Pemberley: Mr. Darcy's Dragon: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

Jane Austen's Dragons, Book 1

By: Maria Grace

Narrated by: Benjamin Fife

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

England is overrun by dragons of all shapes and sizes. Most people are blissfully unaware of them and the Pendragon Treaty that keeps the peace between human and dragon kind. Only those born with preternatural hearing, like Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet are able to hear and converse with dragonkind.

When the first firedrake egg laid in a century is stolen from Pemberley, the fragile dragon peace teeters on collapse. Darcy has no choice but to chase down the thief, a journey that leads him to quaint market town of Meryton and fellow Dragon Keeper, Elizabeth Bennet.

Elizabeth shares a unique bond with dragons, stronger than anything Darcy has ever experienced. More than that, her vast experience and knowledge of dragon lore may be the key to uncovering the lost egg. But Elizabeth can’t stand Darcy’s arrogance and doesn’t trust him to care properly for a precious baby firedrake. After all, he already lost the egg once. What’s to prevent it from happening again?

Can he win her trust and recover the stolen egg before it hatches and sends England spiraling back into the Dark Ages of Dragon War?

Jane Austen meets Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern. A must-listen for Pern fans.

©2016 Maria Grace (P)2019 Maria Grace

love the story.

loved the story. narrator took some getting used too. but story interesting enough that I kept listening. he grows on you over time

Love the “voices”

I have read the ebook, and I found the audiobook provided emotional nuances I missed with the ebook only. The narrator is very good at interpreting the terrific story.

Excellent book!!

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."
Excellent book!! Writer is genius but narrator's pauses between sentences was not very helpful while listening to the book. Would hope in the future the sound engineer would catch these pauses and correct them.

This is a great story

If you love dragons then read this series. The characters were great & amazing dragons. The fairy dragons were the most lovable creatures ever. At the end however Pemberly stole the show. A definite thumbs up.

this story could make a listener a dragon fan

I read the second book before this one and love it. This book not only filled in the gaps but added deep context to the characters and color to the period when it took place. Extremely well written and narrated the story embraces you so well in detail and and the descriptive setting that you feel that you are actually witnessing the events.

Quite entertaining

I can't say just how close to the original book this is, having never read it, but I'm going with the assumption that anything dealing with dragons is probably original while the relationships, balls, and such are probably from the original.

The original is obviously a well-regarded classic, and so I hesitate to credit this rearrangement with any of the great merits of that former work. That said, the draconic elements seem largely to be well intertwined, if a bit basic. Mr. Darcy has lost his family's dragon egg. Elizabeth has an affinity for dragons. They don't like each other, but have to work together for the good of the dragon egg.

While largely entertaining (and excellently narrated), I couldn't help feeling that some pieces were out of place. I also noticed several plot elements which are left unanswered, and I'm curious to see if they are dealt with in future installments or merely forgotten, as it rather feels they have been.

If you liked the original story and feel it would be improved with the addition of dragons, this story may be exactly what you're after. I personally prefer dragons to romance, and if you find yourself in a similar circumstance, this may be a good version to employ to appreciate a classic story.

The book ends somewhat abruptly, so be prepared to continue on to the next volumes.

Truly enjoy this book again and again

Of course there were dragons in Jane Austin's time! She just forgot to mention them! I love dragons, so when I came across Maria's world that combined the two... I fell hard. Maria writes great stories. Remembering to include humor to relieve tension or provide light-hearted moments for key characters is very important to me, and Maria does that with appropriate taste. So delightful!

Are you in for a twist to an old adventure?

The story was well narrated and full of exciting dragon details. Can't wait for more!

Pemberley

An intriguing Pride and Prejudice variation with dragons. I love how the different dragons were incorporated into the storyline.

The author, Maria Grace, did a wonderful job of building the world to include the dragons. So creative and descriptive. I’m looking forward to continuing on with the series.

I thought Benjamin Fife did a lovely job with the narration. His choice of voices, especially the dragons, fit exactly as I imagined they would sound.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Great story

Annoying narration.

He has a very deep voice. It lends itself well to the men, and the dragons are entertaining. He manages the female voices through a combination of breathy delivery and falsetto, and it often doesn't work.

By and large, I got used to it, but it wasn't uncommon to hit a bit that was particularly bad. I will try the next book though.