Ron finally gets his day in the spotlight, not just as a quidditch hero, but as a prominent presence in most of the romantic scenes. Though the Ron-Lavender story is used to its utmost comic potential, it doesn’t really matter if he is a part of the pair in question for him to be there.

Although the last battle is heavily reduced, it doesn’t take anything away from the movie overall, and the impact of climax is still the same. But given some of the changes and omissions over the movie series, I am wondering how they can tie up some inevitable loose ends at the start of first part of Deathly Hallows.

You may ask what is, at the end of the day, my biggest grouse with the movie? Well, the answer is: We did get to see Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes in all its glory and Arnold the pygmy puff, but where are the posters for “U-No-Poo”?

Harry Potter in Technicolor, with Bollywood Masala

Fleiger — Tue, 2 Jun 2009 10:25:31 EDT

With Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince coming up (and G. I. Joe not up any time soon), I am reading up on my HP lore. And as my history probably warns you, I started thinking how Harry Potter series is another example of how Bollywood Masala genre is much more pervasive than we give it credit for.

"How?" you ask? (OK, I will wait till somebody actually asks that). And the answer is - The series has:

Crazy villain, his lair, and dressed henchmen: Hey, Lord Voldermort’s got noseless face with slit eyes. His Death Eaters dress in long black robes, cover their faces with masks, and have got snake tattoos on their forearms. Can it get more masala villainish than this? (OK, it can, see below).
Plus, I know Malfoy Manor appeared late in series, but it has live peacocks and dungeons. What more do you want in a lair?

Comic sideplot: I dare you, show me any comedy team who can beat The Weasleys, Fred and George.

College romances: Hero’s bumbling friend falls in love with his nerdy friend. If hero’s friend has a sister and she lives till the end unmolested by the villain, the hero is bound to end up with her. Hero falls for the college beauty queen, only to realize he truly belongs with the girl next door. Have I forgotten any Masala stereotypes?
OK, it is more school romance than college one. But then, a. western kids and/or b. today’s kids do that in schools.
Oh yeah, a love triangle, but it is more due to magic gone wrong than intentional, so I won’t count it.

Parental sacrifices: You can actually watch HP dubbed in Hindi, with both Harry’s parents going “Nahin, mere bete ko mat maro”, without feeling that you are watching something foreign.

But still, something is missing from this story to make it a full-fledged Bolly-masala flick.

Separated twin brother: Any good masala film has to have a separated twin. Here’s how it would play out: When Lord Voldemort tried to kill Harry, his twin brother Larry (is there any other name rhyming with Harry?) was picked up by Death Eaters. They raised him as their own, put him in Durmstrang, and raised him on the "Purebloods supremacy" doctrine. They also named him Ambrosius or something like that, which probably didn’t help him any more than his original name.
Years later, he came across Harry while fighting with the Death Eaters. They recognize each other by the identical scars on opposite sides of their faces. Larry then sacrifices his life in place of Harry, while Harry goes on to triumph over Lord Voldemort.
Unless Larry has a “good” girlfriend, in which case, he is redeemed by fighting for the good side.

“Love” sacrifices: OK, Ginny is Ron’s sister, and The Hero does not sacrifice his love for his sidekick (not at the end, at least). So, we can have Ron and Harry fall in love with Cho Chang (or how about Fleur, if it must come to that), before realizing who their respective actual love is.

Item numbers (“Weasley is our king” does not count): Malfoy Manor has rotating tortured prisoners, but no dancing vamps.
Now let me scrubs the images of Bellatrix and Narcissa dancing. But till then, have I missed anything?

Movie Review: Angels and Demons

Fleiger — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:11:57 EDT

Once again, it’s time for lost religious treasures, Secret Societies and Harvard Symbologist Prof. Robert Langdon to the rescue.

Personally, I think “Angels and Demons”, the book is much better than “Da Vinci Code”, the book. The same holds true for the movies, if you ask me.

For those who haven’t read the book, here’s the plot:

The Christian Catholic world is waiting for The Conclave to begin. On the auspicious (and fateful) day, a dangerous explosive goes missing from CERN, and is hidden somewhere in Vatican. Also missing are 4 preferiti (members of College of Cardinals who are favourites to become Pope), all courtesy of an age-old enemy of the Church, bent on the destruction of the Church.

It is up to Robert Langdon to uncover the Path of Illumination as told by Galileo, and follow it to its end, to save the cardinals and find the explosive before it destroys the Vatican.

The movie (as opposed to the book) makes a lot of references to Da Vinci Code. But that won’t confuse those who haven’t see the …Code or haven’t read the book (is there any such person?). Robert Langdon(Tom Hanks) has enough of “attitude”, and the Church officials enough animosity towards him, to convey that whatever happened was pretty bad from church’s point of view.

Camerlengo Patrick McKenna(Ewan McGregor) isn’t the potential leader he is supposed to be in the book. Except for one or two scenes, the character is definitely charismatic, and probably decisive, but not the determined clergyman of the book. That does make the reactions of people at the end a bit more surprising and spur of the moment, but I doubt people will recognise that if they haven’t read the book.

For most part, the battle is between Langdon, Inspector Olivetti (Vatican Police) and Il Camerlengo on one side, Commander Richter (Swiss Guards), Cardinal Strauss on the other side within the church and the Assassin haunting them from outside.

I haven’t mentioned Vittoria Vetra, because some changes in the storyline have severely reduced her role, leaving her as almost a secondary character. Which is probably why the romance between Langdon and Vittoria is almost absent.

(Spoiler Alert)

The movie has made some changes which make the events more contemporary (*cough* large hadron collider *cough). Which does make the basic premise a bit more believable.

After an initial sequence at CERN, the movie confines itself exclusively to Rome, thus taking out the entire back story of Vetra, leaving her just as a scientist working on the project, not as a bereaved daughter. The involvement of CERN at the end is also reduced, keeping the roles firmly in Vatican Personnel.

Even the assassin’s character is severely reduced from the religious fanatic to a hired gun. I can see how putting another controversial factor was not exactly necessary (the storyline is not affected all that much), not to mention two for two maniacal killers is bad enough. But that leaves him just as a ruthless killer, rather than manic ruthless. Of course, the end matches perfectly with this characterization.

(End Spoiler Alert)

Overall, the end is more “Crime doesn’t pay” than “Good triumphs over Bad in The End” as in the book.

The basic premise is much more believable than …Code, and Langdon is also more believable (less “action hero”, more professor) than …Code. Keeping him out of fights was one change I didn’t really mind. But as long as it is views as a religious thriller, and not as a religious film, the movie is enjoyable.

P.S. On the first visit to Vatican's Secret Archives, Langdon tears up a book. On second visit, he damages (and possibly destroys) a lot more books. If it was up to me, I would keep him as away from the Archives as possible, not give him an all-access pass.

Marcus Didius Falco: The Oldest Living Detective

Fleiger — Mon, 4 May 2009 11:11:01 EDT

After a (not so) brief break from the Desi Detectives series, we are back with the non-desi detectives. And to start off, we bring you the oldest "living" detective.

Marcus Didius Falco (series by Lindsey Davis):

Apparently, the lot of a Personal Informer in the roman times was not so different than at the present. He had to work on divorce cases, sometimes was treated worse than the criminals he investigated, and still got the girl at the end (if not girls in the interim).

Luckily for Marcus, at the start of the series, he literally bumps into an important case. When he uncovers the plot surrounding the missing silver pigs (ingots, which are used to pay the Praetorian Guard, the emperor's personal bodyguards), he gains the favour of the Emperor Vespasian, who is just establishing himself on the throne after a long period of unrest.

Unfortunately for Marcus (and quite otherwise for us), the tight purse strings of the emperor means that Falco has to work as an imperial spy, at the same time handling ye olde murder and divorce cases. While this makes him an enemy of the Chief Spy Anacrites (whom Marcus easily outwits when necessary), it also means he can have two masters pay him for "important" cases, a fact he uses shrewdly, to his full advantage.

He meets his lover, later wife and partner, Helena Justina, on his first case. A Senator's daughter, she is a headstrong, yet loving woman, who handles Falco's extended family as well as the pressures of his dangerous job quite well. Elegant, highly intelligent (and well-read being a Senator's daughter) and thoroughly stubborn, she is at the same time perfect and highly inappropriate (given the times and the difference between their social ranks) match for Falco.

Falco, on his own is not an easy man to handle either. A soldier who served (but did not fight) in Britain during Boudicca's revolt, his military service has given him valuable experience and an invaluable friend. He is well aware that being a spy and a PI, puts him on almost the last rung of any hierarchy (though his social rank improves thanks to the royal favour), but has wits and brute force more than enough to survive in the cut-throat world. Being a staunch republican, he frets before taking up the job for Vespasian, but love conquers his personal beliefs.

His "detective agency" is mostly a family affair, with him (and Helena) and his closest friend L. Petronius Longus (former policeman) at the helm. The other (mostly temporary) employees include Helena's youngest brother, Marcus' favourite nephew etc.

Amidst the rich descriptions of post-Nero Rome, its culture, class relationships and festivities, what makes these novels really special is the wit and sarcastic commentary by one Marcus Didius Falco. His past experiences have left him quite jaded, and he applies that cynical view to everything and everyone. Having a horrific murder or two, and a beauty or two in the book doesn't exactly hurt the action either.

Note: The age of the persons, when mentioned in the series refers to how old they would be if they had lived till today, and has nothing to do with the age as per canon. "Living" means that the author is continuing the series, as opposed to "non-living" where either the author cannot continue the series, or the character is dead according to canon.

Heard the Divine Music of Love Lately?

Fleiger — Sat, 7 Feb 2009 15:04:31 EST

Recently, I was waiting for a bus when a car stopped near me. A beauty looked at me, and smiled...

... and music blared around me. I smiled back at her...

... and got out my iPod to lower the volume so it would leave my eardrums intact.

It happens to all of us. We all go through the life waiting for The One. And we all know at his/her entry, the God will give us a clue in the universal language (not math, you idiot, the other universal language).

And one day it happens. A vision from heaven steps in front of you, heralded by an orchestra. You can't see anything except her, and she is rendered in soft focus (even though your glasses are smudge-free). But when a mistake can make a target for a #7 sandal with heels, you have to be completely sure that she is The One For You.

The quick and easy method to being "Completely Sure It's The Right Person" is presented as a simple-to-follow flowchart (click to enlarge). Follow these steps before you do anything :

Did you reach F14? Good, now look up. If the girl is still there, it is because:
a. She is really into you
b. She is following the above steps. Wait for her to finish.

In either case, congrats! You may just have found the love of your life.

What to do next? Try A Guide to The First Date, A Single Guy's Guide to 14th February.

Till next time...

The Lord of The Rings is a Bollywood Movie

Fleiger — Thu, 4 Dec 2008 11:51:06 EST

Just a few days back, I was talking to a friend who was ranting about the hindi movies, and the completely over the top masala ingredients added in them to spice them up. After defending the Bollywood for a long time (hey, we Indians may make fun of those movies but we stand together when some outsider does it), I went back to my most recent re-reading of Lord of The Rings.

And I got an epiphany. Here are:

10 Reasons why LoTR is just another Bollywood Masala film:

10. If you are a good guy and a father, you get to die at the hands of The Villain or his Henchmen. Which of course will inspire your kid(s) and others to vanquish the villain for revenge.

9. Things are going very badly for the good guys, when BAM! Help arrives in the form of the Hero.

8. The hero has a bumbling but faithful sidekick (or a group of them), who provides the comic sidetrack, but will lay down his life for the hero.

7. There's a costumed villain, sitting in his snazzy layer, surrounded by costumed henchmen and weird looking followers.

6. The "supporting actress" loves the hero, who cannot return her affections because he is in love with the heroine. But don't worry, she will find her life partner in the "supporting actor" before the climax.

5. The hero and heroine belong to different social groups, and hence her father is not exactly happy about their union, but there is a loving aunt who will help the lovers.

4. The heroine, the one belonging to higher social group in this case, will "sacrifice" her advantages in order to marry the hero.

3. The hero has greedy, conniving, thieving relatives who have their eye on his estate.

2. You can stab him, fire arrows at him, slash at him with swords, poison him. The Hero just goes on and on and on...

1. At moment's notice, there's at least one person who has got to sing up. Sometimes that quickly grows into a group song.

Anybody got any idea which characters I am talking about here?

P.S. The comparison is based solely on the basis of the books, and those who know LoTR as only the movie trilogy may be a bit confused.

Book Review: A Soul of Steel by Carole Nelson Douglas

Fleiger — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:49:12 EST

If asked which one person we would have liked to see again, true Holmesians would vote for Irene Norton née Adler with a huge majority, if not by an unanimous vote. "A Soul of Steel" by Carole Nelson Douglas is a novel from her Irene Adler series which tries to fulfill that fantasy.

Irene and her husband Godfrey Norton are spending their “posthumous” lives with their friend cum housekeeper Miss Penelope Huxleigh in Paris, when a man from Nell Huxleigh’s past is thrust in their lives.

Capt. Emerson Quentin Stanhope, presumed dead in Afghanistan has found that, a decade later, somebody is trying to silence him because of the secrets he holds about battle of Maiwand. And by association, the life of the doctor who saved him in battlefield is also in danger. When he is found, sick and dying, by Irene and her friends, they decide to help him find and warn the Dr. Watson. But, helping Quentin makes them a target for an extremely dangerous hunter, and they have to knock on the doors at 221B, Baker Street to bring the mystery to a safe conclusion.

Chronologically, the story does take a few liberties with Holmes canon. Taking place some time after “Scandal in Bohemia”, during and after “Naval Treaty” (possibly placing it back by some time), it introduces a major character before it appears in canon (If we go by timeline according to this novel, there are some serious questions about Watson’s memory re: people trying to kill him). Although, that’s just the Holmesian in me cribbing.

Characters-wise, Godfrey Norton is your Standard English Gentleman, a good friend and a honourable man. He and Irene are completely in love with each other (though their married life sounds a bit more 20th century American than 19th century English) and are equal partners in their adventures. And of course, he is understandably jealous of The Man his wife remains fascinated by.

Miss “Nell” Huxleigh is the typical vicar’s daughter, governess in a respectable family kind of girl. She is Watson to Irene’s Holmes (although she will not approve of that comparison). Loyal to the fault and having lived a sheltered life before sharing in Irene’s adventures, Nell is the voice of common sense in the household. And that explains her feelings towards Holmes.

Irene on the other hand is portrayed as the equal and opposite of Holmes. They both share liking for adventure, the ennui coming out of commonplace existence, the flair for drama, as well as the immovable sense of justice. But where Holmes is an analytical machine, Irene the Prima Donna is impulsive and emotional (in short, dare I say, a woman); jumping into whatever catches her fancy without a thought for dangers involved.

This is before Watson’s stories start getting published, and hence Holmes to Irene’s friends is a just paid agent trying to swindle Irene out of her only means of danger. Since this is a story from “the other side”, that was the only reason I could read the portrayal of Holmes for most part. Given that tone of the novel, I was worried about the eventual meeting between Holmes and Irene, but a careful reading dispelled my doubts.

In short, if you can’t get enough of the world of Holmes, or (like somebody said,) you can’t get enough of The Woman who got better of Holmes, this is for you. For me, continuing the series would depend on how they talk about The Man.