Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues

After getting marvelled with The Darcy Monologues last year I was thrilled to know that Christina Boyd had gathered another group of incredible authors who would work with her to create an appealing anthology dedicated to Austen’s rakes and rogues, so it was with great expectations that I started reading Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues, and I must say I did not get disappointed.

I don’t really like the box of chocolates analogy but I can’t think of a better way to describe this anthology. In Dangerous to Know we will find 11 stories which will focus on Austen’s rakes, rogues and I dare say gentleman, because let’s face it, who can ever consider Colonel Fitzwilliam a rogue?

With such a group of authors and an experienced editor, I was bound to love this book and what I loved the most about it was the fact that we never knew what we would find, hence the box of chocolates. As we finish one story and move along to the next one, we do not know which is the character we will find, if it will be a prequel, different POV, sequel or the sum of the several sub genres. Better yet, we never know if the author decided to redeem the character or not! When I first heard about this anthology I thought that it would give us the point of view of these characters and maybe for that reason we would come to understand their reasoning, but that is not what I found in this book. Some of the characters remain the rogues we know them to be, and that is just perfect because it makes us wonder at every story.

The creativity of these authors were also part of why I liked this book so much. There were many original characters that I learned to love or hate, which is always a desirable effect in a book, and I saw sides of some characters I never expected to see. They have also made me love stories about characters I really despise such as Sir Walter Elliot. I didn’t come to like him, by the contrary, I think I ended up despising him even more than I did before, but I did love the story, and that is the beauty of this anthology. Even if we hate the characters about whom we are reading, we are still captivated by their story and have a true pleasure reading it. That is why I think everybody will like this book, because it is not so much about the characters, but about their stories and Austen’s world. The stories explore areas unexplored by Austen but that sound familiar to the reader nonetheless and that could only be accomplished by talented authors who know quite well the attributes of her work.

This book is perfect to be savoured through time, I think it will enhance the reading experience to read one story per day as it will allow the reader to focus on each character and consider all the possibilities associated to them.

I’m finding these anthologies absolutely amazing, and I can’t wait for Christina’s new project! I wonder what she will do next!! Whatever it is, I know I will read it 🙂

 

You can find Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues today at 0,99$ at:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.ca

The book will remain on sale for the next days increasing 1$ each day until it reaches it’s regular price, so if you have been uncertain about buying this book, now is the right time to do it 🙂 I highly recommend it 🙂