Customer Reviews

Mr. Darcy's Daughters

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I didn't even get to page 20 before I decided this was NO sequel to P&P. Aston has Lizzy and Darcy on a journey where there daughters don't expect them to come back alive! I couldn't take it. Lizzy and Darcy should be home trying to marry off their 5 daughters (mind you, not exactly the way as Mrs. Bennet).

I am a huge Jane Austen fan and was a bit skepical of this book. Ecspecially since my attempt to read Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife , which was horrible! Mr. Darcy's Daughter's, however, was a very charming light read. If you take this story on its own and don't compare it to Pride and Pradjudice. It is a very enjoyable read in the typical Austen style of the courtship dance. The reason I believe this is one of the best continuations of the works of Austen is simply because it is not based on the original characters, but new ones. If this book is to your liking I would highly recomend reading Sanditon by Jane Austen and Another Lady.

"Mr. Darcy's Daughters" is a pleasant ATTEMPT in trying to continue one of the best pieces of literature of all time (Pride & Prejudice). Main word: attempt. Aston fails to provide me with a worthwhile look into the future of Mr. Darcy's offspring. Why did she have to make all of the characters so unlikable? I found myself not even caring for Camilla and Mr. Wytton. I didn't even like where she took the story. I give Aston points for her writing and informative details of London...and that's about it.

While it is hard to compete with the exquisiteness of Jane Austen, it is best if Pride and Prejudice had been left alone. Instead, Ms. Aston ruined one of my all-time favorite books by creating a sequel. While it is intriguing to wonder "whatever happened to Elizabeth and Darcy?", I was appalled that neither character made an appearance here, the author conveniently dispatching them off to Constantinople. Apparently, she was not able to re-create the characters of Elizabeth and Darcy as well as the original. Why would two sensible people leave their five eligible daughters to go running around?
I found myself disliking the Daughters of the title. They are entirely too much like the Bennet sisters, and I refuse myself to believe that the Darcys would raise such silly, narrowminded girls. Even Camilla, the "sensible" one of the family, finds herself making the same mistakes her mother did, by falling in love with someone not entirely suitable for her.
As for the rest of London society, I found that they were too concerned with how everybody else percieved them. I found that the characters of Fitzwilliam and the Gardiners so out of keeping with what Jane Austen had in mind.
Ms. Aston, by keeping with her own style of writing, sounds like she is trying to put the Darcy sisters into a more modern setting. She therefore botches the overall effect. If she had wanted to remain in keeping with the style of Jane Austen, she did not do so. Although Austen's works were written during a turbulent period of English history, she incorporated nothing of what was going on into her writing. In contrast, Ms. Aston, while trying to keep her modern-day viewers in mind, inserts far too much history and politics into Mr. Darcys Daughters. Also, Austen would never have mentioned anything so indecorous as (gasp) sex and sexual preference in her novels which, of course, Elizabeth Aston did do.
Also, the novel is historically inaccurate, according to Austen's timeline. Supposing that Pride and Prejudice was meant to take place at around the time it was published (1812 or 1813), then wouldn't a "20 years later" sequel take place in the early 1830's? Instead, Ms. Aston places the novel in 1818 so that Tom Busby can be "killed" in the war against Napoleon.
A good book is one in which you don't wish that the author had done something differently. Here, there were dozens of things I wished hadn't happened. For those of you who are ardent Jane Austen fans, you will be sorely disappointed by this book. If you're looking for an interesting story line and interesting characters, you will not find it here.

Everytime I buy a sequel that was not written by the author of the orignal I swear that I will never do it again. Needless to a say when I started reading this book my expectations were low, but it did succeced in surpassing them ( which honestly does not say much).

While it is missing some key elements that any die-hard Austen fan will expect (just one appearence from Mrs. and Mr. Darcy would have been nice) it does succeced in creating a story of its own within the sphere of Austen's world.

This book nowhere compares to the orignal but in a realm of glossless remakes it definatly holds its own.

I was very excited to read this book, and was mortified while reading it. The only reason that I even finshed it was that I was hoping it could somehow improve. I find it insulting that anyone who had read Pride and Predjudice could even entertain the idea that Darcy and Lizzy would be such negligent parents. This book was so distubing that as soon as I finished it I promptly took it out and put it in the dumpster as I coudn't bear the thought of having it in my house.

I enjoyed reading this book a great deal. I enjoyed reading about Elizabeth's and Darcy's daughters.The author is no Jane Austen, but honestly who is?????? It is the kind of book you can sit down and read and not have to think a lot just enjoy. I recommend it to any Jane Austen fan. It was perfectly delightful:-)

I think this books fails in many ways, notably that is has none of Jane Austen's charm or humor and is far too focused on society's views of the Darcy daughters.

In Austen we see catty women (Miss Bingley in Pride & Predjudice) and gossips (Mrs. Jennings in Sense & Sensibility), but it seems that in Elizabeth Aston's version of what might happen after the action in P&P ends is solely based upon what others will think of the five young women in the story. Elizabeth and Jane Bennett are aware of society's demands in P&P, but do not base their own happiness on the fickle nature of gossip and "tongues wagging."

Another issue with this book is the poor character development. Jane Austen could describe a character fully in less than two lines of prose, whereas I never got a strong sense of most of the male characters Aston's book. Letitia also confused me, as her characteristics shifted many times throughout the novel, and not in a developmental way, more of a careless, throw-together hodge-podge.

A weak book, easily forgotten. Enjoy Austen's original and leave the sequel in your mind.

I started reading Mr. Darcy's Daughters with optimism, I could tell Ashton was a seasoned writer who expertly described characters and the feel of London society at that time. Halfway through it I saw a failed attempt to re-do the original storyline of Pride and Prejudice. The author should have been more original in taking on the creation of the Darcy daughters. It became silly and contrived with plots that had no build up to make them believable. Such as the youngest daughter's male cross-dressing and one of the twins running off with an older already married man to Paris and taking one of the sisters along as a french interpreter?

I will stick to Linda Berdoll; an author who decided to take an original and daring path of the Pride and Prejudice sequel, instead of trying to mimic Austen. I suggest you skip this one if you're looking to be dazzled.

"Mr.Darcy's Daughters was too predictable, nothing more than the ordinary love story. The plot had a great likeness to Jane Austen's classic novel. The main characters were too much like their mother or aunts. The second daughter is still "daddy's favorite", and the youngest daughters are pretty, but total flirts. The only changes were obvious, minor one. For example, there's no Jane, but another Lydia. The thought of the twins being so self absorbed makes me angry, because it betrays the portrayal of the parents, that Jane Austen created. This novel is you basic, predictable love story.
I know these are harsh words coming for a twelve year-old, but I know what I'm talking about. i also know some will agree or disagree with, but this is my honest opinion. The only good word I have for this book, is that it sticks to the basics of most nineteenth-century novles, money, marriage, and reputations. So, if you're looking for a good sequel to "Pride and Prejudice", look elsewhere. But if you're looking for something to waste your time, this is the book for you!