Fiction Addict

Genre: Adaptation, Science Fiction, Romance

Publisher: Ulysses Press

Publication Date: October 1, 2009

Reviewed by Lori Twichell

As part of my recent Austen binge, I thought to myself that I was reviewing zombies in the Regency era, why not vampires? After all, vampire folklore has a longer history than the current zombie fads. It might be interesting to explore.

In this book, Fitzwilliam Darcy, our favorite romantic hero, is a dhampir. That’s half human half vampire. When the book opens, he’s already fighting his feelings for Elizabeth Bennet and the two of them have stolen away for several evening adventures that would have been considered scandalous had they been caught.  Darcy fights his feelings, not because of Elizabeth’s pride or stature in society, but because of the curse that has followed his family for generations. He doesn’t want to pass the curse on to another generation, and so he has decided that he will remain single for all of his days. That is, until he meets Elizabeth Bennet. He then falls madly in love with her and spends the rest of the story trying to figure out what he should do with these feelings.

The story differs from the original while remaining true enough to make sure that the main characters all ended in the same general manner as the original.  This is a love story. It’s about passion, desire, romance and overcoming obstacles. It was a fun read but it took me separating my ideas and expectations and putting them aside before I could enjoy it. After I divorced myself from the attachment to Austen’s original, I pulled back and quit trying so hard to make it fit into what I already knew and loved. Then it became a much better read.

Rather than a tried and true adaptation of this classic romance, it felts more like a vampire love story into which our favorite characters were dropped. It was hard to imagine Darcy saying some of the things attributed to him in this book and likewise, difficult to see Elizabeth acting in the manner that she did.

As I mentioned previously though, once I removed the expectations and viewed it through a fresh lens, it was a good story that was interesting to follow. With the crazy vampire phenomenon all over publishing right now,  (honestly you can’t drop a popsicle stick in a fiction section these days without staking a vampire book) I’m sure that many will find pleasure and delight in this book bringing together the latest craze with a tried and true classic favorite.