A series review: "Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman" by Pamela Aidan

    

Pamela Aidan's trilogy Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman is a re-telling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's perspective. Unlike many other books written about Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, Aidan's books are not romance novels. The books are written in the style and language of the period. They are extremely close to Austen's original, and the BBC mini-series based on it. The surprising thing about these books was the fact that it was difficult for me to get into them. With each of the three books in the series, it would take me 100-150 pages to really get into the story. I also found that the portions of the books that were direct re-tellings were the most boring, and lacked Austen's magic. Elizabeth Bennet, especially in the first book, was quite unlikable. Her change of heart towards Darcy was also hard to understand in Aidan's books even though Austen made it work in hers.

At the same time, I found myself enjoying the material and plot twists that Aidan creatively added to the overall story line. Unlike some other readers, I thought the second book (which had nothing to do with Elizabeth Bennett and Austen's original plot) was the strongest in the series. I also liked the two characters that Aidan created: Darcy's valet Fletcher and his friend Dy - both were not part of Austen's original work. Finally, Aidan added the historical context to the novels masterfully weaving in references to political events of the day and mentioning major historical figures living at the time. Overall, my ratings for the books were:
Book 1: An Assembly Such as This - 4 stars
Book 2: Duty and Desire - 5 stars, and
Book 3: These Three Remain - 3 stars

If you cannot get enough of Pride and Prejudice, this trilogy could be a good way to get back into the world and see it from a new perspective.