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A review by servemethesky
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters, Jane Austen
3.0
I finally finished Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters! For 50 cents, I couldn't really go wrong, but overall, I didn't love it. It took me awhile to get into it, but once I hit the Sub-Marine Station Beta portion of the book, it moved pretty well from there. One of the problematic parts of the book, I think, is that Winters is so clearly trying to cling to the plot of the original Sense and Sensibility. Not having read the original, I felt a bit lost trying to piece things together. I often found myself wondering "why the hell are we wasting time on THIS?" Those were the parts where the plot really seemed to drag.
So much of the sea monster stuff seemed too far-fetched for my liking. I'm all for suspension of disbelief in a fantasy novel, but this was just silly. And not fun silly, more like roll your eyes silly. Sub-Marine Station Beta was pretty cool, not gonna lie. But the pirates? And the Leviathan? Come on. Plus, the stuff with Margaret was super odd and out of place and felt like just an unnecessary add-on.
Also, I've got beef with Jane Austen and the OG storyline. WHY THE F DO ELINOR AND EDWARD END UP TOGETHER AND MARIANNE AND COLONEL BRANDON? BRANDON AND ELINOR WERE MFEO! Ugh. So not happy with who ended up with who on that one. A friendship built on mutual respect made way more sense to me that Marianne eventually kinda sorta coming around to Colonel Brandon. Oy vey.
At times, this book was solidly entertaining. I was amused. But I wouldn't say I loved it or would highly recommend it. Kinda fun, but kinda annoying too.
So much of the sea monster stuff seemed too far-fetched for my liking. I'm all for suspension of disbelief in a fantasy novel, but this was just silly. And not fun silly, more like roll your eyes silly. Sub-Marine Station Beta was pretty cool, not gonna lie. But the pirates? And the Leviathan? Come on. Plus, the stuff with Margaret was super odd and out of place and felt like just an unnecessary add-on.
Also, I've got beef with Jane Austen and the OG storyline. WHY THE F DO ELINOR AND EDWARD END UP TOGETHER AND MARIANNE AND COLONEL BRANDON? BRANDON AND ELINOR WERE MFEO! Ugh. So not happy with who ended up with who on that one. A friendship built on mutual respect made way more sense to me that Marianne eventually kinda sorta coming around to Colonel Brandon. Oy vey.
At times, this book was solidly entertaining. I was amused. But I wouldn't say I loved it or would highly recommend it. Kinda fun, but kinda annoying too.