Mr. Darcy's Enchantment: A Pride & Prejudice Variation in Austen Variations

Nov 29, 2018 Sheila Majczan rated it it was amazing

I would give this 5+ stars if I were able. There is such imagination in the creation of this variation...even though it is far from a reflection of canon. This author gives us two worlds and many new characters/creatures, new behaviors and relationships within this tale.

We find ourselves in Kent where Elizabeth is treating a child who has been bitten by a "Redcap". She is afraid to use her magic due to the fact that Mr. Darcy, a Mage, is now residing at Rosings, and Elizabeth is not sure how far I would give this 5+ stars if I were able. There is such imagination in the creation of this variation...even though it is far from a reflection of canon. This author gives us two worlds and many new characters/creatures, new behaviors and relationships within this tale.

We find ourselves in Kent where Elizabeth is treating a child who has been bitten by a "Redcap". She is afraid to use her magic due to the fact that Mr. Darcy, a Mage, is now residing at Rosings, and Elizabeth is not sure how far away he can detect the use of magic, which is forbidden to women.

As in all variations you must know JA's canon, as it is significant, i.e., Darcy separating Bingley and Jane, Darcy expected to marry Anne and Wickham’s lies to Elizabeth. Although we spend most of our time either at Rosings, in the Matlock’s residence or in the world of Faerie there are references to what happened in Hertfordshire and, of even greater significance, what happened at Rosings…to the de Bourgh family in the past.

This is a long story and I won’t even attempt to mention all the events. However when Elizabeth is called to Rosings after Lady Catherine falls deathly ill the manner of care Elizabeth provides opens up a whole "kettle of fish". One of the results is that she is cast out of the Hunsford vicarage by Collins and he refuses to even allow her to collect her belongings. A solution of settling her into the Rosings Dower House is found.

Part of the charm of this book is finding out (along with the characters) their relationships to other beings and just what that relationship means. Some demand obedience while other relationships provide protection. We learn what eliarinn, shurinn, & tiarinn signify. The fay, the sidhe, etc. who inhabit Faerie live for centuries and thus their memories of a past treaty are more fresh in their minds and they cannot understand nor tolerate the realm of humans who have broken that treaty in destroying their Faerie rings. They are at war with the humans while the humans not only don’t know about the ancient treaty they also are not aware of the war, only the fact that there have been a number of sad and destructive events in Britain. So we read of a small band on both sides learning of each other’s ways and how they must learn to work together.

Sorcery is forbidden! But as we read on we find that has been practiced by men in high places. We also find spells, good and bad, being used. One person, of very minor mention in canon comes out of “nowhere” and suddenly is front and center in a plan to take over the world of magic and the seat of government.

One thing I found very interesting was that the Fay do not look down on sexual relationships outside of marriage as humans do. They do count lineage to be of the greatest importance but the order of birth is also secondary.

I was charmed by Pepper whose role becomes much more important as we read on. Pepper, a phouka, takes on several animal shapes and can detect roles people play. Shakespeare’s characters, Oberon and Titania, from A Midsummer’s Night Dream appear and play lead roles.
I highly recommend this story to all. ...more

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Nov 28, 2018 Nicole Clarkston rated it it was amazing

This book was simply breathtaking! It swept our beloved couple into a world you’ve never imagined and had me on the edge of my seat for the whole ride. This is the very same Darcy and Elizabeth we have always known and loved, with their same brilliances and foibles, but sparkling and alive with fantastical new dimensions. It’s the kind of love that can shatter the foundations of society... really, that big and that good. Highly, highly recommend!

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Dec 24, 2018 Dung rated it it was amazing

Shelves: austen-inspried, favorite-austen-inspired, books-owned-kindle-ibook, books-to-purchase

Wow, what a page turner! Such a delightful, angst filled, magical adventure with our favorite P&P characters, not to mention some great additions.

Abigail Reynolds is such a great storyteller! With all the P&P variations out there, it still amazes me how authors are so creative.

There are other great reviews that sum up the story. All I have to say is it’s definitely one of my favorite books this year. Bravo to the author for such creative storytelling. The ending left you with a potential seque ...more

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Oct 15, 2024 Nicole Barton Sasser rated it it was amazing

Shelves: jaff, p-and-p, audible-plus-catalog, 2024-austenesque-lovers-challenge, kindle, kindle-freebie, author-abigail-reynolds, fantasy

Status: Read October 15-27, 2024 via audible edition

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5)

Edition Read:

Mr. Darcy's Enchantment: A Pride & Prejudice Variation
by Abigail Reynolds, Elizabeth Klett (Narrator)
Audible Audio, Unabridged, 18 pages
Published September 03, 2019 by Tantor Audio (first published November 19, 2018)
ASIN: B07WK75JQZ
[ audible plus catalog ]

In a Regency England where magic and faeries are real...

Fitzwilliam Darcy is a powerful magician who controls fire, water, and wind. What he cannot control is ...more

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Sep 05, 2023 Nina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: jaff

Enchanting story and one of my go to stories for comfort. I must have listened to it at least 5 times.
Elizabeth has a bit of fey blood and can use wild magic. As a child she visited fairy often, but she hardly remembers any more. In this world women are not allowed to use magic. So Elizabeth’s biggest fear is to put under a binding spell. Darcy has elemental magic and has been accused of misusing it.
The fey are at war with the humans because of an ancient treaty, that humans no longer remember. ...more

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Feb 17, 2019 M rated it liked it

I didn’t initially think I’d like this, but read a preview and was quite intrigued. It’s a long book with lots of intricate detail on magic. A lot of it is very interesting, but it does flag a bit in the middle due to lots of detail and not enough Darcy & Elizabeth.

2023 - attempted the audiobook (Elizabeth Klett). Narrator is awful. The Fae accents are comically bad, but even worse the have no emotion or cadence which makes the parts centred around them both annoying and dull. DNF.

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Sep 21, 2019 Staciel rated it liked it

Shelves: jane-austen-inspired

Unique story.

I did enjoy it but I'm not really a Faire girl. (meaning I'm not all that big into magic. I am one of the few avid readers that hasn't devoured all of the Harry Potter books-- which might just mean that I am strange, and that's fine with me :-)

I also want certain parts of the original "P&P" untouched, and Abigail Reynolds messed with one of them in this book, and many readers might not even blink at that, but this one particular 'tweak' on a relationship is just a no-no for me.

Overa ...more

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Mar 20, 2021 Anne Wrightwell rated it really liked it

Shelves: pride-prejudice-stories, p-p-fantasy

WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AHEAD.

I'm a big fan of Abigail Reynolds. She's written a lot of Pride and Prejudice variations and this is one of the more extreme ones. It's a fantasy variation. I like fantasy so was excited to find this one. There's not too many of Pride and Prejudice fantasies around compared to the hundreds of sequels and variations.

I had the audiobook version of this, which was pretty good although it irritated me a little that the Fey all had Irish accents. I'd have thought Welsh w WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AHEAD.

I'm a big fan of Abigail Reynolds. She's written a lot of Pride and Prejudice variations and this is one of the more extreme ones. It's a fantasy variation. I like fantasy so was excited to find this one. There's not too many of Pride and Prejudice fantasies around compared to the hundreds of sequels and variations.

I had the audiobook version of this, which was pretty good although it irritated me a little that the Fey all had Irish accents. I'd have thought Welsh would have been more appropriate but a minor point.

The story is told from the viewpoint of Elizabeth and Darcy with alternating chapters.

Abigail Reynolds clearly did a lot of world building for this novel and thought a lot about how things would work, which I appreciated. For example, all humans can see the fey when children but usually lose it once they hit puberty. Elizabeth Bennet is one of the few adults who can still see the fey.

Elizabeth is a Wise Woman, a healer. She has to hide her magic because women are not allowed to use magic and if they are caught doing so, have a binding spell put on them which basically makes them stupid. Elizabeth lives in terror of this. (It turns out later that Mrs Bennet had a binding spell put on her not long after she got married and that's the reason she's the way she is. I thought that was very clever of the author). Elizabeth thinks Mr Darcy is interested in her because he suspects she has magic, not realising he's interested in her in a romantic way. I do think this version of Elizabeth seems rather emotional, she bursts into tears quite a few times, which just didn’t seem right to me.

If you thought Lady Catherine de Bourgh was an unpleasant character in Pride and Prejudice, she’s a hundred times worse in Mr Darcy’s Enchantment. Far from being grateful to Elizabeth for healing her from elfshot, she orders Mr Collins to throw her out of the parsonage for being a witch even though Lady Catherine has magic herself. You learn that she wanted her daughter Anne to be put under a binding spell. And later on, we discover that Anne is not really her daughter but only Sir Lewis de Bourgh’s and an unknown woman. That I did find implausible. I couldn’t imagine someone like Lady Catherine obediently raising her husband’s bastard. In the end, it turns out that Lady Catherine is a sorceress who dabbles in black magic and she does get her come-uppance.

Mr Collins too is much nastier than in Pride and Prejudice e.g. throwing Elizabeth out of his house without even allowing her to get her purse so she has money for her journey home. You later discover that he’s been under a spell of obedience cast by Lady Catherine but I found it hard to forgive him, especially as he blames Charlotte as well.

I didn’t think much of Charlotte for not sticking up for Elizabeth or even making sure she got her money when Mr Collins throws her out of his house for being a witch. I also so wanted Elizabeth to give Mr Collins a mouthful when he did this and was disappointed by her tame reaction.

I enjoyed the novel although in my opinion the ending was “machina ex deus” and rather contrived. But it’s great to read a fantasy Pride and Prejudice fiction novel. ...more

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Dec 26, 2021 Liliya rated it it was amazing

Shelves: jane-austen-fan-fiction

What a wild ride was this book! I stayed away from fantasy retellings until I came across of this one. Something made me read it and I’m sooo glad I did. It had so many twists and turns. I didn’t know what to expect on the next page. There was conflict and all of it resolved very nicely by the end of the book. Abigail Reynolds knows how to write a bomb P&P retelling.

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