I wish they'd turn this into a movie!

I loved this adaptation. I'm a huge Jane Austen fan, and know the story QUITE well, and I truly enjoyed this twisted version! I wish someone would turn it into a movie, using today's Steampunk aesthetic- I would LOVE to see it. I highly recommend this book. If you're a serious reader who ALSO just HAPPENS to have a healthy (albeit slightly sick & twisted) sense of humor, GO FOR IT!

20 people found this helpful

The BEST audiobook I've ever listened to!!!

This is perhaps not everyone's cup of tea. But, if you go into this book with the right frame of mind, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters will be absolutely the most hilarious book you've ever come across. My wife is a devoted Jane Austen fan. Myself? I HATE anything written before 1950, and cannot for the life of me understand why anybody would subject themselves to the torture of a Jane Austen novel. But, amazingly, both my wife and I LOVED this audiobook. We listened to the entirety of the novel during a 2-day road trip, and could not wait to get back in the car in order to listen further. Katherine Kellgren is masterful as the reader.

12 people found this helpful

At least it's Katherine Kellgren!

As with every other review, I have to praise the narrator. Katherine Kellgren is as always a superb narrator with her characteristic knack for accents and complicated voicing. I don't think that any British-styled literature can be found lacking with her talents.

This novel is as you may expect a reworking of the Jane Austen original with, well, Sea Monsters! Warning: If you are coming this way because you read Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, take note that this is a bit different in style. Whereas 'and Zombies' was a faithful 'restyling' very close to the original tale, Ben Winters has taken some very broad liberties and turned the world upside down with the Sea Monster crisis and there are times when the story seems to go on a far tangent in the quirk--this may be good news for some readers, but I personally did not like the immodest additions as much.

But all-in-all, the story itself is entertaining and worth its cost.

4 people found this helpful

Hilarious and entertaining!

I bought this after hearing the free first chapter and thought it was fabulous. The "sea monsters" theme works great for S & S (in which our beloved heroines are already "swimming with sharks" in the form of social-climbers, money-grubbers and hypocrites.) Secondary characters like the Middletons and the Palmers are more vivid and more logically motivated in this than in Austen!

I wish someone would make it into a movie. I loved the "Austen x Jules Verne" images in "Submarine Station Beta" and the "Austen x Lovecraft" themes.

A fantastic treat for someone who loves both Austen and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.

13 people found this helpful

A dissapointing second

After listening to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I expected the same kind of magic from this book. I couldn't get into it, and whether it is the fault of Austen, Winters, or me, I am not sure. It wasn't nearly as captivating as I had hoped it to be, and I think the sea monsters were too forced upon the reader in this novel, as opposed to the zombies in P&P&Z.

3 people found this helpful

Thank you, Col Brandon with tentacles!

This book was amazing! Not as good as PP&Z, but really good! It kept in line with S&S, but added horrid, angry under the sea monsters and instead of a London Season they enjoyed an under water sub station with was just as fashionable as London! The Dashwood girls are still amazing and Willoughby still needs a good smack in the face, so I was pleased with the adaptation. Nay sayers just have no sense of humor. I think Ms. Austen would have giggled at her fame and the use of seamonsters in Regencey England if she were alive today.

5 people found this helpful

No hash job of an old story, a completely new take

I've read 'Pride, Prejudice and Zombies' and unlike that book which was a basic hash job of taking an existing story and adding Zombies and the training of the sisters. Here we have a complete rewrite of the story from the beginning to them. I was really not expecting such a complete job to be done on the book as was done. Here we have the same storyline as the original one. However, it has been completely rewritten to change the setting, add the sea monster story line and keep the same characters in line with who they were and how they were written in the original story of 'Sense and Sensibility.' We still have the sister ending up pretty much as they did in the original story line just with some real twists. I have enjoyed reading this book while driving and now and moving on to 'Persuasion'. I recommend this book over the entire 'Pride, Prejudice and Zombies' which to me having been written by two different authors don't flow at all.

4 people found this helpful

The Graft Didn't Take

I like reading lit from Austen's period, and I like science fiction. I thought this would be perfect! However, the author didn't take either genre seriously, and this sort of seemingly dashed off romp is too poorly executed to make it work. I can see how someone could enjoy it if they don't want subtlety and complexity...sort of like old style comic books.
Stick to reading Austen and Neal Stephenson alternately if you enjoy being immersed in another time and alternate realities.

5 people found this helpful

Disappointing

After the previous Pride and Prejudice and Sea Monsters I was curious to see where this adventure would take the reader. Although Kathryn Kellgren's reading is masterful as always, the material is so bad that nothing can really save it. Not worth the paper, or MB it takes up in the world.

10 people found this helpful

It's What You Should Expect

This is a great adaptation-parody. If you know the original but would enjoy comical sea monster gore then you'll enjoy this. I preferred Pride and Prejudice and Zombies but this is also pretty good and the ending has some nice twists! I would indulge in a sequel.