Reviews

Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa

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edmwdm's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

lbarsk's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

I wanted to love this, I really did! A trans retelling of my much-beloved PRIDE AND PREJUDICE? Hell yes! But it took me a lot of stop-and-starts to get into the book, and ultimately it just didn't grab me.

I think, in some ways, having this retelling be YA instead of NA or full Adult made it a tad hard for me to get really immersed into, which is fully on me for being a 32-year-old reading YA! I would recommend this book to queer and trans younger readers who are also into Jane Austen, I think.

The problem with trying to adapt Austen is that they're romances, yes, but they're also Social Commentaries in a pretty major way, and so if you remove that aspect -- all her witticisms and jabs at the unbelievable inanities of Polite Society, issues of class, gender politics in a particular way -- then it just doesn't ring true to me. Gabe Cole Novoa does have some social commentary, of course, given that Oliver Bennet is trans and Darcy is gay, and it's 1812 in London, but it isn't the same. And that isn't the point of this book, I don't think! So of course it isn't the same! It just makes it hard for a dyed-in-the-wool Austinhead such as myself to get really grabbed.

Again, though, I'm pretty sure I'd recommend this -- and other books in the Remixed Classics series, like Anna-Marie McLemore's Gatsby redux that I read last summer -- to younger queer folks who want to see themselves in Classics of the Western Canon.

casspom's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.75

Loved the retelling! In my opinion, Darcy’s coldness makes a lot more sense if he doesn’t actually like women. I believed in their love story even more than the original