Pride and Prejudice in Space

If you loved Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and are looking for a fun reread, you might want to try “Pride and Prejudice in Space”. You know you are curious…

Alexis Lampley’s retelling manages to put everything in Space, without changing most of Austen’s intrigue and writing style. That is great in a way because… why mess with perfection? But it was also a bit weird. How can British societal rules and expectations continue the same in such a setting? It felt wrong.

I won’t start with a summary of the plot as if you don’t know it by now, I have no idea what you’re doing here – go read the original first. Just go now. Hurry! However, if you are familiar with it, this article is about the good and the bad – all my thoughts on this fast read – “Pride and Prejudice in Space”.

1. World Building

Space is a wonderful idea. The few changes the author made were great (Lizzy is as audacious as ever and loves to fly spaceships, for example). However, these changes were minimal.

Yes, you have different planets, you have space travel, spaceships… it’s all futuristic up to the point where it clashes terribly with the antiquated societal rules (how do men still get to do the first visits as heads of the households?).

I wish the author would have let her imagination dive deeper. I wish she would have dared to change more of the novel to fit this new perspective. I wish she would have put as much care and thought into all aspects of her world-building as she put into her graphics.

All in all, for me, this is the worst failure of this book: the inability to build a cohesive story, to change the original narrative enough so that it makes sense in space as well.

2. Awesome graphics

As I was saying… the graphics are amazing. I loved them despite only having read the NetGalley ebook version. Alexis Lampley’s talent shines through.

3. Characters

Even though she didn’t take many chances with changing the narrative, the author captured the main characters’ essence. A few of the side characters, like Mary, Georgiana or Mr. Bennet, got a chance to grow a bit more, to show a bit more of their inner thoughts. I loved that for them!

On the other hand, Darcy is a lot more obvious about his feelings for Elizabeth. The original felt a bit more mysterious, while here, a lot of the suspense and romantic buildup didn’t feel quite the same. It was a great experience overall either way.

4. Writing and Dialogue

While the general writing is exquisite, it can’t be otherwise because entire passages were practically identical to the original.

What felt fresh was the written group chats people had and the journal entries. The tidbits there added a bit more fun to the mix.

Conclusion

“Pride and Prejudice in Space”, like the title says, is exactly that – not more, not less. I personally loved the idea, even though I felt a bit disappointed by the execution.

I can’t help but wonder if a younger person were a bit more attracted to this kind of reinterpretation and would, through it, become a classics fan as well.

If you want to check it out, the book can be found here: