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uncommonlybound's review against another edition
3.0
Read for Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge 2020, Task #22: Read a horror book published by an indie press (Quirk Books)
off2explore's review against another edition
5.0
Simply delightful. I found myself laughing on nearly every page.
tipsytarsier's review against another edition
3.0
I was really disappointed in this one after reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I knew they were adapted by two different authors but I hadn't realized the differences would be so striking. In PPZ, Austen's words were used, and the extras were added so seamlessly that you couldn't tell where one author merged into another (heh, well, except for the zombies bit - that kinda made the transitions obvious). In SSSM, it's more of the idea of Austen's plot, an attempt to keep the same sort of language, but the writing and the story are very, very different. Characters' names are the same, and the plot follows the same line as the original, but that's about it. I liked the seamless interweaving in PPZ, and found the way it was done in SSSM to be less than thrilling.
anyaphil's review against another edition
I never write reviews. But this one I feel I need to explain, I technically DNF’d (I skipped around to the end just to see) but I was struggling to care throughout this book. Maybe because sense and sensibility was my least favorite Austen, maybe because I’m not into sea monsters, I don’t know. I just wasn’t interested in what would happen on the next page. I thought maybe this would help me like sense and sensibility more but alas, it was not to be.
syazwana17's review against another edition
3.0
this is such a weird book that I have read. I mean this book remind me of Pirates of Caribbean and I never read this kind of genre or novel. But so far, I'm enjoyed reading this even though there is certain part I didn't understand(English is my second languages) also there some parts that are kind of boring that I skipped it.
I like how this book write, like how the person is describes and something is describes is so beautiful. the illustration of this book is so good I like it. And for some scenes of sea monsters is so gruesome. but there is this part even though sea monsters is attacking they still talking like nothing happens. haha.
but overall I enjoyed reading this book.
I like how this book write, like how the person is describes and something is describes is so beautiful. the illustration of this book is so good I like it. And for some scenes of sea monsters is so gruesome. but there is this part even though sea monsters is attacking they still talking like nothing happens. haha.
but overall I enjoyed reading this book.
fetch_me_a_cinnabun's review against another edition
5.0
(I'm going to try and keep this spoiler free and brief... two things I'm not very good at so bear with me!)
I'm really annoyed that I owned this book for so long before I read it, especially because I absolutely adored [b:Pride and Prejudice and Zombies|5899779|Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, #1)|Seth Grahame-Smith|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320449653s/5899779.jpg|6072122]"Pride & Prejudice & Zombies" from the same publisher!
Whenever I pick up these books, I always think that it's just going to be the Austen story but with a monster background/mutated characters. But they're really not!
I was so impressed at the amount of different little sub stories and settings that are separate to the original story but coincide so well! It's also a testament to Ben H. Winters that the writing blends quite seamlessly, so that sometimes it's hard to separate Austen's work from his (even if there is a giant octopus present!).
I especially love this books because although I have read the original, I found it a little dull and slow-paced at times. This adds action where action is lacking yet without going overboard. It makes the story much easier and more enjoyable to read (in my own, humble opinion, of course!).
I also love the surreal humour which comes from blending Austen-era language and sensibilities (see what I did there!) with dangerous, and mostly ridiculous, situations!
If you're like me and think there was always a space for some tentacles in Sense and Sensibility, or if you're not and love Austen and a good book, then you should definitely read!
I'm really annoyed that I owned this book for so long before I read it, especially because I absolutely adored [b:Pride and Prejudice and Zombies|5899779|Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, #1)|Seth Grahame-Smith|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320449653s/5899779.jpg|6072122]"Pride & Prejudice & Zombies" from the same publisher!
Whenever I pick up these books, I always think that it's just going to be the Austen story but with a monster background/mutated characters. But they're really not!
I was so impressed at the amount of different little sub stories and settings that are separate to the original story but coincide so well! It's also a testament to Ben H. Winters that the writing blends quite seamlessly, so that sometimes it's hard to separate Austen's work from his (even if there is a giant octopus present!).
I especially love this books because although I have read the original, I found it a little dull and slow-paced at times. This adds action where action is lacking yet without going overboard. It makes the story much easier and more enjoyable to read (in my own, humble opinion, of course!).
I also love the surreal humour which comes from blending Austen-era language and sensibilities (see what I did there!) with dangerous, and mostly ridiculous, situations!
If you're like me and think there was always a space for some tentacles in Sense and Sensibility, or if you're not and love Austen and a good book, then you should definitely read!
victoriaharris001's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
serenaac's review against another edition
3.0
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben Winters is another mash-up of classic fiction and fantasy. The basic story is the same as the Marianne and Elinor deal with abject poverty, searching for love and affection, and relatives who are less than pleasant, while at the same time navigating their sisterly relationship. The twist is that sea monsters have taken control of the water and attack humans daring to cross the sea or live below it in Sub-Station Beta.
"Colonel Brandon, the friend of Sir John, suffered from a cruel affliction, the likes of which the Dashwood sisters had heard of, but never seen firsthand. He bore a set of long, squishy tentacles protruding grotesquely from his face, writhing this way and that, like hideous living facial hair of slime green." (Page 37)
Readers will either enjoy reading a mash-up of Jane Austen's work with its fantastical and historically inaccurate elements (i.e. the existence of wet suits, submarines, and underwater domes where people live and work) or they will throw the book aside as ridiculous. The trouble with these genre benders is that they often polarize readers in one camp or another. Unlike Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which merely inserts new sentences to achieve the goal of making the Bennets zombie slayers, Winters creates a story nearly all his own, but using Austen's Dashwood sisters.
"'It is impossible that she did not know,' Sir John answered, 'For a sister to a sea witch is certain to be a sea witch herself.' . . . 'As I said, the witches take the physical form of human women,' explained Sir John. 'There is nothing they can do about their personalities.'" (Page 320)
By remaking Austen's world and threatening the characters in it with deranged sea monsters, Winters takes a number of liberties with the text, although he does maintain Austen's style for the most part. However, unlike Grahame-Smith's mash-up where readers discover how the Bennets became skillful zombie slayers, the mysterious Sub-Station Beta and its "experiments" are not revealed or even hinted at for most of the book. This flaw can make it difficult for readers to continue reading this adventure because so much is unknown and the readers are scrambling in the dark as characters run from monsters, play games, chat while being attacked by monsters, bring up mysterious smoking mountains and five-pointed stars, and generally seem to shrug off the danger.
Overall, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters resembles the dangers of other sea-faring novels -- even 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea -- and mixes it with ramped up social commentary a la Jane Austen. The latter half of the novel is the most action packed and is almost hurried along. But by the end, readers get swept up in adventure, myth, and outrageous challenges and have nothing to do but enjoy the ride.
"Colonel Brandon, the friend of Sir John, suffered from a cruel affliction, the likes of which the Dashwood sisters had heard of, but never seen firsthand. He bore a set of long, squishy tentacles protruding grotesquely from his face, writhing this way and that, like hideous living facial hair of slime green." (Page 37)
Readers will either enjoy reading a mash-up of Jane Austen's work with its fantastical and historically inaccurate elements (i.e. the existence of wet suits, submarines, and underwater domes where people live and work) or they will throw the book aside as ridiculous. The trouble with these genre benders is that they often polarize readers in one camp or another. Unlike Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which merely inserts new sentences to achieve the goal of making the Bennets zombie slayers, Winters creates a story nearly all his own, but using Austen's Dashwood sisters.
"'It is impossible that she did not know,' Sir John answered, 'For a sister to a sea witch is certain to be a sea witch herself.' . . . 'As I said, the witches take the physical form of human women,' explained Sir John. 'There is nothing they can do about their personalities.'" (Page 320)
By remaking Austen's world and threatening the characters in it with deranged sea monsters, Winters takes a number of liberties with the text, although he does maintain Austen's style for the most part. However, unlike Grahame-Smith's mash-up where readers discover how the Bennets became skillful zombie slayers, the mysterious Sub-Station Beta and its "experiments" are not revealed or even hinted at for most of the book. This flaw can make it difficult for readers to continue reading this adventure because so much is unknown and the readers are scrambling in the dark as characters run from monsters, play games, chat while being attacked by monsters, bring up mysterious smoking mountains and five-pointed stars, and generally seem to shrug off the danger.
Overall, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters resembles the dangers of other sea-faring novels -- even 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea -- and mixes it with ramped up social commentary a la Jane Austen. The latter half of the novel is the most action packed and is almost hurried along. But by the end, readers get swept up in adventure, myth, and outrageous challenges and have nothing to do but enjoy the ride.
xan_van_rooyen's review against another edition
3.0
Having never read Jane Austen, I think I probably missed out on a lot of the satire and intended humor. However, this book was still enjoyable even if it was rather absurd.