Author: Seth Grahame-Smith
Series: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies #1
Genres: Horror, Humor, Romance
Publisher: Quirk Classics
Release: 2009, May 1st
Source: eBook
Pages: 320
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BLURB:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”
So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield. Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.
EXPECTATIONS: I don't know what I expected, really, but I think I got exactly that. Jane Austen romance with zombies to battle.
THE WORLD: Our dearest eighteenth century England is being terrorized by a dark plague of Zombies. They just won't stay dead. Dead loved ones crawl out of their graves in search for juicy brain morsels. As a result, whole England is transformed. While before you might have shown class, impressed a person, and set your worth by, I don't know, knowing how to darn well, having a famous music tutor, now it's all about your fighting skills. Your status in society is measured by how well equipped your dojo is, how skilled are your ninjas, protecting you, the tutors you had to teach you the deadly arts of oriental, whether you studied in China or Japan, and so on. I invite you to try and image an 18th century England, black breakfast tea with milk, and a well used katana hanging in the background, with zombies growling just a few feet behind the well closed window.
CHARACTERS: Our main protagonists are the Bennet sisters, and their family. I'm not very familiar with Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", but I assume these are the same characters, same men being pursued. Because our deadly girls do indeed wish to get married well, and some are determined to go up and beyond for that! They're all very different in all senses, the way they fight, the men the court, the priorities in life, and where marriage stands on that scale. Yet they're still very much the characters of those old novels, with long speeches, slights, offences, and so on. I much more preferred reading of their parents. For they were absolutely beautiful opposites, and it was hilarious to watch them clash, if still lovingly.
ROMANCE: Since they're all in pursue of a good husband, preferably an officer, romance is one of the very main courses here, just below general survival in a zombie infested England. Not one man was what he seemed to be at the start, and I truly don't know whether anyone honestly loved anyone, except for Mr. Darcy, but that's just as well. For due to this, romance was put in a rather humorous color, far easier to read than most books of 18th century English courting.
GOOD: It's such a wonderfully light read, that I've read it twice over, and then skimmed through a third time. Why did I feel like I need to do that tho, is in the "Bad" section below.
BAD: The book leaves you with nothing. It's not special, it's not memorable. You read it, and you put it aside. This is not a book I'd like to own, even if it is a book I'm glad I have read.
OVERALL: I do think one might enjoy this more, if one has actually read Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". But even if you haven't, much like myself, it's still a fun, easy,
humorous, and short read. A very good start for the October, month of Halloween/Samhain, if you please (I know it didn't start yet, but I'm living in Halloween moods from the start of September). It's worth the time,
if not the purchase.
What do you think about PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES?
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