Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel is a darkly magical re-imagining that fuses two great classics- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice- into a seamless narrative. A chance encounter between Mary Bennett and Victor Frankenstein sets in motion a series of relationships that will leave them both forever changed. Victor is travelling with his friend Henry, brooding over his promise to his Creature to create a bride for him. As the pair have travelled, Victor has slowly been collecting the equipment and tools needed. He plans to part from Henry for a time, retiring to the remote Orkneys to complete his project. All that remains is to secure the body of a young woman.

Victor's quest brings him in contact with Mary Bennett, that ends with an invitation to visit Pemberley, where Mary and her sister Kitty are currently staying. Both women are somewhat distressed over having reached their third decade and still being unmarried. Mary has some small hopes that Victor may yet save her from the life of an old maid. He has expressed some signs of interest. Victor's stay in Pemberley does indeed net him the body he needs, and he continues on to Emray Island, shadowed all the while by his Creature. And by Mary, who has gone after him in the wake of devastating events, hoping to find answers as to the cause. She ends up travelling in the Creature's company, learning more about Victor, and what the Creature seeks. Slowly, Mary begins to see the Creature, whom she calls Adam, as less a monster and more a human. Unfortunately, Victor does not accept that possibility. Can he still keep his promise in light of these feelings?

Pride and Prometheus keeps faith with the styles of the original works, while still allowing the author's own voice to shine through. This story is told through Mary, Victor, and the Creature's eyes. Victor and the Creature speak as first person, while Mary's part is third person. It was neat to see the overlapping events from these myriad perspectives, each so very different from the other. As always, my heart ached for the Creature, and how he is treated. To be abandoned even as you are born, first of your kind, has to be deeply scarring. His conflicted nature shows clear and strong. He wants to despise humans, yet grows to accept Mary at the least. It was nice to see how Mary grew to regard him as acquaintance, if not friend. She helps him in as many ways as he helped her. I love that even the nested aspect of Frankenstein was kept, encapsulating the final events of that story when Mary chances to meet a person from the ship that found Victor in the Arctic, and from where the Creature stole his body.

This story is a fantastically creepy homage to Shelley's Gothic masterpiece and Austen's Regency classic. It is a bold and well-played tale that will keep you reading long into the night. Recommended for those who love Frankenstein and/or Pride and Prejudice, and for any who love a good crossover sci-fi work.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Saga Press for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Review for the Manhattan Book Review.

John Kessel’s Pride and Prometheus is an interesting mash-up sequel to both Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as well as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Around ten years after the events in Pride and Prejudice, both Mary and Kitty find themselves still unmarried. When Mary meets Victor Frankenstein, she becomes enamored and begins to fall for the mysterious stranger. Meanwhile, the Creature is waiting for Victor to fashion him a bride, threatening his maker as he is reluctant to repeat his previous experiments – and Mary finds herself in the middle.

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite classics, and while I don’t have the same sentimental place in my heart for Frankenstein, I still enjoyed reading it and the underlying themes of nature versus nurture and the implications of advancements in science. I was hesitant to read this, then, because as these are such great works, it’s really hard to compare anything to them – especially when that book is both a sequel and fusion of these books.

Pride and Prometheus wasn’t bad. Taken for what it was, it was rather interesting and thought-provoking. I really liked the interaction between Mary and the Creature and how their platonic relationship developed over time – how Mary was able to eventually see past her revulsion for the Creature and how the Creature was likewise learning more about the world and human interactions – which I thought it was much better than Mary pining away over Victor. (PS – I don’t like Victor).

However, though there were decent parts, I was left ultimately unsatisfied. I didn’t really like Mary’s or Kitty’s characters in general – though, to be fair, they weren’t my favorites in the original, either – and I didn’t like the direction the author decided to take with some of the plot elements. I get that it’s creative license and it’s how the author felt best to further the plot along and solidify the bond between the two classics, but that doesn’t mean I have to like what he did. I won’t go into details here because of *spoilers* but it had to do with one particular character and his/her particular storyline. Also, I both loved and hated Mary's ending: on one hand, good for her; on the other hand, it felt forced and contrived and too much like an afterthought.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad sequel/fusion/adaptation/whatever you want to call it. I thought it was enjoyable for what it was, but it still fell short of my personal expectations.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for a copy of this eBook in exchange for an honest review.

PRIDE AND PROMETHEUS is not only a clever, thought-provoking mash-up between two beloved stories -Frankenstein and Pride and Prejudice - it expertly captures the tone and themes of each book. The writing is a beautiful mix of gothic and romantic with the story showing us what happens next through the perspectives of characters whose perspectives we never really saw in the original stories. While I prefer a happy ending in stories, I loved the ending which is more tragic for some than others though in keeping with being a good genre mash-up it does has a slight glimmer of hope to balance out the tragedy.

Mary Bennet was always a character I felt sorry for in Pride and Prejudice. She doesn't fit in with the rest of her family, being more interested in intellectual pursuits rather than balls and gossip. That's why I loved seeing her having an adventure and success of her own in this story. She comes off as incredibly sympathetic, compassionate, and determined. Through Mary, Victor and the Creature the story allows you to delve deeper in to what makes each character tick and see a new perspective on their related internal struggles with obsession and attachment.

One tiny issue I had with this story was the constant changes in POV without any warning. I kept having to question who was speaking and there was a bit of repetition due to the different POVs of the same event. The story summary is also misleading as there really isn't a romance, It leans more towards Frankenstein and tragedy than Pride and Prejudice's happily ever after. Those small things aside, I loved PRIDE AND PROMETHEUS. It took two already powerful, beloved stories and made an incredibly moving, thought-provoking and dark tale.

I have to give a lot of credit, in a way, to an author who decides to write a sequel to a classic novel (much less two). It's a gutsy thing to do, and risky, which I think is why I keep trying them – although, honestly, I'm hard-pressed to think of one that has actually been really good. You have to imagine Mr. Kessel telling people he was putting out a sequel to not only <I>Frankenstein</i> but – brace yourself – <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> …. It's crazy. It's crazy enough that it might work: mad gambles have pretty often turned out to be very enjoyable, in my experience.

I think the best thing about this book was the mention, while Mary Bennet is in Lyme, of A young woman who had stopped there the day before with a party of visitors from Uppercross had fallen from the Cobb. Witnesses of the accident said she had lain as if dead. She was being attended to in the home of Captain Harville, only recently settled in Lyme." It was quick and not much attention was drawn to it, and I loved it.

I have to say I didn't out and out love much else. I liked the way Mary and her growth to just-about-spinsterhood was charted (poor Mary); I liked how Kitty had grown bitter and reckless faced with the same fate. I appreciated the author's undeniable knowledge of both the books he was following up; he knows his Bennets (and Musgroves), and he knows his Frankenstein, and I never bickered with the way any of Shelley or Austen's characters were handled. Victor Frankenstein is self-involved – as Kerry Greenwood once said, "self-centred as a gyroscope", and absolutely clueless about what anyone else in the world, from his fiancée to Mary to his monster, might think or feel about anything. He also has a certain superficial charm that makes it easy to forget what a weasel he is.

And I liked that the frightening thing about the Monster wasn't that he was green with bolts in his neck and looked like Boris Karloff or Herman Munster. "I have studied my reflection in still water. There is no obvious flaw in my countenance." His problem is that death lingers about him. He unsettles people because he's not … <i>quite</i> … normal. He is too still, maybe, too alien. Something this book points out is that he was created only three years ago – he's a three year old in a giant adult body, and has been through more trauma in that short life than a lot of adults. He's not normal. He can't be.

So I had no argument with the approach, the premise of melding what happened to Mary Bennet after the events of P&P and Victor Frankenstein and his Monster after their book. The writing carried the day and made it very readable, if not perfect.

My unhappiness with the book was simply the place where Kitty and Mary are when the book opens, and – not to be spoilery – where the book takes them and Frankenstein, maker and monster. "At least Lizzy and Jane had taken an interest in Kitty; they had brought her into their homes for months at a time, and put her in the way of any number of eligible men, while they were content to let Mary live at Longbourn, the sole object upon which their mother might inflict her nerves. As far as Jane and Lizzy were concerned, Mary might retire into spinsterhood without a sigh." That's disappointing. Mary, here, has changed and grown from the stupid-smart girl of the book, and it's depressing that it all came too late for her, and that her family doesn't even notice. She has broadened her outlook – and at least this actually gave her something to talk about with her father. However, " He warned her of the sad fate of the female bookworm: 'Beware, Mary,' he said impishly. 'Too much learning makes a woman monstrous.'" Undoubtedly. She has finally begun to understand things like the fact that "The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing."

Also depressing is the fate of another secondary Austen character, someone I always rather liked, and who deserved better. And then there's Mr. Collins, who is thriving in his absolute obtuseness.

But most depressing at all is the book's headlong rush in exactly the direction I thought, with dread, that it might. Remember how Kitty coughed all through <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>? So does the author. And thus the story takes a turn to "an impossibility so out of keeping with the world of Bingley and Darcy" that the world Austen created quails away.

The believability of the whole thing stumbles around the same time. Again, trying not to be spoilery, suffice to say that Mary undertakes a two hundred mile journey under conditions which would be quite frankly physically impossible for – well, for any woman of the period, and darned unlikely for most women anytime. Sanitation, sustenance, safety, access to adequate clothing and footwear … it's all lacking, and I found it ridiculously improbable.

I suppose I should be grateful that the book did not do one thing I feared it might (<spoiler>which is a full-on romance between Mary and Victor, which because of so many things would have been such a horrible mistake</spoiler>), but what happened instead was just … disheartening. There is no clichéd happy ending, for which I was relieved … but there's no real happy ending at all, and that's surprisingly hard.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.

One glimpse of the blurb telling me that this was a mash-up of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and I had to read it. Two powerhouse classics with vastly different settings and atmosphere had me so curious about how the author would pull it off.

I confess to a little trepidation, as well. Both are powerful stories with different themes so I was crossing my fingers that one would not suffer at the expense to the other.

Well, never fear, the author had a different approach that really worked to blend the stories. This ended up being more of a P&P sequel mashed with the Frankenstein story. A person who has read or watched the movie adaption for Pride & Prejudice and Frankenstein would get more out of this, but I think someone only slightly familiar would get by just fine. Instead of the main Austen heroine, the author plucked out a secondary character from P&P to become his female lead across from the male leads of Frankenstein. A story swirling around Mary Bennet and Victor Frankenstein and his monster actually had even greater appeal. Mary suited the tragic heroine role more than any other of Austen’s Bennet sisters.

The atmosphere of this story is not light and it’s not a romance though it has romantic overtones. The atmosphere is toward the romantic tragedy side with a bittersweet flavor. Mary is a middle-aged spinster who is the odd-(wo)man out in her family. She’s changed and grown and become a better person though very much the Mary people will recognize, but everyone in her life is so busy about their own affairs that this goes unnoticed. She’s ripe for something new in her life- an adventure. The plight of Victor Frankenstein and his monster bring that.

Victor is nearly at the breaking point. He didn’t set out to play God and pay the price, but he did and now he has a monster threatening to kill after having already killed if he doesn’t provide the creature with a wife like him. Victor encounters the rare Mary Bennet and her family and spies his opportunity. Meanwhile, his creature watches with impatience and loneliness. He is angry at Victor’s rejection and leaving him to fend for himself in a world that is disgusted by him and reviles him.

The pace is mostly slower with a few spikes of excitement. It’s not true horror, but more gothic in air. Much of the story is more embedded in the Frankenstein tale and, as I did when I read that the first time, I sympathized with the creature more than his creator. I’m not a Victor Frankenstein fan.

I really only had one niggle and that was that I found the ending abrupt. This was probably on me because I was reeling from the last revelation that came just before that and perhaps wanted something more or different. That said, the ending was consistent with the story itself.

So, all in all, I thought this was a moving story- more thought-provoking than anything else- and definitely one I was glad to have read. I think it will have niche audience appeal toward those who enjoy the classics particularly those of a brooding, darker tragic tone.

4.5 of 5 stars

Admittedly, I’m not so big a fan of Jane Austen or Austen-inspired fiction that I would normally pick up any book with a title that begins with “Pride and…”, but there was just something irresistible about John Kessel’s novel that called to me. Of course, the added element of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein didn’t hurt. Still, although it may draw inspiration from one of two of the most beloved novels of classic literature, it would be a disservice to simply label Pride and Prometheus as just your average literary mashup. Not only has the author succeeded in capturing the tone, spirit, and style of these two works, he’s managed to create a perfect fusion of its deeper themes as well.

Expanding upon Kessel’s 2008 Nebula Award winning novelette of the same name, the story begins with the chance meeting between an English high society woman and a young scientist from Switzerland. Mary Bennet, one of the sisters of Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice, is persuaded to attend a ball by her mother, who is desperate to find marriage prospects for her two remaining unwed daughters. It is there that Mary first encounters the quiet and pensive Victor Frankenstein, who is in town with his friend Henry Clerval. Drawn to his intelligence and his shared love of the sciences and natural philosophy, Mary immediately strikes up a rapport with Frankenstein, but is disappointed when the scientist ends up standing her up for a dance, having slipped out of the party earlier without letting anyone know.

The reason for Victor Frankenstein’s reticence and hasty departure is soon made apparent with the introduction of the Creature, a monster whom the scientist had brought to life and then cast out, appalled by what he had done. But now the Creature stalks him, driven by Victor’s promise that he would fashion a bride for him. He has followed his maker to England, growing impatient. Victor knows that until he has delivered on his promise, any new relationship would be impossible because no one around him would be safe.

The first thing that jumped out at me was the writing. Kessel’s writing is absolutely gorgeous, emulating the style and manner of the original novels that inspired this tale, both of which were written in the early 19th century. As such, the language might take some getting used to, but gradually the story will ease you into the rhythm of the alternating viewpoints between Mary Bennet, Victor Frankenstein, and the Creature (who has dubbed himself Adam). I was also surprised to find that not only were the elements from both Regency Romance and Gothic Horror represented equally, they were blended perfectly. Granted, I was initially skeptical of the novel’s premise and the ambitious idea of throwing these two disparate genres together, but John Kessel managed to knock it out of the park.

As for the story and characters, my feelings are a lot more complicated—but in the good way. For the most part, Kessel stays true to the personalities of Mary, Victor, and Adam, expanding upon them in a way that feels different without abandoning the essence of what makes them who they are. His version of Mary is especially sympathetic. As the middle Bennet sister, she is plain and bookish, much like Austen’s version. However, in Pride and Prometheus, she is a much deeper and contemplative character, and her love of the natural sciences (manifested as an interest in fossils) is genuine. Beneath her social awkwardness is also a caring and spiritual heart, even if she is sometimes driven by self-interest. Just as complex are the characters of Victor Frankenstein and his Creature, but because their tale closely mirrors that of Shelley’s original, I didn’t find them nearly as fascinating. Still, close to the end was a scene that filled me with so much anger and then with so much sorrow that I was almost driven to tears. All I’ll say about it is that, beyond the three main characters, there are a few others who I’ll never look at quite the same way again after reading this novel.

All in all, I adored everything about Pride and Prometheus, from the utterly engrossing struggles of its characters to the emotional themes about obsession and attachment. The book is also artfully written, and I think Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein fans will be impressed with how well Kessel has captured the original novels’ forms and styles, even if it might make it more challenging for some readers to get into the writing. If you’re familiar with both classics, there will still be plenty of surprises, many of which I loved but couldn’t elaborate on in this review because I badly want prospective readers to discover these plot developments for themselves. This book endeared itself to me and then broke my heart, but all I could think about after finishing this was how I wanted more. Truly a treasure of a novel.

The nitty-gritty: A highly inventive mash-up of Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein, told in pitch perfect prose that evokes the styles of both Jane Austen and Mary Shelley.

What do you get when you take two beloved classics, one gothic and one romantic, and mash them together? In this case, you get a fascinating tale of what might happen if Mary Bennet from Pride and Prejudice and Victor Frankenstein from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein were to meet. The result was what I expected in some cases, but not at all what I expected in others. In short, I really enjoyed Kessel’s reimagining of “what happens next,” as he weaves together the characters of both stories and creates something new, much like Victor Frankenstein created his monster. The book isn’t perfect, as I did have a few issues with the structure, but overall I highly recommend this, especially if you’re familiar with both of the original classics.

The story begins thirteen years after the end of Pride and Prejudice. Mary Bennet is still unmarried at the age of thirty-two, which makes her an “old maid” in the eyes of society. She’s come to reluctantly accept her fate, focusing instead on her curiosity about the natural world and using her intelligence to study fossils and other aspects of science. Her younger sister Kitty is also single, much to the chagrin of their mother, although Mrs. Bennet is thrilled to still have two daughters to “make time with” and take care of her. Mary has recently made the acquaintance of Mr. Charles Woodleigh, an older gentleman of forty-three who she meets during a fossil hunt. Mr. Woodleigh seems impressed with Mary’s knowledge of and interest in fossils, and Mary thinks this could blossom into a relationship and maybe even marriage.

Meanwhile, in alternating chapters, we meet Victor Frankenstein, an unhappy and tortured man who is on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of the Creature he made from parts of dead bodies and animated with life through the use of electricity, who has threatened him with harm if Victor doesn’t “create” a bride for him. While visiting her sister Lizzy in Pemberley, Mary and Victor meet each other at a ball, and this is where the story really begins. When Mary spots the Creature in the nearby woods, she eventually convinces Victor to explain his existence and the odd relationship between the two of them.

In a third point of view, we get to know the Creature himself, as he follows Victor relentlessly across Great Britain, determined to hold him to his bargain. After Mary and Kitty find themselves caught in a thunderstorm, Kitty becomes gravely ill, and it’s at this point that the lives of Mary, Victor and the Creature become inexorably intertwined.

If you have even a passing familiarity with the source material, you can guess what’s coming. I wasn’t surprised when Kitty fell ill, and I wasn’t surprised at the events that happened after that. (Obviously I’m not going to come out and tell you what happens, but you can easily connect the dots yourself!) But the charm of this book doesn’t rely on story twists, and knowing what’s going to happen doesn’t detract from the reading experience at all. What I loved about Pride and Prometheus was the way the author juggled so many elements and nearly seamlessly brought together two completely different stories. I have to admit I’m much more familiar with Pride and Prejudice than I am with Frankenstein, and so I was surprised by a few shocking things that happened at the end. But keep in mind that Frankenstein is a mostly tragic tale, and Kessel doesn’t shy away from the tragedy, which makes his story so good.

As a huge P&P fan, I loved that the author focuses on the two least-liked sisters in the original story. Mary is plain and has little talent, but Kessel gives the character new life, making her into a thoughtful, intelligent and fiercely loyal woman. Mary literally goes through hell in this story. She leaves the comforts of home to search for Victor, who is still trying to avoid the Creature, and the world does not treat her kindly. One of my favorite sections in the story is when Mary and the Creature (who she eventually names “Adam”) join together to help each other survive the long, arduous journey to Scotland, where Victor has supposedly fled to. Mary is still scared of Adam, mostly due to his terrifying appearance and his violent tendencies, but they form an uneasy friendship that I loved. And Kitty is vital to this tale, although readers may not like what she goes through.

There are also appearances (very brief, however!) by Lizzy and Darcy, Jane and Bingley, Mr. Collins and more, which was fun. But this is not their story, and their roles are merely supporting ones.

While Kessel imagines the lives of the characters after Pride and Prejudice ends, he very closely follows the events of Frankenstein. I had to brush up a bit on the story on the Wikipedia website, and I was delighted that he hits all the major plot points of Frankenstein, including the reasons for Victor’s deep despair and the murderous motivations of Adam, who has had no say in his existence and now simply wants another creature like himself to build a life with. Even more impressive is how the author incorporates Mary’s story into the horrific lives of Victor and Adam. Mary goes through incredible changes during this story, and while I brushed her off as nothing more than a side character in Pride and Prejudice, she clearly takes on a leading role here, and I grew to respect her strengths.

As for negatives, the only thing that didn’t really work for me was the constant change of POV. I appreciate what the author was trying to do, showing us the world through the eyes of the three main characters and how their world views and beliefs differ. But I found parts of the story to be very repetitive, as Kessel recounts the same scenes two, sometimes three different ways, merely to illustrate his characters’ differences. I’m not sure it added much to the story, and in fact, I would have been OK with reading only two of the three viewpoints. (Although I’m not sure which one I would drop if I could choose, Victor’s or Adam’s!)

It's also worth pointing out that the story blurb is a bit misleading. This is most certainly not a romance between Mary and Victor, although Mary longs for a husband who understands her, even though she's well past the usual age of marriage. She thinks Victor might be a possibility, but Victor has so much baggage that he can't see past his own troubles, let alone make room in his life for a woman.

The last chapter, which takes place six years after the climax of the story, was a little jarring at first, until I realized what the author was doing: bringing his story full circle to coincide with the way Frankenstein begins. I liked this framing device, which wraps things up fairly neatly and gives us a hopeful vision of Mary’s future. I’m not sure whether the release of Pride and Prometheus this year was deliberate, as 2018 happens to be the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but I couldn’t be happier that I had the chance to experience this well-written and imagined tale.

Big thanks to Wunderkind PR and the publisher for supplying a review copy.

Thanks Saga Press and netgalley for this ARC.

Mary and Victor make the perfect foils for each other. Loved and didn't want this book to end. You'll be rooting for them both, raging at history and society, and knowing that nothing is black and white at the end.