ok, for all that I said I was going to abide by the random numbering I've run into two situations that have made me shift a little. First, after finishing a 550 page sci-fi tome, I realized that the next book was a second 500+ page sci-fi tome beginning a different series. It felt too same-y and too big so I skipped it for My Plain Jane. I just didn't think I'd be able to give the new series a fair reading with my head full of The Expanse. Second, when I was renewing my library books I realized that I had a book checked out with no renews. It's currently slated for book 10 in the month but I think I'll bump it up to get it read. I also realized that all my TBR books are slated for the end of the list which isn't going to work, I'm going to need to think about bumping them up as well. Oh well, it's all part of a learning process.
I had high hopes for My Plain Jane which is technically the second book of "The Lady Jaines" series. The first book has been made into a series that is viewable on prime and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the source material. The books themselves, however, are actually stand alone stories. There is only one minor call back to the first book in My Plain Jane. All of these novels are alternate histories or stories for well known figures of history and literature. This one is an alternate telling of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.
Actually, calling it an alternate version isn't entirely accurate. The premise of this is that both Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte are young woman in the same miserable boarding school. In theory, the novel we all know as Jane Eyre is the product of Charlotte's fictionalized experiences in this novel. In the world of the novel, Jane Eyre has an unusual ability to see and communicate with ghosts which is something she's hidden her entire life. When she takes a job with Mr. Rochester she gets dragged into a larger conspiracy concerning England's supernatural underworld.
It sounds a bit ridiculous on the surface of it. However, it was actually pretty impressive the way the authors managed to blend details of the original work with events in this new story. The snarky tone added a fair bit of levity and it was fun spotting allusions to various works. I'm fairly well read and, while I spotted a large number allusions, I'm sure there are many that I missed. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and managed to blast through the 450 page novels in just a little over 24 hours.
I highly recommend the read, however it would really help to be familiar with the original work.
No comments:
Post a Comment