Title: Jane Slayre – The Literary Classic… With a Blood-suckingTwist
Author: Sherri Browning-Erwin & Charlotte Brontë
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: 13th April 2010
Paperback: 416 pages
Genre: Horror
REVIEWED BY LAURA
RATING: 6/10
BACK COVER SUMMARY:
Raised by vampyre relatives, Jane grows to resent the lifestyle’s effect on her upbringing. No sunlight, nighttime hours, and a diet of bloody red meat is no way for a mortal girl to live. Things change for Jane when the ghost of her uncle visits her, imparts her parents’ slayer history, and charges her with the responsibility of striking out to find others of her kind and learn the slayer ways. After trying her luck at a school full of zombies, Jane finds a position as a governess, where she meets and falls in love with Mr. Rochester. But evil strikes in the form of Mr. Rochester’s first wife, a violent werewolf he keeps locked in the attic. Jane departs to study the slayer tradition with her cousins, but finds herself yearning to reunite with Mr. Rochester. She returns to find that Mr. Rochester has been bitten by the werewolf, and only she can release him from his curse.
REVIEW:
It’s no secret that I have a love of the classics. The Brontës reaching the top of my favourites list. In fact, I did my final project for my English Degree on the novels of the three Brontë sisters.
I’ve seen the trend for horror rewrites in my local bookshop and I’ve warily avoided them. Odd seeing as I love classics, romance and horror alike, it should have been a great mashing of worlds for me.
So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I picked up this book to review. Worried that the introduction of zombies would somehow detract from the beauty of the original.
‘Jane Slayre‘ is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek rewrite of ‘Jane Eyre‘ and in many places was almost a recount of the original.
For those of you who haven’t read the ‘Jane Eyre’. In a quick nutshell, it is the story of orphan Jane who goes to live with her aunt and cousins, the Reeds, a selfish and unkind family who treat her with disdain. Eventually, Mrs. Reed sends Jane to boarding school and she enters into the cruel and barren world of Lockwood Institution. Much of Jane’s early life is about suffering and endurance. At eighteen she escapes and finds employment working as a governess for the taciturn, but oddly charismatic Mr. Rochester, with whom she falls in love. However, the course of love does not run smooth and this is a gothic tale with a dark secret. Jane is a tough and beautifully humble woman who more than deserves her happy ending.
This version, of course has some very notable changes. The Reeds are vampires, Lockwood is overrun with Zombies and Rochester’s wife is a werewolf. All written in with a sense of fun and a nice amount of delightful ghoulishness.
The author has kept very true to the original text. So much so in fact that I had to pull out my copy of ‘Jane Eyre’ to compare some passages. The only thing I really noticed is that there have been a few changes to make it more readable for a modern audience. For example:
Original:
“You are afraid of me, because I talk like a Sphynx.”
‘Jane Slayre’ edition:
“Are you afraid of me?” he asked, his brow arching. “You think me a monster?”
As you can see the affect is cleverly, very subtle.
There are some genuinely amusing moments. The vision of Jane out for a quiet evenings stroll where she whips a stake out from beneath her skirts to slay an unbeknownst vampire did make me chuckle.
The book has been written with obvious deep affection for the classic. But, maybe I’m a purist, but part of me would hate for people to read this version instead, or least before they pick up the original.
‘Jane Eyre‘ is magical and wonderfully dark in its own right. But the darkness in the original is born of human behaviour which in many aspects is more cruel than the acts of the undead.
VERDICT:
This is a well written fun rewrite that will entertain horror fans. If you’re a fan of the other mash ups then I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. It just wasn’t quite my thing.
SOURCE: Thank you to Simon & Schuster for sending BCC this book to review.
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7 Comments
I can't believe someone wrote a horror Jane Eyre.
It actually sounds quite fascinating – I think I will give it a try. I did read the original (although quite some time ago) so I am interested to see what will happen in this book.
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Thanks for the review, Laura. I'm still a little wary about reading mash-ups, I'm not sure I like other authors messing with my favourite classics…
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I'm really getting sick of these classical re-writes, it reminds me too much of the remakes in Hollywood – they take a perfectly good film/book and then re-do it when it is not needed. I would like to see more originals.
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@Ines yes there's been a bit of a trend for it. There's a Pride & Prejudice with zombies too!
@BookChickCity my feelings exactly really. That's how I felt, it wasn't a bad book at all, it was very well written I just didn't like a classic being rewritten
@Cheshire-Cat It was the first one I've read and in all honesty it was well written. Like you I'm a bit of a purist and kind of wished it had been left be as it was brilliant to start with. But I know there are people who really like these mash ups.
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great review Laura,I'm a little done with this type of book
pride and prejudice with zombies was stellar but now ever publisher is trying to make lightning strike twice! I cant take i=any more of my beloved classics being monterized 
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I thought it was a fun mash-up. For me, if you are going to do one, you need to stay true to the book and this one does stay true! So for me, this one was a win.
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@Fiction state of mind thank you! Well this is the first mash up that I've read, so I cannot comment on the others, but it's more that it wasn't my taste because it was a good book
@Melissa it was a very well written book and you're right the author did stay very true to the original which was a definite plus. It's just I think I like my originals
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