Customer Reviews

Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Being a Jane Austen fan, I thought this book would be a lot of fun, especially as my daughter and I read it together and conferred on all the choices. Unfortunately, I ultimately found it irritating. The majority of the book is merely a retelling of "Pride and Prejudice" and other Austen novels, with much of the original wording kept intact. The originality of the book comes in the endings created by Webster when the reader makes Elizabeth's matrimonial decisions. Webster definitely went for the sensational here. In some scenarios, Elizabeth is murdered; in another, she causes her husband's death. In yet another, she has an affair, ends up in poverty, and, if I'm remembering correctly, takes her own life. None of these seemed the slightest bit plausible or true to Austen's world.

One aspect of the book I was looking forward to was the interaction between Elizabeth and characters from other Austen novels. However, the introduction of Mr. Knightly and other characters from "Emma" proved to be a disappointment. It would have been one thing if Elizabeth had met Mr. Knightly in the course of traveling, but instead the author portrays Mr. Knightly as a close family friend. Apparently, Donwell Abbey and Longbourn are practically next door to each other. Who knew?! Elizabeth appears to have taken the role of Emma in terms of her relationships with Mr. Knightly, the Bateses, and Frank Churchill, but Emma herself appears as a character. What a mess! Badly done, indeed.

I enjoy Jane Austen and am a fan of the medium of choose-your-own-adventure books, so I thought that this combination might be interesting, hoping that it could lift the CYOA genre out of the jeuvenalia category. Sadly, it doesn't do a very good job.

The text is a poor retelling of the events of Pride and Prejudice (and other Austen novels, to a lesser extent) without the pleasure of Austen's prose. It's like listening to someone give you a precis of the events of the novel - with a running commentary along the lines of "You are really astoundingly nosy."

And it's the commentary that really spoils it for me. It could possibly have been humorous if it were directed at the reader's choices, but by and large it concerns actions you have no control over. In fact, most of the really interesting decisions made by your character are spelled out for you without offering you any agency. The choices you get to make are often trivial and have very little to do with the outcome of the story.

On the whole, I found this book to be disappointing; more of an out-pouring of the author's desire to editorialise on Elizabeth Bennet's character, than an opportunity to creatively explore the alluring "what-ifs" of fiction.

I find the book more a curiosity, but falls short from being interesting. It's more like a game. Maybe the author should make a board game based on Austen's book. I was expecting analyses on her work. It is entertaining though, and I've been reading it for pleasure on my leisure time. But I'm not really enthralled by it.

thought this would be more of a choose your own adventure book, but it was set up more like a game with points... and most choices led you to the same page, no matter which choice you made.

You are Elizabeth Bennet and you get to make choices in your storyline of Pride and Prejudice. As long as you choose what happened in Pride and Prejudice (multiple choice answers) you end up with Darcy. Otherwise you end up a disgraced spinster, or murdered by Caroline Bingley, or married to Mr. Collins, or married to Henry Crawford,or married to Mr. Knightley, or married to Captain Wentworth- and many many other scenarios.

I had fun picking the wrong answer to see what would happen.

Cute but not really for the serious Janeite.

LOST IN AUSTEN is basically PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, the beloved novel by Jane Austen, written in modern English. Oh, and you can choose how the book ends.

At the end of every chapter you, Elizabeth Bennet, must make a decision. After making that decision you go to the specified page and read on until you come to the next two choices. Choice after choice, you must decide what Elizabeth should do in order to achieve her goal: to get married to a fine gentleman.

But the mission isn't as easy as it sounds. Not only do you have to make a choice between two objects at the end of each chapter, there is a point system that you must go through. Points fall under categories such as fortune, intelligence, accomplishments, and more.

Emma Campbell Webster writes a very fun and interactive book that all Austen fans will love. Even for those who aren't fans, this book gives a unique and entertaining twist to the classic that anyone can enjoy.

Reviewed by: Steph

I ordered this book because I wanted to get free shipping, and I was missing a couple dollars. To my surprise and delight, this turned out to be a very fun read! The diversions from the main plot are very ingenious, and you'll recognize many of Jane Austen's works. Totally worth getting.

I'm as much a geek as I am a Jane Austen fan; I grew up reading choose-your-own-adventure books and I play computer role-playing games. And on bad days at work when I've had to deal with really rude, uncouth people, I've been known to comically moan, "I wish I could crawl inside a Jane Austen novel and stay there." So when I stumbled across this book, it felt like a gift from above.

And that it is! The format is five parts choose-your-own-adventure, one part solo pen and paper role-playing game, so while a d4 or a d6 is optional for the coin-toss choice in the first stage, be prepared to have a character sheet at your side. I wound up pulling an Aeon Flux on my first go (ie. I wound up dying in a very ridiculous manner), but I had so much fun in spite of my failure, I'm looking forward to the other scenarios and paths this book has to offer!

Oh Sure it's not the best book ever written, but it is fun for a fluffy read on a rainy weekend. The choices cracked me up sometimes, and I can't wait to finish it and see what happens to me next. Great addition to any Austen lovers library.

Combine Jane Austen novels (especially Pride and Prejudice) with the children's Choose-Your-Own Adventure format, and you get this book. Your goal, of course, is a suitable marriage, but beware of the many possible complications. Made the wrong choice, turn to the wrong page, and disater may ensue. You might well be scarred for life, imprisoned in Northanger Abbey, or (worst of all fates) remain a spinster. Oh, well, you can always backtrack. Too bad life doesn't work that way.

This is a fun read. It doesn't require extensive knowledge of Austen, though some memory of the book or movie version would probably make it easier to keep track of characters (some of whom are imported from other Austen novels). It might be an effective way to involve students or would-be Austen readers with the novels. And, of course, for the young adult or old adult who enjoyed the choose-your-own-adventure stories as children, it's a pleasant bit of nostalgia.