Books #46 and 47: An Assembly Such as This and These Three Remain by Pamela Aiden (Books 1 and 3 of the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy)

Okay, so this last week, I've been on the ultimate Pride and Prejudice kick, which was started by reading Among the Janeites a week or two ago. I read the book (but I won't count it since I've already read it this year, and don't have anything interesting to say about it), watched every movie/miniseries version I could find (both the 1980 and 1995 miniseries, the Keira Knightley version, and the Bride and Prejudice Bollywood version), and then I ordered this P&P fan fiction from the library and POWERED through them in less than 2 days. I could not put them down--it was really very fascinating because they were the story of Pride and Prejudice but from Mr. Darcy's perspective, and I actually really enjoyed Aidan's interpretation and Mr. Darcy's character from her point of view.

These books are specifically mentioned in Among the Janeites, when the author interviews the author of the trilogy and talks about how every raves about how the style of her books is so similar to Austen's. I saw that they got mostly good reviews on Goodreads as well, although many people did not really like the second novel in the trilogy, which covers a "silent" period in P&P, or a few months when nothing really happens and Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth don't see each other. Meaning, the second novel of this trilogy is just randomly made up by the author with no real relation to the P&P story, and so I didn't feel at all interested or obligated to read it. I think I would have been annoyed to be reading through that one and trying to find out what was happening with Elizabeth, only to find out that they NEVER see each other in that book.

But anyways, lots of people said that Aidan had a style similar to Austen's, which made this trilogy a very popular P&P fan fiction. But I did not believe her style at all--and I think that Austen would have been offended to hear that. It was MUCH cheesier and more flowery and ridiculous than Austen's. Absolutely EVERYTHING that Elizabeth did was "heavenly" and "lovely" and "graceful" to Darcy (our narrator) and he was always longing to see her and hold her and when she walked by "a dart of hope would cleave his chest and force his limbs to stand still" and her laugh was like "cascades of pure joy." It was obnoxious to read this description of Elizabeth because it did not seem to accord with my view of her from the book itself. But I guess it did kind of accord with how Mr. Darcy was "bewitched" by Elizabeth, so I'm not sure how else you could have depicted that.

Aidan started writing the book to talk/find out about how Darcy truly could have made his transformation from the prideful, rude man at the beginning of P&P to the considerate and caring one at the end, and I think that's where the real strength of this rendition lies. I do really enjoy seeing how he changed himself and the specific steps and mindset that came about through and from his efforts. I also loved hearing Mr. Darcy's thoughts in relation to Caroline Bingley and Georgiana and it was fun to see these other secondary characters who aren't in the original book come to life to help illuminate Darcy's character and the plot. All in all, I stayed up reading both of these until 2:15 this morning, even though I had to get up early to teach, and I don't really regret it. It was totally engrossing and I loved it enough to overlook the occasional annoying language that Aidan uses to describe Elizabeth.