A review by toggle_fow
An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan

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

4.5

This series seems to have polarized the Pride and Prejudice fanfic-reading community.

What can I say? I went looking for an intricate, slow-moving, detailed 100k+ P&P longfic and I found it. I read this book as fast as my eyes could possibly go. I downloaded the next one immediately. I'm a little bit deeply annoyed that I'm having to wait on hold for book 3.

It's literally just a retelling of all of Pride and Prejudice, but from Darcy's point of view.

He's genuinely annoying to an extent, which I appreciate. I like a version of Darcy that is actually kind of a jerk in some ways and has to change, rather than one that is simply quiet, awkwardly-spoken and misunderstood.

He ALSO, though, has an entire life outside of the few weeks in Hertfordshire and approximately six verbal exchanges with Elizabeth. This is the thing I love most of all in fanfictions. I don't just want the story regurgitated but with a different POV. I want the silences filled in, the context fully supplied, the implications expanded upon. I want Darcy's whole life, likes and dislikes and habits, and it is supplied here. Hell yeah.

Genuinely, this book is every self-indulgent comfort that I could possibly want.