The writing was lush and clearly well thought through.

I know that I personally don't like any P&P rewrites that are set during the same time period, so I thought that the parts of the story that were completely different from Jane Austen's original were the best parts.

This story delves into many details of the dirty side of history at that time: slave trade, rape, closeted relationships, what happens to bastard children, how rich people got richer, war and pillaging, how servants were pretty much serfs. It's easy to get caught up thinking how romantic and great everything was back then, but reality was pretty harsh.