Book Review: An Assembly Such as This: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman

There seem to be a lot of books based on Jane Austen's works lately and I've been reading a few of them. I heard a lot about this series and was anxious to get it from the library. I started it as soon as I got it and found it a quick read.

The basic idea is to tell the story of Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's point of view. I saw the BBC version with Colin Firth not too long ago on PBS, so the story was still fresh in my mind.

There seem to be a lot of books based on Jane Austen's works lately and I've been reading a few of them. I heard a lot about this series and was anxious to get it from the library. I started it as soon as I got it and found it a quick read.

The basic idea is to tell the story of Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's point of view. I saw the BBC version with Colin Firth not too long ago on PBS, so the story was still fresh in my mind.

I liked the story and I liked her interpretation of the characters. Darcy is still Darcy, Elizabeth is still Elizabeth, and most of the other characters are just like in the original. The author in fact quotes from the original often, but then we get what's going on inside Mr. Darcy's head to make the scene a little different.

But she has to diverge from the original story when Darcy and the Bingleys go off to London, and that's where I didn't enjoy the book as much. The whole political undercurrents were out of place. The author either didn't explain them enough or should have left them out entirely, which I think would have been better.

Still, I put the next in the series on hold at the library and will be eager to read it.

(sidenote: why do this as a series anyway? My guess is to make more money out of it, but it's really unnecessary. The original was in one book. Do we really need 3 now?)