#CBR9 Book 67: "Heartstone" by Elle Katharine White

Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Ever wondered what a fantasy version of Pride and Prejudice would be like if the countryside was full of dangerous supernatural creatures like direwolves, gryphons, lamias and banshees? Where the most respected and revered members of society weren't just idle nobles, but devoted themselves from youth to training hard and hunting down these dangerous monsters?

Elle Katharine White clearly wondered the same thing, and before you think this is just another quick cash-grab like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, where the original story has pretty much been kept word for word, with some zombies and sword fighting thrown in for good measure - it's not. Ms White has reimagined the story and made changes here and there, but to anyone who knows the source material, there isn't going to be any massive surprises. Part of the fun of reading this book was instead to see how she had changed, reimagined or tweaked the story.

The Bennet family are the Bentaines here. Their youngest daughter was tragically killed by gryphons, so they are very grateful when the local landowner has managed to collect enough money to hire a band of Riders to vanquish the local threat. One of the Riders is even a dragonrider, from the legendary Daired family. Second eldest Bentaine, Eliza, is surprised when the arrogant man offers to train her, she isn't interested in killing things, she wants to become a healer. Her older sister seems to really hit it off with one of the other Riders, though, and their mother is absolutely delighted at the prospect of a good match for one of her brood.

I very much liked some of the dragons who made up the supporting cast, and the intricate rules that apparently govern the proper customs between dragons and their riders. Most of the characters' general characteristics will be very familiar to anyone who's read the Austen novel (or seen any of the adaptations). I liked the changes made to Mr. Collins and Catherine de Bourgh, especially, though and not everything plays out the way you might expect.

I was always going to be predisposed to like a novel that's literally "Pride and Prejudice with dragons", but there was always a chance that the premise fell absolutely flat and was boring or bad. I'm happy to say that this isn't the case at all. This is Ms. White's debut novel, and I will be looking out for more of her books in the future.

Judging a book by its cover: Parts of this cover obviously appeal to me a LOT - come on, it's a great big dragon in flight, apparently coming in for a landing. Not sure why the tail is so long it has to be coiled twice (this does not really fit with the descriptions of dragons in the book) and I'm really not happy with the outfit of the woman in the lower foreground of the picture. It seems to me that she is wearing nothing but a corset and petticoats, while in the middle of a field, something no lady in this story would do.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.