Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - a Review

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a classic much improved by the addition of zombies, was written by Jane Austen and co-authored by Seth Grahame Smith. I tried to read the original by Ms. Austen, but never could make it very far. I’m sure her writing was awesome for the time she lived in, but it bored me to the point I just laid the book down. When zombies are added to this tale that I once found boring, things liven up quite a bit.

The zombies, or unmentionables, are thought to be the spawn of Satan. The English have become used to their presence, though it is unanimous that life would be much better without the zombies. No one spends a lot of money on good clothes to bury their dead in anymore. Why bother? When transformed into the undead, they will just rise up out of the ground and destroy what so much money was spent on.

The Bennett girls, especially Elizabeth, are known for their skills in disposing of the zombies. For this reason, the Bennett sisters have been retained by the queen to get rid of as many of them as they possibly can. One of my favorite scenes is when Elizabeth is sparring with a room full of ninjas (servants of Lady Catherine, a well-known zombie slayer herself who obviously doesn’t like Elizabeth). During this fight to the death, Lizzy kills a ninja mercilessly, rips his heart out, and then takes a bite of it.

Zombies are so numerous that they are now hunted the same as wild animals. The ears of those who slay them are always open to listen for sounds that zombies are hovering nearby; their eyes are always open looking for groups of them feasting on some poor unfortunate person. Another way the hunters track zombies is by looking for zombie droppings.

Did I enjoy the book? Well, I enjoyed most of it. When the story focused on romance without any zombies around, it tended to bore me a bit. The scenes with zombies I enjoyed most. Reading about the romantic traditions and rituals of Jane Austen’s time was bearable only because of the newly written zombie scenes. The story was great; I’m just not partial to Ms. Austen’s style of writing.

I wanted to interview Seth Grahame Smith, but was not able to do so. He is working with Tim Burton on a movie based on another book he wrote.

I bought a copy of the book from Amazon. Would I recommend this book? If you have always wanted to read this classic but could never manage to muddle through it, you would definitely want this updated zombie version. If you like stories with zombies, then you would definitely want to read this. If you would like to purchase this book from Amazon, I have provided a link below for you.

I have also provided a link for the prequel, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls, by Steve Hockensmith.

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