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A review by dryadgurrl
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters, Jane Austen
2.0
Sense, Sensibility and Sea Monsters is the second attempt at adding some 'ultra violent mayhem' to a classic story to bring in new readers, it's by the same company that published the lauded Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, though by a different author.
I did like & Sea Monsters, but it wasn't quite as good as & Zombies, I felt that it deviated too far from the source material, not so much as to make it unrecognizable as an Austin story, but close. The pirates and the sub-marine station, while entertaining, didn't quite fit, nor did the sea witch, it just felt like the author was trying too hard. Part of this might be the fact that & Sea Monsters was by a different author than & Zombies.
The difference between the two (in my opinion) is that & Zombies was adding something to the original story, sort of like the director's cut of Blade Runner putting the original music back in, while & Sea Monsters was more like taking the gist of the story and dropping it into another setting in the same way that Lion King is a retelling of Hamlet.
It was occasionally a tedious read, the story seemed stretched a little thin in places, and the language was a little thick (but I had that same problem with & Zombies, they stuck to the Victorian English as much as possible) but all in all it was enjoyable and worth reading at least once.
I did like & Sea Monsters, but it wasn't quite as good as & Zombies, I felt that it deviated too far from the source material, not so much as to make it unrecognizable as an Austin story, but close. The pirates and the sub-marine station, while entertaining, didn't quite fit, nor did the sea witch, it just felt like the author was trying too hard. Part of this might be the fact that & Sea Monsters was by a different author than & Zombies.
The difference between the two (in my opinion) is that & Zombies was adding something to the original story, sort of like the director's cut of Blade Runner putting the original music back in, while & Sea Monsters was more like taking the gist of the story and dropping it into another setting in the same way that Lion King is a retelling of Hamlet.
It was occasionally a tedious read, the story seemed stretched a little thin in places, and the language was a little thick (but I had that same problem with & Zombies, they stuck to the Victorian English as much as possible) but all in all it was enjoyable and worth reading at least once.