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2.96 AVERAGE
2.96 AVERAGE
Oh how I wanted to love this book but it just fell short. I thought PD James did an admirable job of continuing the lives of Pemberly's residents, but the actual crime and the story hit me as dull and overworked. Or not worked enough. I'm not certain what was missing for me, but it was substantial.
Not bad, but the mystery could've even more fun and it needed way more Lizzie. The characters felt very true to the original though.
I did not manage my expectations about this novel well. As a murder mystery, it was okay, I suppose--I'm not a big murder mystery person. And James did a great job of picking up the "voice" of Austen in talking about Pemberley and its inhabitants (although she's not nearly as funny in her observations as Austen was). But I had really hoped that the story would be more about Darcy and Elizabeth, and so I was disappointed that there was not more focus on these two favorite characters of all time.
A dull, dry, and passionless read with far too much reiteration of events in various compositions and too little suspense for a murder mystery. An unsatisfying addition to the "sequels to Pride and Prejudice" books. I'd look elsewhere for more satisfying adventures with Mr. and Mrs. Darcy.
This book was just plain boring. I listened to it and about half way through I was like, wait, it’s half over? Almost nothing has happened yet. Then I was just waiting for it to end.
I got this book from a Goodreads giveaway. I read it quickly with interest. It seemed to start well in feeling like Jane Austen, but then it didn't anymore. I tried to work out what bothered me, and I think I finally have it. Austen's books are told from the viewpoint of the heroine, and certain things happen off stage because as a woman in that time, she wasn't able to be there. For so much of this book, we had to get a male viewpoint, because all the legal proceedings were in the men's world - and this view did not ring true.
Also, there really was no mystery - more time was spent on working out how to deal with the aftermath than sorting out what happened. It was an interesting idea necessarily hamstrung by the author's need to stay within the cultural boundaries of the time period. I think it was as good as she was going to get. I will also say I thought the denouement was too quickly wrapped up and dangerously close to oversimplified.
Also, there really was no mystery - more time was spent on working out how to deal with the aftermath than sorting out what happened. It was an interesting idea necessarily hamstrung by the author's need to stay within the cultural boundaries of the time period. I think it was as good as she was going to get. I will also say I thought the denouement was too quickly wrapped up and dangerously close to oversimplified.
This is one of the best, if not THE best of the Pride & Prejudice sequels I have read, and I've tried quite a few of them. Most are disappointing, if not downright unreadable; this one not so much. I especially enjoyed the way Ms. James was able to capture the flavor of the language of the original, particularly in her introductory chapter. She gives over the formal language to more informal prose in telling the story, and this is only as it should be.
If there was anything disappointing at all about the book, it was merely that there had to be a death, and that it had to be a mystery, as opposed to a "pure" sequel, whatever that might be. And that the primary protagonists, Elizabeth and Darcy, have essentially no role in solving the mystery. The events of the plot play themselves out naturally, and the mystery is solved at the last instant, more or less by accident, or by a twist of fate, so to speak.
Still, this was a completely entertaining read, true enough to the original for even the most fastidious of Austen fans, yet providing a fresh and original tale that will be enjoyed by anyone who has wanted to read more about the lives of these two perennial literary favorites, Darcy and Elizabeth.
If there was anything disappointing at all about the book, it was merely that there had to be a death, and that it had to be a mystery, as opposed to a "pure" sequel, whatever that might be. And that the primary protagonists, Elizabeth and Darcy, have essentially no role in solving the mystery. The events of the plot play themselves out naturally, and the mystery is solved at the last instant, more or less by accident, or by a twist of fate, so to speak.
Still, this was a completely entertaining read, true enough to the original for even the most fastidious of Austen fans, yet providing a fresh and original tale that will be enjoyed by anyone who has wanted to read more about the lives of these two perennial literary favorites, Darcy and Elizabeth.
Death Comes To Pemberley is a charming visit to the world of Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, happily married for six years and living a quiet, joyful life at Pemberley with their two sons. Scandal and mystery intrude when an uninvited guest is murdered in the woodlands surrounding their property on the eve of their annual ball. With family honor and reputation on the line -- not to mention the life of the seemingly guilty party -- Darcy must try to ferret out the truth in order to restore the calm and dignity of his life with Elizabeth.
I enjoyed Death Comes To Pemberley. Despite being framed around a murder mystery, it was a lovely, pleasant reading experience. The author does a masterful job of echoing Jane Austen's voice in her writing, and it was easy to get caught up with the characters and families so familiar from Pride and Prejudice.
The mystery itself wasn't terribly difficult to figure out, nor was the outcome particularly surprising. Much of the narrative is told from the point of view of Darcy, and I would have like to have a bit more of Elizabeth's perspective and thoughts.
I generally don't read mysteries, and will admit that I've never read P.D. James before, so perhaps I lack the appreciation for the genre and the writer which would have led me to give more than three stars.
I really did enjoy this book, start to finish, but books that I find merely pleasant aren't usually the ones that I rave about. That said, I'm glad that I read it, and would recommend it wholeheartedly to Jane Austen fans.
I enjoyed Death Comes To Pemberley. Despite being framed around a murder mystery, it was a lovely, pleasant reading experience. The author does a masterful job of echoing Jane Austen's voice in her writing, and it was easy to get caught up with the characters and families so familiar from Pride and Prejudice.
The mystery itself wasn't terribly difficult to figure out, nor was the outcome particularly surprising. Much of the narrative is told from the point of view of Darcy, and I would have like to have a bit more of Elizabeth's perspective and thoughts.
I generally don't read mysteries, and will admit that I've never read P.D. James before, so perhaps I lack the appreciation for the genre and the writer which would have led me to give more than three stars.
I really did enjoy this book, start to finish, but books that I find merely pleasant aren't usually the ones that I rave about. That said, I'm glad that I read it, and would recommend it wholeheartedly to Jane Austen fans.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I must begin this review with the admission that I have only read a handful of mysteries, that I am not a fan of the genre in general, that I have never before read a P.D. James novel, and that I only picked this up because I am a fan of Pride and Prejudice. Thus, I’m not sure if my reaction to this book reflects on my personal lack of preference for the mystery genre itself or on this particular example of it. That caveat made…boy did large chunks of this book bore me.
Now, I read dialogue heavy books, and I write dialogue heavy books, so I’m certainly not opposed to large amounts of dialogue, but this book seemed to be 95% dialogue, much of it multi-paragraph-long soliloquies, which might not have bored me so much if those large swathes of dialogue were not primarily exposition or if anyone at any time, while speaking, seemed to express any depth of genuine emotion.
There was just so much exposition in this book. If you’ve already read Pride and Prejudice, you might get bogged down in the constant recapping of the plot of that book; if you haven’t, it will give you the background you need. Yet that wasn’t the extent of the exposition; it was almost as though the entire novel were told through exposition in dialogue form. There was very little “showing” at all. As for the mystery – some parts were a surprise to me, but most of it was highly predictable, and the build-up to the reveal was excruciating in its redundancy. As for the book as a P&P sequel…The characters are considerably less interesting than in P&P itself. They have no emotion, no complexity, and no interesting interactions with one another as human beings. Elizabeth is strangely passive. Anyone wanting to revisit their beloved P&P characters will likely be sorely disappointed; they just don't live in this book. As for mere mystery readers...well, I can't speak to mystery readers, but of the handful of mysteries I HAVE read, this was by far the worst.
Now, I read dialogue heavy books, and I write dialogue heavy books, so I’m certainly not opposed to large amounts of dialogue, but this book seemed to be 95% dialogue, much of it multi-paragraph-long soliloquies, which might not have bored me so much if those large swathes of dialogue were not primarily exposition or if anyone at any time, while speaking, seemed to express any depth of genuine emotion.
There was just so much exposition in this book. If you’ve already read Pride and Prejudice, you might get bogged down in the constant recapping of the plot of that book; if you haven’t, it will give you the background you need. Yet that wasn’t the extent of the exposition; it was almost as though the entire novel were told through exposition in dialogue form. There was very little “showing” at all. As for the mystery – some parts were a surprise to me, but most of it was highly predictable, and the build-up to the reveal was excruciating in its redundancy. As for the book as a P&P sequel…The characters are considerably less interesting than in P&P itself. They have no emotion, no complexity, and no interesting interactions with one another as human beings. Elizabeth is strangely passive. Anyone wanting to revisit their beloved P&P characters will likely be sorely disappointed; they just don't live in this book. As for mere mystery readers...well, I can't speak to mystery readers, but of the handful of mysteries I HAVE read, this was by far the worst.