Darcy's Reckoning

A Retelling of Pride and Prejudice from the Gentleman's Perspective

By: Virginia Somerset

Narrated by: Alastair James Murden

Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

These were the words that defined Fitzwilliam Darcy's young life. Any measure of integrity, honor, loyalty—these were secondary considerations to the size of a bachelor's estate. The only lady to esteem his genuine character was now lost forever, and he must face his future alone.

In his deepest despair, standing in a crowded assembly room of merry strangers, he would form an acquaintance that would confound his understanding of the feminine mind and inspire him to become worthy of her genuine approbation. At first believing himself to be misunderstood and unfairly judged, he must acknowledge his own culpability for the suffering of others and seize his opportunity to save the life of the woman he loves.

Return to Pemberley in this retelling of Pride and Prejudice, and discover an answer to the question never posed: Why would a man of sense choose to attend a ball with his friends, only to refuse to dance?

©2022 Somerset Publishing (P)2023 Somerset Publishing

3.5 rounded up

This release is for the audio version of this book that was released almost two years ago. I enjoyed the audiobook. The narrator has a great reading voice that was engaging and soothing. I had not originally realized this was the same book I had previously read, but I’m glad I listened to it, as I enjoyed the book more this time.

The story is a retelling of the original Pride & Prejudice from Darcy’s point of view. We learn a lot more about Darcy and about some of his experiences that form his cynicism and pride that he presents to the people of Meryton. We also meet some new characters and get some insight into some of the original side characters. I liked how the author depicted Anne deBourgh. So little is known of Anne and I liked the depth and spirit she had here. There were some very touching scenes involving her character. There was also some more insight into Caroline Bingley and some explanations to some of her flawed traits.

I liked that many of the characters go through a journey in this book and you see growth and development that is plausible and redeeming. The book did seem a bit long and dragged at times, probably because there was a lot of repetition of what we already know. Overall, I did enjoy this book and the extra insight that it provides. There is enough new to make it interesting. The writing is good and flows nicely. I would be interested in reading more from this author.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Darcy's Reckoning!

I enjoyed this variation on my favorite "Pride and Prejudice". It is Darcy's perspective and intriguing. It is enjoyable and a good mix up. I love seeing how different writers mix this classic story up; even giving a zombie spin. I like how this author added some additional characters. I thought the narration was really good and helped bring the story to life.

Darcy’s backstory and lost love

This audiobook was so easy to listen to and not annoying as many can be. I loved the narrator!

This book has Darcy’s point of view and gives a history of his life and his past lost love. While the story follows quite closely the original plot, there are some changes such as his mother still being alive. I found his mothers actions a bit put offing. Lady Anne was the reason he lost his first love to another who happened to be a friend from school.

Darcy is a man who struggles to reconcile his heart with his head, who is ill at ease in company of strangers and who does not meddle well in a crowd, so he makes many mistakes letting the words rush out in his eagerness and anxiety to express his feelings.

I enjoyed the interaction between Darcy and Elizabeth. She didn’t let him off easily and when they finally get their happy ending it made me smile.

This is a long story but we get to see the details many authors pass over. I enjoyed it!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Great story

I really enjoyed this story. Some new characters. A drama from long ago started this story. Highly recommend this story to a Jane Austen fan fiction lover. Great Jaff

Hiding in Jane Austen’s Shadow

This is a loooong audiobook, over 10 hours. It mostly follows the trajectory of canon, with a few swerves that make it unique. The book is told nearly solely from Darcy's perspective, with a few forays into the minds of a few secondary characters, like Caroline Bingley and one of Darcy's good friends. One perspective character we never see is Elizabeth! That is certainly a different way to approach Jane Austen fanfiction.

I listened to the first part of the book and actually wondered why the author bothered to write this story, as it followed canon so closely, including many direct quotes and specific, relatively minor scenes that revealed nothing of the author’s unique spin. In this first part, we did hear a little about new people, like Darcy's friend I mentioned earlier and a woman who supposedly claimed Darcy’s heart before choosing to go with his (former) good friend. This secondary plot and characters were not woven into the story well for most of the book. The book became more interesting when the author went off canon’s script, as she delved more into Darcy's difficulties after he left Hertfordshire bewildered by his feelings and ultimately Kent with a broken heart and how he came to better understand himself and Elizabeth. Despite following canon so closely initially, the story swerved strongly for the last several hours. I thought the book would be finished, as the key scene when Darcy and Elizabeth admit all to each other occurred, when an entire subplot not really foreshadowed became the focus of the story, dropping ODC with a THUNK. That's essentially what I think the problem of this book is: focus. When the author had her own spin on canon, the book was fascinating, but when she stuck to canon, she didn't change it enough to make it interesting to those who already know canon very well … or integrated it well with her artistic additions. Just throwing Caroline's subplot after, essentially, Darcy's is over just felt strange and tacked on. The story and characters would have been better served if it had focused on the Elizabeth/Darcy aspect—as all good Jane Austen P&P fanfiction should!—and perhaps Caroline's story could have been spun out into a separate book or better integrated from the beginning. The author does have some writing chops, especially when she steps out of Jane Austen's shadow.

Titled reckoning, but it is more about redemptions

The narrator is new to JAFF audiobooks, and I enjoyed listening to his voice and his interpretation very much! I certainly hope to have future opportunities to listen to more books using this narrator. He has a rich baritone voice and a subtle way of giving over Darcy's character and torment. A fantastic choice of the author's for this Darcy-centric story. 

Story - There was much I enjoyed about this book, but a bit of it left me bored.

What I loved were the change ups made by the author to keep it fresh. A story in 6 parts, at the beginning of each part we get background on six separate individuals.
The 2 completely new characters create the most major change, while also providing a motive for Darcy's cynical outlook on life, marriage and love. These were well written and planned out by the author, giving a good indication of her creative abilities.

The story follows canon, aside from the additional characters and is told primarily through Darcy's thoughts, with the added secondary's as per their part of the book. I was a little disappointed that some of the book was very similar to P&P- the 1995 BBC version, dialog and description of scenes and actions.

This variation is not high drama. This is a retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's viewpoint, showing all the characters humanity- warts and all, and their fallibility and redemption.

It is also at times a little too wordy. But listening on audiobook, I almost always listen at a much higher speed, so that seemed less of a problem than when I read the book.

Overall, well performed and nicely written and I recommend giving it a listen.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's POV

While not a bad book, this book is quite long for what it is - a repetition of Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's point of view. We see very little of Elizabeth. The writing in the book is fine and the narrator of the audiobook was equally excellent and captured Darcy well. However, I was frequently wishing for Lizzie's voice and spirit.

If you enjoy P&P variations, particularly from Darcy's point of view, and like the idea of an angsty Darcy and a romantic tragedy to his past, this book may be for you.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Darcy's Reckoning, great story

A Pride and Prejudice retelling that deals with the lifes of all the characters from the original, but with more depth and has a strong storyline. The story is well told and held my interest from cover to cover. I enjoyed hearing how the people involved went through their ups and downs on their way to a happy ending for each different person. The story is well worth listening to. This is a new author to me and seems to be her debut story. I enjoyed listening to Alastair James Murden narrate this story.