Review of Miss Bennet’s Dragon by M Verant

This is a review of Miss Bennet’s Dragon by M Verant, a Pride and Prejudice inspired fantasy.

The full title is Miss Bennet’s Dragon: A Pride and Prejudice Retelling (Jane Austen Fantasy Book 1). Personally, I disagree with the author calling it a retelling. I think it’s a variation as are all Pride and Prejudice inspired fantasy stories.

This fantasy novel is about dragons, so I was interested to see how it compared to Maria Grace’s Pride and Prejudice inspired dragon series – Jane Austen’s Dragons.

One thing I noticed straight off was that this novel is written in the first person. This is unusual. I don’t remember having read any other Pride and Prejudice inspired novels that are in the first person. Normally, they’re written in the third person. I thought it made for a more immersive experience. It’s written from the viewpoint of Elizabeth Bennet.

Setting

The set-up is quite different in this novel from Maria Grace’s novels. The gentry hold their estates through inheritance and/or bonding with a dragon when they first marry and consummate the marriage. They also need “marriage gold” to bond a dragon. If the husband dies, the family will lose their estate unless the son and his wife bond with a dragon. If there is no male heir then unless a daughter has married and the couple have bonded, the estate will be lost. Lady Catherine de Bourgh is a major exception to this societal rule.

Oh, and dragons are called “draca” in this novel.

I loved the different types of dragons (or draca) in the novel. None of them seem to be that big unlike Maria Grace’s. They have great names such as tunnelworm, roseworm and lindworm, etc.

Plot

This novel is quite dark, a fair few characters die. I wouldn’t describe it as a light and fluffy Pride and Prejudice inspired novel.

The plot involves draca and French spies. I don’t want to say more and give the plot away.

One change to the original plot is that Jane becomes ill at Netherfield through being bitten by a foul crawler rather than catching cold on the way there. This is potentially fatal until Elizabeth is guided by a Scottish laundry maid to get Jane to drink a few drops of draca blood. And then Jane falls sick with binding sickness because she is in love with Bingley who has gone away to America so, she’s in danger of dying unless Elizabeth can find a way to save her. This is the reason Elizabeth visits Pemberley in order to find a cure for Jane. I liked how the author adapted the original plot.

Another change to the plot is that Mr Collins and Charlotte don’t bind a draca so he loses the claim to Longbourn. However, the Bennets are still at risk unless a Bennet daughter and her husband can bind a draca. Enter Lydia. It seems Wickham had an ulterior motive in seducing her.

Characters

Elizabeth is a very strong character; she holds the family together. She’s basically running the estate for her father. Elizabeth has a telepathic bond with dragons. They will all obey her.

I did like the version of Mr Darcy in this novel. He’s the strong, silent but passionate type. He certainly goes above and beyond for Elizabeth.

I wasn’t sure about Jane in this novel. She seemed a bit of an air head to me once or twice in this novel. And as the eldest, wouldn’t she have had some involvement/training in the estate? She does play a very passive role.

Mary Bennet in this novel reminded me of the heroine of The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet by Colleen McCullough. She’s much more interesting than the original Mary in Pride and Prejudice. She’s a feminist and would be social reformer, even a bit of a goth. She and Lizzie are very close in the novel.

Lydia is probably the most evil that I’ve seen her character be in any of the Pride and Prejudice inspired novels that I’ve read so far. And Wickham is pretty evil too.

Summary

Miss Bennet’s Dragon was an enjoyable and gripping read if darker than most Pride and Prejudice inspired fantasy novels.

Review of A Season of Magic by Sarah Courtney

This is a review of A Season of Magic by Sarah Courtney. The full title is A Season of Magic: A Pride and Prejudice Variation. It’s a Pride and Prejudice inspired fantasy. I’ve already reviewed a couple of novels by Monica Fairview that has the same premise as this novel; that mages exist in Regency England.

There are two types of magic users, those who can use elements e.g. air, fire, water or earth and those who have talents. Elemental mages usually have a talent as well.

Elizabeth and Jane Bennet have not had an easy time in this version. Mr and Mrs Bennet are only their foster parents and unpleasant ones at that. They’re greedy and unscrupulous.

Elizabeth and Jane’s true parents were evil mages who died while the girls were young.

Plot

After the girls reveal that they are elemental mages by helping to put out a fire at the Netherfield Ball, Elizabeth is sent to The Season, a magical boarding school, to learn how to control her powers while Jane remains at Longbourn. This of course, allows her to continue her romance with Mr Bingley. Elizabeth has a rough time at The Season to begin with. She’s not trusted and there are attempts to bully and intimidate her until she proves her worth. Jane joins her for the second year and things really start to hot up then.

The plot is a radical departure from the original novel. As mentioned before, Mr and Mrs Bennet are only the foster parents so the whole issue of who inherits Longbourn is removed, and Mr Collins doesn’t make an appearance. And Wickham running away with Lydia is not part of the plot.

In another departure from the plot, Elizabeth doesn’t meet Darcy at the Assembly until a dance at The Season. He’s just as dismissive though. Darcy warns her he’s keeping an eye on her to watch for dark tendencies. However, he soon becomes fascinated by, and then falls in love with her.

Characters

One of the things I really liked about this novel was the use of characters from other Jane Austen novels. Emma Woodhouse, Anne and Elizabeth Elliot, Captain Tilney, Lucy Steele, etc. As you’d expect, the nice characters are still nice, and the unpleasant ones still behave badly. A couple such as Emma and Anne have quite important parts, the others are really just walk on parts. Anne Elliot came across as pretty wimpy in this novel, which disappointed me as she’s my second favourite heroine after Elizabeth Bennet. I was also a little disappointed that Catherine Morland didn’t make an appearance as she’s too young to attend The Season.

I liked that the author shows Wickham as an unreliable character. Elizabeth knows him from her youth and at first he is the only friendly person at The Season. However, before long he proves himself to be self-seeking and disloyal and Elizabeth realises he is not a real friend.

I also liked that Wickham’s parents are part of the story, the first novel I’ve read where they do so.

In summary, A Season of Magic is a well written and enjoyable Pride and Prejudice inspired fantasy.

Review of Transforming Mr Darcy by Melanie Rachel

This is a review of Transforming Mr Darcy by Melanie Rachel. In fact, the full title is Transforming Mr Darcy: A Magical Pride and Prejudice Variation. It has several fairy tale elements, but I’d call it a fantasy rather than a fairy tale. It’s a novella so not too long.

Plot

The basis of the plot is both Jane and Elizabeth Bennet have fairy godmothers. Jane’s is called Priscilla and Elizabeth’s is called Mildred. Personally, I didn’t like the names of the fairy godmothers, they just didn’t seem the right names for fairies. Their goal in life is to marry their charges off to suitable men (much like Mrs Bennet’s really). Once they’re married off, Priscilla and Mildred will then become the fairy godmothers of the next two Bennet girls. Not everyone has fairy godmothers, and most people no longer believe in them.

Mildred takes exception to what Mr Darcy says about Elizabeth at the assembly. She begins to persecute him in various ways. It escalates until she turns him into a swan at night to stop him taking Mr Bingley away from Netherfield. Elizabeth has to perform a task within a certain time period or else he will remain a swan forever. To stop anyone else finding out what’s happened to him, he is whisked away to a nearby castle and Elizabeth has to accompany him. However, she is only allowed to speak for fifteen minutes a day. This means Mr Darcy has to talk to her.

Opinion

I thought this was a fun novella. The fairy tale elements were fun, for example, when Mr Darcy can’t sleep because he has a pea in his bed. I also liked how breaking the spell forced the two to work at rectify the faults in their characters.

Caroline Bingley is particularly unpleasant and rude to Elizabeth in this novella, and I was only sorry Mildred didn’t do any permanent spells on her.

I would mention the other fairy tale motifs that the author has incorporated into the story, but she thoughtfully tells you all the ones she’s used in her notes at the end.

In summary, it’s a fun read and I enjoyed it.

Longbourn: Dragon Entail by Maria Grace

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT

Longbourn: Dragon Entail is the second in the Jane Austen Dragons series by Maria Grace. The first was Pemberley: Mr Darcy’s Dragon. This novel is as enjoyable as the first one.

Plot

It takes up the story where it left off in the first novel. Pemberley, the baby dragon, has been carted off to Rosings at the insistence of Longbourn the estate dragon. He’s jealous of the bond between Elizabeth and Pemberley. Elizabeth doesn’t know it’s Longbourn’s fault and blames Darcy.

Mr Bennet and Longbourn the estate dragon, are still insisting that Elizabeth marries Mr Collins who is dragon deaf, and she tries to go along with it until she thinks they are trying to mentally manipulate her into marrying him. This is totally against the Dragon code, and she decides to leave Longbourn and go to London. I really disliked this version of Mr Bennet and my dislike of Longbourn, the estate dragon, only increased in this sequel.

She then goes to the Blue Order where her notebooks on the care of dragons is of great interest and bumps into Mr Darcy who’s been about to go to Longbourn because Pemberley is pining for her. Georgiana Darcy has been sending her letters but Mr Bennet has been hiding them. Elizabeth goes to Rosings and is reunited with Pemberley who is just as cute as in the first book.

Lady Catherine tries to order her to marry Mr Collins – they have the scene that happens in the original when Lady Catherine visits Longbourn. Then Elizabeth leaves the house and bumps into Mr Collins, He then gives her Mr Darcy’s original marriage proposal from the original. Elizabeth is no more impressed with Mr Collins giving it than she was with Mr Darcy. Unfortunately, Mr Collins persists in following her and comes across the dragons. This is a big NO NO as humans who can’t hear dragons are not meant to know about them.

The Blue Order assesses Pemberley to see whether she is feral or not and decide what to do about the “dragon deaf” Mr Collins. He ends up engaged to Mary who will become the Longbourn dragon keeper after Mr Bennet.

By the end of the novel, Elizabeth and Darcy are getting to know and appreciate each other. Elizabeth becomes engaged to Darcy, but Lydia has run away possibly with a rogue dragon which is VERY BAD NEWS. Cue the next novel.

Things I liked about Longbourn: Dragon Entail

The author uses some of the dialogue from the original, which I like. In the original, Mr Darcy proposes to Elizabeth at Rosings. In this novel, it’s Mr Collins who proposes to Elizabeth using Darcy’s words. It sounds even worse with Mr Collins saying it and unsurprisingly, Elizabeth refuses him.

We learn more fascinating details about the dragons living at Rosings.

Things I didn’t like about Longbourn: Dragon Entail

I can’t understand why Elizabeth blames herself for the way Longbourn behaves when it’s clearly the fault of her father for not being a very good Dragon Keeper.

Darcy Bites: Pride and Prejudice with Fangs by Amy Elizabeth Davis

Warning: Spoiler Alert

In this post, I’ll be reviewing Darcy Bites: Pride And Prejudice With Fangs by Amy Elizabeth Davis. I almost didn’t read this Pride and Prejudice inspired paranormal novel because I thought the cover looked amateurish. However, I’m glad I gave it a chance because it was well written and entertaining.

There’s a few Pride and Prejudice inspired vampire novels around but only one other one I can think of where he’s a dhampir. Vampire Darcy’s Desire: A Pride and Prejudice Paranormal Vagary by Regina Jeffers.

It’s very nearly a mashup novel (where 80% of the text comes from a classic novel and 20% is original like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). There’s lots of the original text in the novel. For example, Darcy does indeed say to Bingley that Elizabeth “is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me”.

However, the author also often slightly changes the text.

For example, Elizabeth says to Darcy. “Did you not think, Mr. Darcy, that I expressed myself uncommonly well just now, when I was teasing Colonel Foster to spar with me?”

“With great energy, but it could hardly be a fair match.”

‘You are severe on Colonel Foster.”

Plot

The plot is as follows: Darcy is a dhampir (half vampire/half human). His mother was a vampire, and his father was human. He accompanies Mr Bingley to Netherfield Hall because it was attacked by vampires eighteen years ago. He wants to make sure that there are no vampires still lurking in the area. As per the original, he only becomes interested in Elizabeth after the assembly. Wickham makes an appearance. he’s also a dhampir and abuses his powers.

Elizabeth has been trained in martial arts (reminded me of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) and volunteers as bait. Lady Catherine does come to visit Elizabeth, but she demands that Elizabeth promise not to marry Darcy and tries to kill her when she refuses. Darcy saves Elizabeth, and he stakes his aunt. This doesn’t kill her, but it does leave her comatose. She winds up imprisoned in his cellar for several years.

There are several discoveries about different characters: Wickham is a dhampir who abuses his ability to mesmerise people. Bingley is a werewolf and Mr Bennet is also a dhampir which is why Elizabeth has super hearing and is good at fighting. Jane, it turns out is the adopted daughter of Mr and Mrs Bennet. They had a son, Edmund, who was killed when he was young because he became feral. Mr Bennet makes his wife forget about Edmund (this reminded me of Abigail Reynold’s Mr Darcy’s Enchantment where a similar thing occurs).

Things I liked in Darcy Bites

Darcy is a dhampir not a vampire, which made a refreshing change.

Mr Darcy is aloof at the assembly because he‘s thirsty and wants to avoid the temptation of biting a human.

Elizabeth has a sense of humour and says witty things.

Bingley has a secret of his own although it’s pretty obvious early on what it is.

How the author changed the plot to fit in with the paranormal theme. For example, Wickham spreads rumours that Mr Darcy killed his own mother and brother.

Things I didn’t like about Darcy Bites

The cover. It really doesn’t do the novel justice.

For me, the epilogue went on too long. I could see the point of including Anna as a child as it related to Mr Darcy’s fears about going feral. However, I wasn’t that interested in the lives of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth’s children. I’m probably the odd woman out there though.

Reviewing Pride and Prejudice Inspired Fiction

I love Pride and Prejudice fanfiction otherwise known as Austenesque fiction or, as I prefer to call it Pride and Prejudice inspired fiction because fanfiction implies (at least to me) that the story is available to read for free and there are many Pride and Prejudice fiction authors who are making a good living from their writing. Austenesque also doesn’t seem accurate enough to me because Austenesque included works inspired by all of Jane Austen’s classic novels. Because I love it so much, I’ve decided to start reviewing Pride and Prejudice inspired fiction.

My criteria will be:

It has to be Pride and Prejudice inspired fiction (duh!)

It has to fall into one of these categories:

a) paranormal

b) fantasy

d) science fiction

d) mystery

e) genderswapped

f) modern retelling

because those are the categories of Pride and Prejudice inspired fiction that I most enjoy reading.

Even with those criteria which excludes many, many Pride and Prejudice inspired fiction, there are still a lot of books to read. Last time I counted, there were well over three hundred Pride and Prejudice inspired novels/novellas/short stories. I calculate that will give me over a hundred books to read and review.

I’ll be reviewing Pride and Prejudice inspired fiction regularly or as regularly as I can, sometimes life and writing gets in the way.