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There are two kinds of re-tellings. There are those which use the original as an inspiration and which become awesome by using the original material in creative new ways. Cinder is one of my favorite examples of that kind of re-telling. This is not that kind of re-telling. This is the other kind, where the source material is preserved almost entirely with just a setting change and this is by far the best example of that kind of re-telling that I’ve ever read.

First of all, despite the integration of modern terms and even some pop culture, the writing reminds me very much of Austen. It’s something about the way she uses adjectives and long descriptive clauses, in my non-English-major opinion. Whatever it is, it works. I thought she also did a remarkable job preserving the spirit of each character. They may not be exactly the same, but the things I would list as being essential to who they are were all preserved. This is a little thing, but I thought it was nice that she kept the same names for her characters too. There’s no reason to change that (unless your change of setting demands it) and it makes it far less confusing to discuss the book later!

I was also incredibly impressed by the author’s ability to create modern situations analogous to the now outdated social situations in the original. Every scene I loved in the original had an counterpart in this re-telling. There was also some detail added to Edward and Elinor’s romance, something I liked in the movie and also liked here. It’s so much easier to root for a couple when you know why the like each other! At the end of the day, this still might have only been a four star review except for one very important thing. This book made me feel the exact same way as re-reading the original. I had some memory of what was going to happen, but I still couldn’t wait to get to the conclusion and I was so happy for our characters when I got there. While it is likely that no re-telling is going to do it for a real Austen purist, for anyone else, if you are out of new Austen to read and need something to fill the gaping void that has created in your life, read this. It was almost a lot like getting to read Sense and Sensibility for the first time all over again.

For some other perspectives, check out the other stops on the tour, Amazon, or Goodreads.

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Title: 

In this futuristic retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, Edward Maret is a happy man. He is engaged to a women he loves and destined to inherit a bountiful estate. Little does he know that he has enemies who are prepared to betray him because they covet what he has. Denounced as a revolutionary and condemned by a corrupt judge, Edward is turned into a mindless cyborg and sent to kill any who threaten his world. When he is eventually freed from the mind control, his first thought is of revenge…

At the heart of the original novel is the story of how betrayal and an obsession with revenge can make even the nicest of people become cruel. I think this book did a great job preserving that message and even brought it to the forefront by sharing with us Edward’s introspection after he is betrayed. This deeper understanding of Edward made it a little easier to empathize with him, as did the fact that what happens to him in this book seems far more terrible than what happened to him in the original. He still becomes an unlikeable, cruel person but it’s easier to understand where that’s coming from.

The plot was a bit disappointing. A book could easily be as complex as the original without being as long by writing more concisely and eliminating the many digressions. This book does both of those things, but also loses the complexity. It seems like Edward’s enemies largely self-destruct. His plots are far less elegantly intricate and even when he does do something interesting, it’s often mentioned in passing. On the other hand, the world building was very good. A fascinating and believable universe was created and every detail of that universe enhanced the story. Over all, I thought this was a very unique and well executed modernization of this classic.

Amazon|Goodreads

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This book is supposed to be a sequel to The Count of Monte Cristo. My review contains some spoilers for this book but none for the original.

Initially, I actually had high hopes for this book. From the first few pages it was clear that the author had done a good job capturing Dumas’ writing style. The language was flowery, Dantes was arrogant, and Hadee subservient. Not my favorite things about Dumas but integral to his work and well represented here. However… The book opens with a blatant sex scene between Dantes and Haydee. Now, I don’t have a problem with sex scenes in principle, but nothing like this happens in the original. More than that, I thought the ambiguous nature of Dantes’ relationship with Haydee was part of the first book’s appeal.

The book then continues with adventures that manage to be both boring and unbelievable. For instance, the first fight scene includes Dantes’ wearing stilts – and it’s not written as though it’s supposed to be funny. While Dumas often pushes the bounds of the believable with cliched adventure elements, there was nothing as blatantly ridiculous as the events in this book. The reason none of the adventures were suspenseful or exciting (even the scene on stilts was boring!) had to do with how Dantes handled the fights. In every case, he sends his servant to sneak up on people with a blow dart. Every. Single. Time. It’s so dishonorable and so out of character with the Dantes from the original! It also prevents our hero from every being in danger. Thus the boredom.

The sequel also pushes the wish-fulfilling aspect of Dantes’ experiences into the ridiculous. The only thing that happens in the book (besides the boring fight scenes) is that women throw themselves at Dantes. He manages to marry two women and still sleeps with a third. The book also includes too many details about food and wine, as well as poems and songs. All of these things break the author’s adherence to Dumas’ style of writing. Also, the book ends with someone not graphically, but certainly gruesomely being castrated. So that’s the book folks. Boring fights and scenes totally out-of-character for Dumas’ writing plus gratuitous sex and violence.

Also, I can’t help noticing that while this book has mostly five star reviews on goodreads, many of them come from people with a 5 star average and no profile pictures. From that, you may draw your own conclusions.

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The Monster Reviewathon
Aug 26th-Sept 1st 
I only found out about The Monster Reviewathon today, but I think it’s exactly what I needed! I’ve been ahead on reading and behind on writing a review for a while, a problem that the recent read-a-thon only increased. So for the next week, I will have to keep reading for some scheduled reviews coming up, but I’m going to try to do a lot of catching up on reviews. (Goal: review 10 books).

Classics Retold
September

As I discussed in my Monday Musing, I love re-tellings, so I was incredibly excited to find the Classics Retold event going on this September. Each blogger picks a classic from one of five categories and reads both the original and three modern adaptations. I’m doing The Count of Monte Cristo and I can’t wait to get started! I’ve always loved the movie and I’m sure the book will be even better.
September Read-a-Longs

I haven’t ever done a read-a-long before because I’ve been dubious about the idea of reading a book on a schedule. I’m not sure I’ll like not being able to just keep going once I get started! However, I’ve really gotten into the social aspects of blogging lately and two read-a-longs were happening for books I’ve been interested in, so I decided to give it a go. The first is a read-a-long of Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead hosted by Allison at The Book Wheel. The second is a read-a-long of The Book Thief hosted by Suey at It’s All About Books. Let me know if you’re joining in!

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As I mentioned in my previous review of a Goose Girl retelling, the basic gist of both this book and the original fairy tale is as follows. A princess is sent to marry a prince in a foreign land and on the journey, her maid uses some form of magic to take on the princess’s identity. Once they reach the foreign capital, the princess becomes a goose girl and must decide if and how she wants to regain her place as a princess.

Like the previous re-telling, this princess was very unassuming and not so sure she minded being a goose girl. Unlike the previous re-telling however, I felt she had a very good reason for being nervous and mistrusting the prince, so her inaction was less frustrating. Later in the book she does manage to stand up and make a difference when it matters. And at the end, she is required to be incredibly brave, enduring violent trials to save the prince. She made for a very impressive heroine!

In general this heroine faces far darker and more violent situations than were to be found in the other re-telling. I didn’t love that this lost the “fairy tale feel” of the other, but I suspect it would be right at home in an original brothers Grimm collection. I did love that the author added some ethical dilemmas and a villain with a lot more depth. As with the other re-telling, the author did an incredible job meshing original plot with the world and magic system she created. This world was a slightly more grown-up version than the other, but I also enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to people who like character growth and/or fairy tale re-tellings.

Amazon|Goodreads

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Title: 

I picked up this version of The Goose Girl planning on using it as an original to read before another re-telling. Further research suggests you’d need a children’s book (or the wikipedia page) to get the most original story, since the original is far too short for a book. The basic gist of both this book and the original fairy tale is as follows. A princess is sent to marry a prince in a foreign land and on the journey, her maid uses some form of magic to take on the princess’s identity. Once they reach the foreign capital, the princess becomes a goose girl and must decide if and how she wants to regain her place as a princess.

Lately I’ve been finding middle grade stories lacking complexity, but in this book I appreciated the feel that the book was directed at a young audience. It felt perfectly true to the original feel of the fairy tale and didn’t prevent the author from making the story a little more intricate than the myth. In the original, the goose girl ends up a princess again almost by luck. In this story, not only is becoming a princess again difficult but so is the decision whether or not to do so.

The difficulty of the princess/goose girl’s decision hinges on her personality. She is a quiet, reserved girl with the ability to speak to animals. The ability and confidence to charm people is far more valued by her mother, so she grows up feeling a lot of doubt about her ability to rule. Initially, her inability to take initiative is overdone to the point where it’s incredibly annoying. For instance, when she suspects her maid is staging a coup, she waits on someone to warn her instead of acting on her own certainty.

The nice thing about this bad beginning is the amazing character growth that occurs throughout the book. The princess spends a long time as a goose girl and experiences a believable process of slowly growing in confidence and desire to rule well.  In addition to the amazing character growth, I thought the author did a great job making up an interesting magic system that was compatible with the original myth. Although less different from the original than many of today’s popular retellings, I would highly recommend this book for the great character development and the impressive combination of original elements with those of the author’s own creation.

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