Saturday, February 04, 2017

Twelve SFF updates of 19th century classics

At the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Ceridwen Christensen tagged twelve sci-fi & fantasy updates of 19th century classics. One title on the list:
Heartstone, by Elle Katharine White

There’s something like a cottage industry in updating Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It has been rewritten from several different points of view, or continued from after Darcy and Elizabeth’s marriage, or followed the lives of their children. In Heartstone, Elle Katharine White repeats the plot of Austen’s novel nearly beat for beat, but this time, the events take place in a world with dragons. I was impressed by the way White shifted some of the more thorny characters in Austen, changing their motivations to match the parameters of the world, and therefore rendering them understandable. That’s an altogether dry way of saying: you should read Pride and Prejudice plus Dragons, because that’s awesome.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue