Mr. Darcy, Vampyre Review

Sunday, January 24, 2010

A quick aside first...Cindy from Simple Life and Reading has featured me in her Meet a Blogger post. If you get a chance, please stop by her amazing site and if you don't already, you should follow it! A big thank you, Cindy! I love your blog!



My hand is trembling as I write this letter. My nerves are in tatters and I am so altered that I believe you would not recognize me. The past two months have been a nightmarish whirl of strange and disturbing circumstances, and the future... I am afraid. If anything happens to me, remember that I love you and that my spirit will always be with you, though we may never see each other again. The world is a cold and frightening place where nothing is as it seems.
Taken from the back of the book.


Now, I know I've told plenty of you that I'm over vampires, but when I saw the name Darcy on the cover, I simply couldn't resist. I might just have a thing for Jane Austen. Ok, so Mr. Darcy, Vampyre picks up the classic tale of Pride and Prejudice on Elizabeth and Darcy's wedding day. Elizabeth and Jane, her sister, are to be married on the same day to Darcy and Bingley, respectively. From the moment Elizabeth steps into the church though, she feels a sense of foreboding, and soon notices that Darcy never wants to spend time alone. Diverting their wedding tour to ask "advice" of his distant uncle, the Count Polidori, Elizabeth learns her husband is not who she thought and must decided what she truly wants from her life - can she still love Darcy?

First off - the cover is simple, but sweet. I like the clever positioning of the necklace with two little puncture wounds. I enjoy how clean it is, I guess, though it isn't necessarily my favourite cover in the world. As for the story, I have to say that I generally like seeing classics reworked, but this definitely wasn't my favourite. I think Amanda Grange has a very fluid and smooth writing style, but I feel like this re-imagining of their story just didn't work for me.

If I had to be nitpicky and decided what, specifically, didn't work for me, I'd have to say 1) Elizabeth's keen sense of foreboding...I loathe heavy foreshadowing; I think it ruins the flow of the story 2) Elizabeth's sudden desire to be completely fashionable...wasn't half the point of Pride & Prejudice that Elizabeth didn't deviate from her true self? 3) There are a lot, and I mean A LOT of descriptions of scenery...it's great in moderation, but not when it's 2 pages long.

All in all, it's not a bad story, and it's a decent read. I would recommend it mostly to those who specifically enjoy historical fiction though. I give it a 3 out of 5.

16 comments:

  1. Ohh, I have this book and I didn't even notice the puncture wounds! So cool, thanks for pointing it out. And, yep, this was the first book I ever reviewed and my rating was pretty similar. I liked Amanda Grange's writing, but as for the story... a bit anticlimactic and I felt like we sort of lost who Elizabeth was in P&P. Great review! :)

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  2. I reviewed this recently as well. And I agree with your assessment. I also didn't like the departure with the character of Elizabeth. I think my rating was one star lower, however. I wouldn't recommend this one at all.

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  3. Just thought I'd let you know I just saw the Lovely Bones and cried throughout the whole movie.

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  4. Mr. Darcy, Vampire sounds like a combo of my two favorite things. Too bad it was only 3/5 worthy.

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  5. I loved the clear, concise way you described the book's weak points. I agree that description needs to be laid on with a light hand.

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  6. great review!!!

    on other topics...went over to your interview and LOVED your answers! Also, love love love The Glass Castle. I forgot to add it to my list...so I am going to do that now!

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  7. Great review!! I'd still like to read this one, it looks too interesting!

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  8. Awesome review! It kind of sucks that the author doesn't keep a good hold on who Elizabeth is, but it sounds like a fun read. :)

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  9. All I can say is, Don't Mess with Mr. Darcy!

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  10. I read this book and enjoyed it, and have to agree with your weak points. There was a lot of description scenery now that you mention it. I read this as apart of the Everything Austen Challenge last summer, and out of all the Austen themed books out there, this is one of the better ones.

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  11. Have been thinking if I should read this one or no. But I think I will . Nice review :)

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  12. I think I'll skip this one. Darcy and Vampire really don't seem to go well in my mind. I love Pride & Prejudice, I think I don't want to spoil my good impressions of the lovely & original characters.

    But thanks for the nice review <3

    Btw, I gave you a little award here: http://bookwormonawhitecloud.blogspot.com/2010/01/adoration-of-jenna-fox-mary-pearce.html

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  13. Excellent review! It is a very cool cover.

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  14. Great review! I really want to read this, too bad you didn't like it too much. I think I might enjoy it, although I do hate sceneries that are written too descriptive, so I might agree with you there...

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  15. Loved reading the review. I need to get myself some prequels of Jane Austen novels. :)

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