Sea monsters bite, rendition does not

A quick release following up to the unsuspected best seller "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies;" "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters" was released on Sept. 15. The authors of the works are listed as Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters.

From the title, there does not seem to be much sense about it. The new "mashup" in the Jane Austen and Monsters series from Quirk Classics is a pure delight though, and a classic Regency England romance will never be the same again.

This time around, the Dashwood sisters are sent to Pestilent Isle, and England's coast is full of a myriad of ravenous sea creatures; squids, octopi, giant lobsters and Kraken that attack without mercy, filling almost every page with laughs.

Elinor, Marianne and Margaret all play their original roles, but with generous additions, and some changes as to why they behave the way they do.

Marianne falls for the dashing Willoughby not from the effects of being rescued from a sudden rain shower, but from a depraved octopus that attaches itself to her face when she heedlessly leans too close to a small stream. Of course, the heroic Willoughby harpoons it, and she is splattered in octopus blood and gore.

Elinor befriends the heart broken Colonel Brandon, who has tentacles that cover the lower half of his face, that wiggle wetly when he is nervous. And Margaret, who grows increasingly nervous in her correspondence because of smoke rising on the island and the chanting of the natives, both of which grow ever more frequent.

Mrs. Dashwood attempts to explain away Willoughby's departure as an urge to hunt treasure, and Mariane explains her distaste for Edward comes from his lack of emotion when reading her favorite pirate diaries aloud to them.

Instead of going to London we are treated to a trip to the ocean floor city, Sub-marine station Beta, obviously inspired by Jules Verne ("20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), where scientist look for ways to genetically alter humans to help fight off the attacking creatures of the sea.

Purists will complain that "Sense and Sensibility..." and its predecessor should never have been written, but one of the best things about them is that Austen's work still exists. Her florid description and all the emotion, along with the social commentary still reign within the plot.

With Winters' attempt at rewriting/updating the classics, he has done a superb job of imitating Austen's original language, and with a much higher monster count than what was offered to readers within "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," it flows even better. "Sense and Sensibility..." lacks the flotsam and jetsam that was tacked on to the original, but moves along swimmingly with the remainder of the story.

The novel is full of wit, pirates, a sea witch and an orangutan valet. The sea monsters may bite, but this novel certainly does not.