These Three Remain: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of These Three Remain: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman
Book Review: Best of all the sequels!
Summary: 5 Stars
These Three Remain is the third book of a trilogy sequel to Pride and Prejudice. This sequel is the very best one, in my opinion, of all the sequels every written.
Author Pamela Aidan captures the language, the feelings, and the very essence of Mr. Darcy...and the story of Pride and Prejudice from his viewpoint is not only interesting and entertaining, it's believeable! I have read it numerous times and I still love it and never tire of it.
Book Review: Met many new characters and a whole new side of Mr Darcy
Summary: 5 Stars
The Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series was overall enjoyable. Pamela Aidan's writing style is detailed, lively and tastefully suited to Jane Austen's original Pride & Prejudice. I personally was not expecting the introduction of so many side stories, plots, and characters. It seemed to drag out the original story from which is was based for far too long for a story which I understood to not be an extension of the original, but rather, an addition that tells Darcy's story. That said, the addition of plots and many characters were enjoyable, and if you find that you're willing to read three books length that incorporates so many additions, and does so with grace and taste, this is undoubtedly a series you'll throughly enjoy!Book Review: Victorian Romance Genre, not really Austen-like, but still good.
Summary: 4 Stars
When Pamela Aidan's writing is compared to that of Jane Austen's, "truth [is] less violently outraged than usually happens." Unlike the myriad writers whose prose style is likened to Austen's (e.g., Stephanie Barron of the Jane Austen mysteries, Karen Joy Fowler of "The Jane Austen Book Club"), Aidan gets very near the same tone, syntax, and vocabulary. Indeed, it is obvious she has well-researched the period for her trilogy, for she weaves in threads of actual events (i.e., the Luddite revolution as well as the Napoleonic wars).
Unfortunately, she lapses quickly into a kind of style more often associated with historic romances of the Harlequin stamp. Where Austen is more often an observer and reporter of her characters' actions and words, Aidan inundates the reader with florid prose such as
"He wanted to smile, he wanted to laugh, he wanted to take her hand in his and draw it up to his lips. He wanted the soft, sweet dreams of her that had tormented him, waking and sleeping, at last to find resolution. With dizzying speed his dreams gathered power until, for a terrifying moment, Darcy feared he had lost all command of himself."
Too much information.
Austen, on the other hand, in writing of Elizabeth Bennet's realization that Darcy was perhaps the best man for her to marry, writes thus:
"She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved, and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance."
No swooning imagination here, although we in this age might be able to supply how such an emotion might wash through a young woman of 20 or 21 years of age. Austen does not need to dwell on overwrought emotions as many writers of the romance genre are inclined to do.
Nor does Austen make too much of the staid characters such as Lady Catherine deBourgh; whereas the modern writers seeking to extend the Austen legacy tend to dwell entirely too much on the harshness of such characters. Indeed, I've read in Barron's and in Aidan's books more intimations of vile discipline (particularly for young boys) than Austen would ever allude to. If ever there were a streak of the gothic/sadistic tradition, it comes from the modern writers who attempt to capture the hearts of Austen's readers and then co-opt it with such frivolous departures.
It is the same with the insistent preoccupation with servants in these stories. Austen merely mentions the servants, rarely giving them much form of any kind; modern writers, on the other hand, love turning these background characters into major players in the intrigue. It rather brings to mind the Dorothy L. Sayers stories of Lord Peter Whimsey's man Bunter chatting up various servants in order to obtain information for that detective. It's not that these characters are used poorly; it is that this type of writing is not in keeping with the period.
However, these faults of style are not enough to turn away avid readers from the stories in this trilogy. They are well-researched, and admittedly well-written despite the lapse into quasi-Victorian romance genre.
Book Review: Excellent!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have thoroughly enjoyed Pamela Aidan's "Gentleman" books - I enjoyed her inclusions of historical items, Shakespeare and even references to other Jane Austen books. I think I like her just as
much (if not a little more) than Jane Austen
Book Review: These Three Remain: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman
Summary: 4 Stars
I've read several sequels to Pride and Prejudice, and have enjoyed Ms. Aidan's more than any others. Except for the 2nd book in this series, she has come closest to capturing the style of the original. I do recommend books 1 and 3 of this series, and if you only read these two, you will miss nothing of Darcy's story.