Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman

So, yesterday, I finished reading the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy by Pamela Aidan. The books in this series are An Assembly Such as This, Duty and Desire and These Three Remain.  They were recommended to me and I thought I'd try them out, as I do enjoy the occasional Regency romance.

My impression?  Well, mixed.  Ms. Aidan is a good writer, although she tends to get a little repetitive and could use a good editor.  And why not re-interpret the novel Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's point of view?  But upon reading the books, I felt that the idea fell a bit flat.  The Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy was originally written as fan-fiction and reflects some of the pitfalls of that genre.

Mr. Darcy, for one thing, comes over as somewhat of a "Gary Stu." He's too perfect, and that in fact takes away from some of the appeal he has in the original novel.  Let's not mince words here: Mr. Darcy is somewhat of a jerk in Pride and Prejudice.  He snubs the heroine and her family (and just about everyone else in their neighborhood), he tries his best to separate his friend Mr. Bingley from the girl that he loves because he doesn't believe she loves him enough, and he's really, really full of himself.  Which is half the fun of the character, and it makes it all the more sweeter when this priggish snob finds himself head-over-heels in love with the heroine despite his best efforts to the contrary.

However, in this trilogy, Darcy always has a reason for being the way he is.  He isn't a snob, he's just devoted to his family and his duty to his estate.  He's religious, he's nice to his sister, he helps out his friends and is kind to his overly-annoying relatives.  He also dresses to perfection, fences like a pro, and generally is too perfect.  And boring.

I think the mistake the author made here was becoming too enamoured with the character.  She always wants to show Darcy in the best light, even when he's making mistakes.  This does not make for good literature.

The saving grace of the book was the supporting characters that the author either made up or fleshed out from spear-carriers in the original novel.  Fletcher the valet, Lord Brougham, Colonel Fitzwilliam all shine and are a heck of a lot more interesting than the moping Mr. Darcy.  The added plot of Irish rebels was a bit overdone, but made me think that the writer might have been better off just writing an original Regency Romance and leaving Pride and Prejudice out of the picture entirely.

The trilogy was an entertaining-enough read, but I admit having to struggle to finish it because I was getting bored.  I'd probably not recommend it, unless you are a very big Pride and Prejudice fan.  As for myself, I'm passing the books on to my Mom to see if she might have a different opinion.