Classics

As Old As Time

as-old-as-timeAs Old As Time by Liz Braswell

So when I was at Barnes and Noble recently, I walked in and saw this beauty (no pun intended). There’s just something about a really cool cover; the fact that it was a Beauty and the Beast telling made it a win for me. The internet connection is always awful at my Barnes and Noble location, though, so I wasn’t able to check reviews before buying it. Wish I had been able to, because they weren’t the greatest. I am, however, not going to let those reviews affect my own.

I put down the book about halfway through after flipping to the end to see what the point of all of it was. It’s basically an exact telling of the Disney movie, word for word, in the chapters that have to do with Belle and the Beast. The other chapters are devoted to Maurice and meeting and then loving Belle’s mother, who is a powerful Enchantress. Those scenes weren’t very compelling, and if I want to read the scene-for-scene version of the Disney movie…I won’t. I’d rather just watch the movie. (Side note: which is why I won’t pick up the screenplay versions of movies coming out.)

Anyways, I don’t really care about Maurice falling in love, so that makes the chapters not devoted to the retelling of the movie boring. There are a couple of things I liked, though, which were the explanations as to why we never hear about Belle’s mother (could she have been enchanted to forget?) and if Belle might end up suffering from Stolkhom Syndrome, which she recognizes and disagrees with (love that it’s brought up). I noticed that a little after halfway through it starts going off track from following the movie to a T, but I longed stopped caring.

I was expecting an imaginative retelling, not something that was an exact telling with a romance involving crazy old Maurice peppered in.

one-star

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

I decided to read this book, and its accompanying prequel and sequel after completely falling in love with the movie. It is important to point out, though, that the movie is quite different from this novel, and that’s totally OK! I think that one particular scene that would have been awesome in the movie is when Elizabeth is at Rosings and Lady Catherine wants her to duel against her best ninjas–Elizabeth, in defiance, duels them blindfolded. It was a very fun grotesque scene!

I listened to the audio book for this; Katherine Kellgren is incredible. I’m a total lover of Pride and Prejudice and this book  was just loads of fun. Zombies, Ninjas, Brains, and Badassery. I feel like my only issue for characterization was that of Mr. Collins, who makes a drastic decision after learning something about Charlotte (I can avoid spoilers!). It felt pretty out of character, even if it was something that was done out of fun because people don’t really like him. That’s where the movie had me totally enraptured, I’m a huge fan of Matt Smith and he was hands down, one of my favorite characters.

I know that this review feels part book, part movie, but when you read a book because of the movie, you can’t help but notice the drastic differences. This was a fun read, nothing serious, and with the mash up of Jane Austen’s text and Seth Grahame-Smith’s text, it’s exactly what the title tells you it is: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

four-stars