Review | Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange

Title: Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange
Series: N/A
Genre: Fiction/Paranormal
Publication: September 1, 2009 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
Rating: ★★★

Synopsis: Sourcebooks Landmark, the leading publisher of Jane Austen-related fiction, is excited to announce a major release: Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by international bestselling author Amanda Grange.

Amanda Grange, bestselling author of Mr. Darcy's Diary, gives us something completely new—a delightfully thrilling, paranormal Pride and Prejudice sequel, full of danger, darkness and deep romantic love...

Amanda Grange's style and wit bring readers back to Jane Austen's timeless storytelling, but always from a very unique and unusual perspective, and now Grange is back with an exciting and completely new take on Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet.

Mr. Darcy, Vampyre starts where Pride and Prejudice ends and introduces a dark family curse so perfectly that the result is a delightfully thrilling, spine-chilling, breathtaking read. A dark, poignant and visionary continuation of Austen's beloved story, this tale is full of danger, darkness and immortal love.

Thoughts: I have loved the few Jane Austen books that I have read, but I must admit that I've had a hard time liking any of the fan fiction that I have read (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sense and Sensibilty and Seamonsters, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls.) I saw the audiobook of Mr. Darcy, Vampyre and I thought...well, why not? I must admit I did like it better than the other three adaptations that I have read, but I was a little disappointed that like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, there was not enough "vampyre" in the story to make it more interesting.

The book is told through Elizabeth's point of view and starts off on her wedding day. She and Darcy are to be married alongside Jane and Bingley and I really liked that the author added this part of the original novel. We continue to see that Elizabeth and Jane are close friends, we are reminded of their mother's nerves and their father's love. I've always wanted to know what happened next in Pride and Prejudice, so I find these sequels fun to read and I instantly liked the author's writing and her detailed descriptions of the settings. The story continues to unfold as Elizabeth and Darcy go on their wedding tour through Europe.

There are several unexpected turns of events, many different descriptions of the cities they visited and plenty of new characters to learn about...but yet, there were no real mentions of vampyres for a long while. Sure Elizabeth noticed that Darcy was acting a little distant and sometimes strange, but other than a few little mentions here and there, we could almost forget that vampyres were even involved in the story. I really expected Darcy's vampiric characteristics to be introduced a lot sooner, but there were only tidbits, and Elizabeth never suspected anything except that Darcy did not love her.

I can't deny that I enjoyed the descriptive scenes and the additions to both Elizabeth and Darcy's character, but I was really disappointed that it wasn't until disc 7 (out of 9) that anything exciting or vampire-like really starts to happen. There were a few suspenseful scenes that made it interesting enough to continue, but not much else until later in the book. And the conclusion seemed hastily put together. I wasn't satisfied with the way the book was wrapped up in such a short amount of time. Really, it was almost silly how easily things just seemed to come together and then just ended.

Overall, the book is enjoyable if you aren't expecting too much of the vampire aspect in the book (but with a title like that, what else can you expect?) If you are hoping for fangs, blood, deaths, and many vampires...you will be left disappointed because this book seems to lack a lot of that. It is quite different for a sequel of Pride and Prejudice, and I do recommend it for fans of historical fiction and Jane Austen fans, but maybe not too many paranormal fans will enjoy this as much.