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A review by doughtah
Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa
Did not finish book. Stopped at 31%.
I went in expecting a Pride and Prejudice remix where ‘Elizabeth’ was a transman and the story would change from there but would retain its Regency era details, sans any anti-trans attitudes.
The book is very YA however and ‘Elizabeth’ was a transboy, not a man, and the regency aspect of the original story was quite glossed over. The characters didn’t speak in a way that made sense for the era, their vocabulary felt off, and their habits were not historically accurate. For example, in the book, Oliver (‘Elizabeth’’s name in the book) says he never learned how to play card games because it’s not ‘ladylike’ and his mother didnt want to teach him or his sisters, but cards were a regular social thing at the time for all genders.
Another issue was that the author rewrote certain scenes in his own way that didn’t handle certain social aspects as well as the original book did. I would have preferred him to not deal with the canon scenes at all and have his own story rather than try to hit the same exact beats as the book or movies did.
I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for the regency aspect in this retelling. I think the author has a good narrative voice and I’m certain other readers could enjoy this. I, unfortunately, did not.
The book is very YA however and ‘Elizabeth’ was a transboy, not a man, and the regency aspect of the original story was quite glossed over. The characters didn’t speak in a way that made sense for the era, their vocabulary felt off, and their habits were not historically accurate. For example, in the book, Oliver (‘Elizabeth’’s name in the book) says he never learned how to play card games because it’s not ‘ladylike’ and his mother didnt want to teach him or his sisters, but cards were a regular social thing at the time for all genders.
Another issue was that the author rewrote certain scenes in his own way that didn’t handle certain social aspects as well as the original book did. I would have preferred him to not deal with the canon scenes at all and have his own story rather than try to hit the same exact beats as the book or movies did.
I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for the regency aspect in this retelling. I think the author has a good narrative voice and I’m certain other readers could enjoy this. I, unfortunately, did not.