Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Sense and Sensibility, originally written by Jane Austen, gets shaken up and salted as Ben H. Winters rewrites the romantic tale and adds in the elements of giant sea monsters, sea witches devouring men, pirates, and gore. A member of the Quirk Classics Collection, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is a fantastic read, one that can appeal to a wider audience than the original tale of reason and romance. 

When they’re father is eaten by a shark, the Dashwood sisters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, and their mother, are forced to leave their beloved home in Norland and live in a small shanty on the Devonshire coast. They quickly discover that living on an island is not as romantic as they initially imagined, as their new home also plays host to all manner of gigantic sea beasts and a dark and mysterious legend. Whilst avoiding the tentacles that bay for their blood, both Elinor and Marianne fall in love, Elinor with the sensible and sedate Edward Ferrars, and Marianne with the dashing and romantic Willoughby, although a mutual friend of their mother’s relation also admires Marianne: the reserved and dutiful Colonel Brandon who has had the misfortune of being cursed by a sea witch and is afflicted with a forest of tentacles over his face. As well as battling with vicious sea beasts, the Dashwood sisters must also combat against the bonds and pressure of society, pressures that oppose the girls’ romances. 

The Quirk Classics collection is a recent phenomenon, one that I think is a very practical and interesting idea. After reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I was hooked on the writing and loved, really loved the fact that I could read these and understand the basic stories that fill the pages of the original works. Unlike Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters actually has a story of its own running parallel with Austen’s romantic tale. Whilst the Dashwoods are battling between their heads and their hearts, the character of Margaret has a much larger role and there is a whole new history and angle added to the original story. 

It was much more complex than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies because it has much more of a back-story and certain scenarios in the original story have been drastically altered in order to fit the sea-faring theme. It’s a wonderfully entertaining piece of fiction though. I loved it and got through it in just over a week. 

Filled with giant sea monsters, deaths, devouring, romance, drama, comedy, gore, and pirates, with the occasional illustration dotted throughout the book for a bit of visual delight, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is a wonderfully engaging and entertaining read that was really easy to get hook on straight away. I absolutely loved it!