What I love best is seeing multiple perspectives on books that I'm reading, have read, or intend to read. When Sasha sent me this guest review, I was pleasantly surprised. Without knowing it, we were reading the same book trilogy within days of each other! Check out my review of An Assembly Such as This and Sasha's below!
By: Sasha Muradali, guest blogger
This is not your typical romance novel, nor would I classify it as romance per se because An Assembly Such As This (Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentlemen) by Pamela Aidan is the author's take, from the point-of-view of Fitzwilliam Darcy, on Pride and Prejudice, a classic novel, by Jane Austen. However, well-acknowledged, Pride and Prejudice is a love story.
An Assembly Such as This is the first part of a trilogy (Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentlemen) that takes us through the all too familiar journey so many of us have come to love. The other two novels are called Duty and Desire and These Three Remain. This specific volume ventures into the first third of Pride and Prejudice up until when Darcy and the Bingley family leave Hertfordshire for London after the fiasco at the Netherfield Park Ball.
You cannot truly appreciate or understand the depths of this novel without having had read Pride and Prejudice previously. There is a lot that the author takes for chance that you already know.
While, many of us have had our assumptions on that Darcy feels, we've never really seen it in writing before. And as someone who is very skeptical about anything that interprets Pride and Prejudice, this first novel of Aidan's trilogy is nothing short of absolutely fantastic.
The author takes her readers through Darcy's first meeting with Elizabeth, why he behaves they way that he does, and how often, what was once seen as him being tough and perhaps cruel, was his natural decorum, or way of flirting holding on to that very decorum.
Specifically, Aidan is able to add some of her own little quirks into the story - consistent letters between Georgiana and Darcy, a look into Darcy's private life as male head of house. This is actually one of the most unique aspects, and what I enjoyed reading the most, because as a reader you get to see an illustration of how Georgiana was really feeling post-Mr. Wickham. These letters also serve as a means to understand how truly and deeply Darcy cares for Georgiana - they also show how often he really puts others before himself.
This fact helps the reader understand further his decision to separate Bingley from Jane Bennett; in An Assembly Such as This, Darcy is working together selflessly with Caroline to protect Charles, not harm him. It would be important to remember that in the original Pride and Prejudice, the ball at Netherfield Park turned into somewhat of a fiasco between the younger Bennett girls running wild with the officers, Mrs. Bennett running her mouth off and, the Bennett's cousin, Mr. Collins, becoming a public laughing stock. These circumstances are part of what fuels Darcy's opinion of country manners being 'savage.'
If you are looking to laugh, gain a near flawless interpretation of Pride and Prejudice through the eyes of Fitzwilliam Darcy, try your eyes on An Assembly Such As This.
Here on Love Passion Romance we will be featuring reviews on the other two in the trilogy shortly. So stay tuned and don't forget to remember the tag 'Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentlemen.'
4.5 of 5 stars.
Find and buy more Pamela Aidan novels at great prices.
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4.5 Stars, A-C, Business, Comedy of Manners, Gentry, Great Britain, Guest Reviews, Jane Austen, Regency, Virgin Heroine
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6 comments ↓
I read The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy by Mary Street several years ago, which claimed to show Darcy’s side. It was so awful I couldn’t take it, though did finish it. I admit, I was leary of this trilogy because of that experience, though I’ve since read several alternate-versions and enjoyed them. (Abigail Reynolds, Linda Berdoll, Carrie Bebris, even Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies which actually needed more zombies!)
I might have to give Pamela Aidan a try, now. Thanks for the in-depth review!
Oh no! Now I’m scared to read Mary Street – I checked her novel out when I checked out the trilogy.
Keira,
Read it, don’t let my opinion sway you…but beware the Wickham/Lydia wedding scene. I didn’t mind the lack of romance on his part, but I do think it was poorly written and from what I remember Darcy seemed to simply know things he couldn’t have given the first person POV.
I so loved P&P. I actually have the first two in this trilogy as I remember the third one sold out so I wasn’t able to get the whole trilogy so I didn’t want to start without being able to read the 3rd one.
Anyone read this one and any thoughs: Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride: A Sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice by Helen Halstead
and those by Amanda Grange? Rebecca Collins? Abigail Reynolds ?
I’m not sure where to venture into ’sequels’ or related books to P&P. I do have these, any input?:
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues by Linda Berdoll (what you think of her books Isabel?)
and
The Second Mrs. Darcy: A Novel by Elizabeth Aston
I have Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride on hold with my library.
Read one Amanda Grange – an ARC of her Mr. Darcy, Vampyre and was very impressed. More details in my upcoming review.
I have read two Reynolds and liked them both. I have another of her variations being shipped to me and several on wishlist with Paperback Swap.
The rest I haven’t heard anything about.
Caffey, I really enjoyed Abigail Reynolds’s…um, I read a couple but can’t remember the titles just now. (Sleep deprived!) They’re alternative-versions of P&P, for instance when Elizabeth marries Darcy the first time he asks because she’s afraid she won’t receive another proposal. Then she worries he doesn’t love her as she’s falling in love with him.
I REALLY liked Linda Berdoll’s until the very end, I thought it weakened the overall story, but it was well worth the read.
Carrie Bebris writes Elizabeth and Darcy mysteries, which are good as well.
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