Sanditon

by Kate Riordan

[lindsey]

JANE WOULD NEVER.

That was a recurring thought I had the entire time I read this book.

If you're looking for a true Jane Austen novel, this isn't it. I understood going in that this was a novelization of a TV series that was based on the unfinished manuscript of Austen's Sanditon, but I thought it would still be close enough to Austen's other novels that it might be hard to tell the difference. I couldn't have been more wrong.

While I would normally not have minded some of the more risqué elements in the story, it just seemed so out of place in a book that was based on something written by Jane Austen.
The story was lackluster, the characters were flat and underdeveloped, the writing was mediocre, and while I usually don't mention editing issues in my reviews, I couldn't help but be put off by the many typos sprinkled throughout.

The pacing is a bit odd at times, and it seems to drag in the middle, while feeling too rushed at the end.

All in all, this was a disappointing tribute to Jane Austen. I've heard that the mini-series is better, so I may still give it a try, but I can't recommend this book.