***Review*** Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith

On the Back of the Book

Journey Back to Regency England --- Land of the Undead!

Readers will witness the birth of a heroine in Dawn of the Dreadfuls - a thrilling prequel set four years before the horrific events of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. As our story opens, the Bennet sisters are enjoying a peaceful life in the English countryside. They idle away the days reading, gardening and daydreaming about future husbands  - until a funeral at the local parish goes strangely and horribly awry.

Suddenly corpses are springing from the soft earth - abd only one family can stop them. As the bodies pile up, we watch Elizabeth evolve from a naive young teenager into a savage slayer of the undead. Along the way, two men vie for her attentions: Master Hawksworth is the powerful warrior who trains her to kill, while thoughtful Dr Keckilpenny seeks to conquer the walking dead using science instead of strength. Will either man win the prize of Elizabeth's heart? Or wll their hearts be feasted upon by hordes of marauding zombies? Complete with romance, action, comedy and an army of shambling corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls will have Jane Austen rolling in her grave - and just might inspire her to crawl out of it!

Pre Read Thoughts

I can't start a series without finishing it and this is a policy that has my mum wanting to tear my hair out because if I don't like a book I complain about it bitterly until I read a book I do like. So with that policy in mind I am now looking at the prequel to the distinctly average Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Now I won't lie to you, I managed to get this book as part of a 'buy one get one half price' offer at WHSmith. Don't ask me what the other book was, I don't have a clue. But that offer means I'm not sure how much I paid for it. Once again the price is in dollars and I'm beginning to wonder if I should Tweet Quirk Classics and inform them that there is more than one currency in the world, for example in the UK we have the pound. I once again dislike the cover but I do like the synopsis so I'm going to spend my time looking at the back cover.

Post Read Thoughts

I started this book with a sense of trepidation, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies wasn't a good book and I feared that this was going to be the same but it wasn't. Freed from the constraints of Jane Austen's classic story, this book proved that my suspicions that P&P&Z had a solid premise that was do-able, were correct. This book was delightfully funny and a joy to read. Although I did have trouble getting into the story at the beginng, I soon found myself in my own little zombie slaying world. I really enjoyed the author's writing style it was easy to follow and extremely entertaining.

Unlike last time the characters are filled with life as the Bennet sisters learn about becoming warriors. I was disappointed by Jane initially but she came into her own at the end of the book. Elizabeth turned into an awesome heroine before my very eyes, there were many scenes were I was laughing in delight at the way she handled herself. Not all the characters were likeable though, Kitty, Lydia and Mrs Bennet are as annoying in this book as the are in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. but I think that's due to the flaws of the characters as opposed to bad character development.

Overall this prequel is superior in every way. I loved the story and the opprtunity to see the Bennet sisters learn their ninja skills was priceless. I  am so happy that this book was created as it proves the potential that sat hidden in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Although I feel that this does contradict some of what's insinuated in P&P&Z I don't think it matters they were hardly true facts set down by the other author. The final pages were filled with tension and an army of shambling corpses, comedy gold that had me on the edge of my seat.

My Rating

3.5 Stars - I enjoyed this book. I didn't realise just how much though until I wrote this review. This is so going on my guilty pleasures shelf though because I wasn't expecting to like and I was decided that I was going to hate it. The most disappointing thing about this is that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is so disappointing that most people will probably run away from this book screaming. Please don't! This is good!

A Final Note

I have just started a Twitter account for the blog so I can keep you all up to date on what I'm reading and when I've written a new review, and also because I want to get to know you all.  You'll find me here: @ShadowsIReview on Twitter. I hope that you'll follow me.

***Review*** Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith

On the Back of the Book

"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 civilised sparring between 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.

Pre Read Thoughts

Put simply this is a title book. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw it sitting there on a shelf in WHSmith. I picked it up and read the synopsis, I was instantly intrigued as to how the two worlds would mix. I wanted to see what had been done to Pride and Prejudice (which is sitting on my TBR pile). According to my copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies I paid $12.95 unfortunately I live on an island known as the UK and over here we use the pound not the dollar so I have no idea how much that is. So after some research on Amazon I have discovered that the UK RRP is £8.99 so I'm going to assume I paid something like that for it. Saying that, if I did pay £8.99 for it then it's £1 more than the average adult paperback. I'm not impressed. If I'm honest the cover freaks me out more than a little, I really don't like it. I'm going to try to avoid looking at it as I read the book.

Post Read Thoughts

I had high hopes for this book and in a way maybe that was this book's downfall, I just wanted too much from it. I felt that the author was trying to hard to make the zombie parts amusing when in fact the joke got old... fast. The story really dragged and it was a struggle to stay awake, never mind actually focusing on the actual story. I'm not sure how much of this is Jane Austen and how much is Seth Grahame-Smith so I can't comment on the quality of the writing.

The characters felt dull and lifeless, like they were forced into being something they weren't. Though I suppose this is exactly what's happened. The zombies were a complete and utter farce, I didn't like the way that they were portrayed and they just felt like an unnecessary sidenote to the story instead of the integral part they could have been.

Overall this book has so much unrealised potential, unless it's the author's intention to make me grab my copy of the original book and find out what it's all about. What I want to know is if the failings of the book are the fault of Austen or some fool who thought they'd cash in on the undead phase that as readers we seem to be lapping up right now. I found no enjoyment on the majority of these pages although there were some moments of genius, the end in particular was pretty good. It captured my attention nicely. Another thing I enjoyed were the illustrations. I love a good picture in a book.

My Rating

2 stars - This book is average at best. The premise is really good as I've mentioned previously and my only regret is that it wasn't carried out as I would have liked it. Maybe moving away from the original plot could have given Mr Grahame-Smith some artistic freedom. I don't recommend this.

A Final Note

There's a bit of bad language but it isn't used in the way that we use it today. Also there's a bit of gruesomeness so not one for people of a sensitive disposition.