Customer Reviews

Mr. Darcy, Vampyre

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice may be one of the most famous love stories in literature. Their uneasy courtship was wrought with misconceptions skillfully played out by Austen's acerbic wit and romantic tension. When they finally realize they are in love and destined to be together, their wedding seems to insure a happily-ever-after that Austen is famous for. What Elizabeth had envisioned as their carefree wedding tour in the Lake District is altered by her new husbands dour mood and abrupt change of destination. They will now travel to the Continent and visit Darcy relations in Paris, Switzerland and Italy, making the Grand Tour.

As they travel in the style and comfort afforded the master and mistress of Pemberley, Elizabeth sees a dark change come over her husband. He is preoccupied and incommunicative; not at all the man that she grew to love during their courtship in England. In fact, the farther they travel, the more distant he becomes. She pours out her troubles and concerns by writing letters to her dear sister Jane. Foremost in any young brides mind is the consummation of their marriage which Darcy is avoiding. Moreover, Darcy's formidable relations are more than just a bit odd and events along the way are unsettling. While in Paris Darcy's cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam privately admonishes him for marrying her. On the road to Switzerland his aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh surprisingly appears expressing her displeasure at his disgraceful alliance and begging him to end it. As their carriage climbs the mountain road, the local people jump away and cross themselves as they pass. When they arrive in the Alps at his uncle Count Polidori's castle, an axe displayed above a doorway mysteriously falls missing Darcy by inches. The servants say it is a sign that Elizabeth will cause his death. Later, a fortune teller warns her to beware. "There are dangers all around you ...not all who walk on two legs are men...not all who fly are beasts." When the castle is stormed by angry villagers, Darcy and Elizabeth flee into the mountains where they are attacked by the mob. In the confusion of the fight they are separated. Against all odds the crowd is subdued. Darcy is disheveled and unharmed except for the blood on his mouth. Elizabeth is horrified, thinking he is hurt. We, suspect otherwise.

Their journey continues to Venice, and on to Rome. More seeing the sights, more friends and more subtle comments and minor events as the plot moseys along. The descriptions of the countryside and cities are similar to a vintage travelogue. Not only are the Darcy's taking the Grand Tour, so are we. The scenes of the castle in the Alps, the fortune teller and the angry mob play gentle homage to the Gothic novels so popular in Jane Austen's time and parodied in her own novel Northanger Abbey. The difference here is this novel is not a burlesque or a spoof. It is dead serious, and that is one of its foibles. Lack of humor. No Catherine Morland in her nightgown peering into a ponderous chest. Only poor Lizzy unhappily dragged about Europe, neglected by her husband, and totally unaware that his indifference is a front to his dark secret. When did our spirited and clever Lizzy become willing to put up with such treatment? She used to taunt and tease him into submission. Now she can't seem to find him to put him in his place. Yes, he is a vampyre and he is tormented over not being able to tell his wife about his terrible curse, but there still needs to be some conversation to develop their relationship. Over three quarters of the way into the book and I was still impatiently waiting for the big reveal. Is this really a vampyre novel? Where's Darcy's coffin with a bit of Pemberley terra firma thrown in?

I will attempt to forestall any reproof and readily admit that I admire Amanda Grange's courage and creativity. The novel was a bold move that unfortunately did not quite fulfill my expectations.

Laurel Ann, Austenprose

Pride and Prejudice is my favorite story of all time. I am a huge fan of Jane Austen, and of many of the variations of Darcy & Elizabeth that have followed the masterpiece of P&P. I am also a big fan of the Twilight series and of the HBO show Trueblood, so I was intrigued to read this. I also very much enjoyed Ms. Grange's previous book, Mr. Darcy's Diary. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Mr. Darcy, Vampyre. I know this book is purely for fantastical entertainment, and to call it ridiculous and unbelievable would be unreasonable since the book is about vampires. I am not taking that angle, even though I don't think Ms. Grange made Darcy or any member of his family convincing vampires, and they did end up coming across as slightly ridiculous.

The story line was forced and the plot was flimsy. For the first 200 pages there really is no plot. They just travel around Europe meeting Darcy's vampy friends, none of whom really have a huge impact on the story. They spend so much time conversing with these other people in the book and when they do speak directly to each other, it is always mundane small talk. J.A. would not approve! Darcy and Elizabeth's conversations in P&P were always inflected with wit, humor and sarcasm; and in the end, passion and love.

Ultimately, I think a major problem with the book is that the reader is taking it all in from Elizabeth's point of view, who is completely unaware that Darcy is a vampire. The reader knows from the beginning of the book that Darcy is a vampire from the title itself. Therefore, it is a very slow read since we are constantly waiting for Lizzie to figure it all out. Although, Stephenie Meyer did a great job with this in Twilight; we know Edward is a vampire but the book is still from Bella's viewpoint and we do have to wait for her to figure it out. But Meyer left me racing through the pages to find out what happens next. That just didn't happen for me with the book.

I was looking for more suspense, drama and darkness, and it lacked all of the above. The only suspenseful thing in the whole story is waiting for Darcy to consummate his marriage. Even that got old after a while. There was so much build up about them having sex and when they finally do, Ms. Grange only devotes about one sentence to it. I'm not a huge fan of long, drawn out love scenes, but since she made it such a major part of the story line, she should have devoted a little more of the plot to the resolution of that one major issue.

In conclusion, I sadly would not recommend this read. I think that Ms. Grange recognized that vampires are a huge part of pop culture right now, and wouldn't it be a great idea to write a book about them and the lead characters of P&P, the greatest love story of all time? Good concept, but just missed the mark entirely.

Overview:

Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are finally wed and are about to embark on their wedding tour (honeymoon) to the Lake District when Mr. Darcy declares a change of plans. Eager to introduce Elizabeth to his distant friends and acquaintances on the European continent, Mr. Darcy convinces his new wife to follow a new destination. Soon, they are on a ship, heading towards the now-at-peace France. Throughout their travels, they learn more about one another, and Elizabeth discovers a dark and dangerous secret about her husband and his many friends.

My review:

This book started off well. I liked reading about the places they visited and the people they met. I liked the adventures they encountered and the parties they attended. However, there was just soo much missing from the story that it was an almost pointless book.

All the characters seem to be disconnected and undeveloped. Witty dialogue is gone in exchange for thoughts of self-doubt and inward sadness. Mr. and Mrs. Darcy barely speak, and when they do, it reads like a pathetic romance novel instead of a Jane Austen masterpiece. Even the occasional allusions to the original manuscript are misplaced and forced, convincing me that this book may have been improved without them. This story is not much "vampire" and barely "Austen", making it a very dull read with a most uninteresting end.

Side note:

I have a pet peeve about the way the author constantly refers to Mr. Darcy as just "Darcy". She even has Elizabeth calling him Darcy. Wouldn't it flow more if they were both called by their first names or both referred to as Mr. or Mrs. Darcy? The inconsistency is annoying when reading a book 300 pages in length!

Honestly, I blame Stephenie Meyer for the existence of this book. For some reason, people are equating her sparkly vampire romance novel "Twilight" to the classic, understated novel of manners, "Pride and Prejudice."

So you can probably guess the entire point of "Mr Darcy, Vampyre" -- to portray the first months of the Darcy marriage, in which Mr. Darcy spontaneously morphs from a happy and contented man into... Edward Cullen. Amanda Grange admittedly does her best to stick to Jane Austen's style and manners, but these characters are definitely not hers -- and the meandering, increasingly surreal plot ended up just giving me a headache.

After their double wedding with Jane and Bingley, Lizzie and Darcy's planned wedding tour of the Lake District is cancelled -- Darcy wants to show Lizzie the continent. So Lizzie is whisked off to post-Revolutionary France, and finds herself mingling with Darcy's seductive, glamorous French relatives and friends. And despite a brief attack from Lady Catherine, she and Darcy head off into the deep forests of the Alps to see another old relative of his, Count Polidori (oooo, a homage).

Unsurprisingly, Lizzie suspects that something weird is up with her beloved Darcy, especially since he hasn't turned up in the bedroom at all. And apparently the rioting villagers trying to kill Darcy and all his friends'n'family hasn't clued her in that these people aren't just aristocrats. As their wedding tour of Europe continues into other ancient cities and palaces, Lizzie begins to suspect (about time!) that there's something weird up with her husband. Apparently she hasn't noticed the title of the book.

For the record, I'm not opposed to the idea of giving supernatural twists to old stories -- in fact, it seems like a cool idea if done well (and "Jane Eyre" seems like the perfect chance). The problem is that rather than trying to make "Mr. Darcy, Vampyre" stand on its own, Amanda Grange tries to turn it into a sort of Regency-era "Twilight" -- there's a lot of Darcy valiantly rejecting Lizzie's sexual advances, being moody and Byronic, and dazzling her with his wealth and glamorous vampire buddies.

I'll admit, Grange's writing style is very lovely, full of lush descriptions of Parisian fashions, Alpine forests and ancient Venetian splendor . The problem is that she wraps this lovely prose around a nonexistent plot -- Lizzie and Darcy just meander around Europe, having humorless small talk and chitchatting with random friendly vampires who all think Lizzie is just awesome. Attempts to spice the plot up are downright surreal -- hello, random pitchfork-waving villagers and sea pirates! You arrived just in time!

And these aren't Austen's Lizzie and Darcy -- Lizzie is suddenly overanxious and passive, just going along with everything Darcy does because she Wuvs Him So. She's also dense as a brick -- it's glaringly obvious from the first few chapters that Darcy is a vampire (albeit a daywalking one), yet it takes most of the book for Lizzie to develop even vague suspicions. And Darcy has suddenly become all weird, with lots of bipolar mood swings, fits of jealousy and a tendency to talk only obliquely about his life.

And they also do absurd stuff that no Regency couple would do -- I can excuse Darcy by virtue of his vampirism, but Lizzie? They practically have neck-nipping sex in the middle of a lake while skinny-dipping, and she doesn't show a blush of embarrassment when his AUNT shows up. They even have a squabble with Lady Catherine while stark naked. Yes, I am serious.

"Mr. Darcy, Vampyre" might have been a decent twist on the usual "Pride and Prejudice" sequels if done right, but Amanda Grange wastes all that potential on ridiculous characterizations and a deadweight plot.

If you read these reviews like I do (in order to decide whether or not to buy the book) I'd suggest you don't. The negative reviews of this book thus far are all correct. We already know the big secret that Elizabeth doesn't, and yet we're forced to see her turn out to be very insecure and nothing like the character we know and love. Mr. Darcy isn't Austen-like, either. If you think you'll enjoy reading about people you don't recognize from the original Pride and Prejudice intertwined with vampires, you might like the book. Otherwise, it's a waste of time.

Reeeaaallly bad. Absolutely the thinnest, flimsiest plot imaginable. None of Austen's charm or wit, none of the mystery or romance of a half-way decent vampire story. The plot consists mainly of Darcy hauling Elizabeth around Europe meeting 'mysterious' friends and family, her being slightly uneasy but ultimately clueless. Darcy's one of those tortured, self-loathing vampires, who married Elizabeth but can't bear to inflict his curse upon her. After he saves her in the end from some even worse baddies they find a way to solve everything so unique and compelling that I can't bear to give it away with a spoiler. Elizabeth doesn't figure out what's going on with him until second-to-last chapter, whereupon her reaction (and the reader's)isn't so much acceptance as stupor, since at this point nothing makes any sense at all.

In short, less an Austen-vampire mash up, with everyone so out of character, more like a P&P Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy fall in love and get married in spite of the obstacles that come between them. Now that they are husband and wife they can finally live a normal and happy life. So why has Mr. Darcy suddenly become moody and distant? Throughout their honeymoon journey, he is unresponsive and secretive, even refuses to consummate his marriage to Eliza. Disappointed, Elizabeth expresses her concerns in her letters to her sister Jane. What is going on? Has Mr. Darcy gone back to his previous disapproval of Elizabeth and her family? Has his aunt Lady Catherine hit a nerve? Or are things more sinister than she could imagine? Could Mr. Darcy be a vampire? And will Elizabeth have to stay married and in love with such a creature?

The vampire genre has become a pop culture phenomenon. It is very popular in literature and it has migrated over to television and the big screen. Romance, mystery, literary and even teen novels have embraced this genre, and new as well as established authors are cashing in on this success. It doesn't surprise me that this new phenomenon has migrated to the classics. Pride and Prejudice is without a doubt Jane Austen's most accomplished novel. Dozens of sequels, remakes and spin-offs have been created by various authors, becoming a genre onto itself. What's going to happen now that these sequels/remakes/spin-offs have been combined with paranormal elements? Will this become a another trend? Amanda Grange has created quite an interesting novel. An odd choice, no doubt, for if any classic would bear the vampire genre would be Wuthering Heights, even Jane Eyre, but Pride and Prejudice? The book is somewhat entertaining and it did keep me engaged despite the somewhat slow beginning, but somehow it failed to deliver. It didn't make a believer out of me. Some things just seem too far-fetched, like Elizabeth meeting Darcy's vampire circle. Still, if you love Pride and Prejudice and vampire novels, you'd want to know what it's like to combine the two. Just don't be surprised if you're left feeling bereft.

This novel totally missed the mark. The premise of vampires involved in the Darcy/Bennett love story was intriguing. Grange's handling of it is dull and she can't even keep Elizabeth Bennett intelligent. A denser heroine than her Lizzie Darcy I have seldom encountered! I agree with a previous review that noted Grange spent an inordinate number of pages on boring salon parties, inane conversation, and description of the Darcy's European travels. She should have concentrated her efforts developing a better story line and keeping her hero and heroine loyal to their Austen character traits (ie. intelligent and able to carry on a witty conversation). I also got the impression that Grange refers back to scenes from the A&E Colin Firth version of P&P way too often - did she really even read Austen's novel? Don't waste your time reading this book.

While I give the story 1 star, I give the TITLE 5 stars. What an intriguing subject! Pride and Predjudice is one of my all time favorite stories and I was most curious to see how the author would weave in this interesting slant of Darcy being a vampyre. Sadly, the story was drab and boring....but I suffered through to the end hoping for some redeaming aspect. Nope. Do yourself a favor and pass by this one. I wish I had.

I'm not going to temper this with drabble about the plot. No one needs to read the story in a review. I'll say my few words and be done. I never write reviews. Ever. I just don't waste my time with them. Until now. I was driven to do this by the fact that I spent money on this book and instead I could have read some bad fanfiction that had a better storyline for free. This was in one word "Horrible". It was like reading about a trainwreck between the characters of P&P and Twilight. The characters may have been called Elizabeth and Darcy, but they had the actions and emotions of Edward and Bella. (Elizabeth complains about him not touching her as a wife and he turns away and acts tormented.) It doesn't fit with their personalities that we have come to love over the years. I kept reading it with the hope that it would redeem itself towards the end and sadly it never did. The zombified re-write was successful because it introduced the characters from the ground up, this missed its mark by trying to get us to beleive that the Eliz. and Darcy we know and love would have EVER acted the way they do in this book. Just goes to show how easily this fool was parted from her money.