Review - Death Comes to Pemberley - P.D. James

Death Comes to Pemberley
P.D. James
Series: N/A
Genre: Mystery, British Lit
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Hideous
On Goodreads

If you guys should know one thing about me, it's how much I LOVE Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I fell in love with the Great Illustrated Classics version of it when I was in fourth grade and fell even more in love with the original in eighth. It is my pick-me-up book when I am feeling down. I relish in the classiness that is Darcy and the intelligence that is Elizabeth. I have read fanfiction about Lizzie and Darcy, all of which I loved. Unfortunately, that fanfiction was better than this novel.

This book was a classic Wegmans buy. It stood out to me on the shelves, looking like a diamond in the rough. The blurb of the book said that the story begins with Lydia's husband, George Wickham being murdered. I was immediately enticed. I HATED Wickham when I read P&P - he is the kind of character that makes you cringe whenever he appears.

However, the book starts out more with an introduction into Pride and Prejudice - so much so that it is a basic regurgitation of it. But, it was a poor regurgitation, making it all the worse. Although, I guess it was expected - P.D. James began the novel with an apology to Jane Austen. I think Jane Austen not only deserves this apology, but a retraction of the book - she is probably rolling around in her grave right now.

More than half the book is "Oh, where did we meet?" or "Tell me how we came into contact again..." - Like okay. I understand you need to give some background to the characters, but do you need to sound like a high school reunion scene? I think not, James. Not only are these characters awkward, they all fall flat. Darcy's charm and Lizzie's wit are completely lost - everyone is a one dimensional static character. My heart sobs at the very thought of what Austen might say if she saw her characters marred like this.

After this introduction stuff ends (it lasts a long time) we finally uncover the plot (or lack thereof) in the story. There's a dead body and a confession and basically the question is now, what happened? (I KNOW. IT'S A SHOCKING QUESTION. YOU WOULD'NT EXPECT IT FROM A MURDER MYSTERY). Not even going to sugarcoat this, THERE WAS NO MYSTERY HERE. There was no discovery of information. Rather, it was just handed over "Did you know ____?" or "As you know _____..." Like what. No. This is not okay. Who let this woman publish this book? Ugh. As a die hard mystery fan, I am displeased. Make my misery stop.

This book even gets a lower rating than Wait for You, by J Lynn, because at least she didn't promise me the appearance of my favorite characters and not deliver.

This was awful. Do yourself a favor, and stick to the original Pride and Prejudice, even though Wickham gets to live in that one.

- Amrutha

What are your favorite fanfic books?

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