Jane Austen’s Dragons series spreads the actions of Pride and Prejudice over 3 volumes, with Mr. Darcy’s Dragon leaving off just after the Netherfield Ball. Apart from the original plot there’s the added plot Mr. Darcy’s dragon egg having been stolen and needing to be recovered before it hatches. There is a secret order of dragon friends in England, watching over the Pendragon Treaty which has kept the peace between humans and dragons, and it would be very bad for this peace if a dragon were to hatch in the wild. This plotline adds a lot of mystery and danger, with lots of places in need of searching all people in need of being suspected of having stolen the dragon.

I always wanted to read Pride and Prejudice, because I loved watching the various adaptations with my mum, but every time I picked it up I ended up putting it down. I used to attribute this to my limited attention span and the book’s lack of pictures of Colin Firth, but now I suspect the lack of dragons might also have had something to do with it. 

It had been a while since I’d last watched, so for a refresher, I ended up listening to Mr. Darcy’s Dragon and watching the 1995 adaptation. I think this was a good way for me to do it, because I got the feeling that the books expects you to be familiar with the original, and it was a joy seeing how the dragons were added to the story. It was great seeing where the story stuck to the source and where it deviated.  For instance, I really liked how the dragon’s manipulations offer a very reasonable explanation for certain actions. It was a bit strange for me how a lot of original dialogue was left in, but I enjoyed the way it was occasionally twisted. 

The main characters are the ones we know and love, with the addition of sections in Mr. Darcy’s point of view, and a much more important presence of Lizzy’s aunt and uncle who are both great. Since they’re all generally known I won’t talk about them too much, but there are dragon related shades added to all of them, for instance Mrs. Bennett’s foolishness is played perfectly when it comes to her reaction to the dragons. 

So let me get to the Dragons! There are different species of dragons, from small enough to be confused with a bird by the untrained eye to well, regular dragon size. They’re all sentient and very proud, often moody, good thing that Lizzy knows exactly how to deal with each of them. Lizzy, Darcy and Lizzy’s uncle each have a companion dragon. I really liked how different their personalities are and especially how they take some things after their companions and other traits are completely independant. There are also a kind of dragons very much like cats, and I’m here for the cat/dragon combo. The big dragons don’t feature that actively in book one, but I get the feeling we’ll see much more of them coming up. 

I got a copy of this audiobook at my request through audiobook boom, which I’ve been subscribed to for … 6 months or so and this is the first time I asked for a book, but I really liked it so yeey for that.