Saturday, January 1, 2011

Book Review #1, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: The Last Man in the World by Abigail Reynolds

This is to be the first of, I hope, many book reviews. Thanks to SurLaLune's blog report of the free Jane Austen e-books, I have been reading a lot of those and will therefore begin with some of them.

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy: The Last Man in the World.
By Abigail Reynolds.

This was the first Pemberley Variation I read, so I did not know what to expect and was somewhat shocked by the beginning. Elizabeth Bennet Darcy miserable at the thought of entering her new home with her new husband? How could this be? Soon, however, I learned why. What if Elizabeth had to say yes to Darcy's first, horrible proposal? What if he never wrote the letter that changed her mind about him? What if they were married and she still considered him to be "the last man in the world?" That is what this story explores. This well-written tale tells of the newlywed's trials and tribulations on their journey to true love. I wanted to find out what happened so much, that I read it in just a few hours with only a few interruptions. I found it fascinating, and immediately started thinking of other what-ifs. What if Darcy didn't accompany Bingley, so he and Elizabeth first met at Rosings? What if Wickham had succeeded in eloping with Georgiana? I know that some people might find it impudent that an author would mess with Jane Austen in such a way, and no doubt the lady is rolling in her grave at some of the more horrific re-tellings, but I found this one eminently enjoyable, and I look forward to more.

I would rate this a 3 out of 10 on a violence level, for one scene where a drunken man loses his temper, and there is also a quantity of blood but it was due to an accident.
1 out of 10 for language, as I did not notice any, really.
It gets a 6 out of 10 for sexuality, due to a couple of middlingly graphic scenes between the married couple as well as some references.
I would recommend this book for people 15 and up

          I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.
                                                   Lieder Madchen

2 comments:

  1. Not only is Abigail a great writer, she is a warm and wonderful person. I have had the pleasure of getting to know her on Austen Authors.

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