Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After

dreadfully-ever-after Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After by Steve Hockensmith

So it’s more like a 3.5 stars, because while still being fun, it was definitely not the strongest of the trilogy. But I still loved it! It starts out with Elizabeth being kind of depressed because as a married woman, she’s supposed to hang up her katana. This funk leads to Darcy being bitten and then her world is over. Except maybe it’s not. Lady Catherine still loved her nephew, despite her misgivings about Elizabeth, and she will do anything in her power to save him. So Elizabeth is forced to leave Darcy with her while she embarks on a mission to steal a supposed cure.  This is where I really felt like there was much to be desired. Because Elizabeth has to go undercover and be away from Darcy, we get little to no interaction between the two, which is exactly why I wanted to read the sequel in the first place–I want more Elizabeth and Darcy!

Anne, Lady Catherine’s daughter, plays a much, much bigger role in this narrative, while Georgiana ends up taking a step back (which I found as a disappointment). Kitty gets a bigger role now that she’s no longer living in the shadow of Lydia, though we do get plenty of the ‘La!’s still, which is perfect. I enjoyed Kitty really figuring herself out as both a warrior and a woman.

Onto the spoilers…
We know that the man in the box is Master Hawksworth, but we never get to see the family’s reaction to finding out. I would have loved to see how Elizabeth would have reacted. With the two orphans that Elizabeth takes home from the “hospital,” would I be right to assume that Mr. Bennet would actually take them home instead? Because Mrs. Bennet was scaring off any suitors for Kitty and Mary because she didn’t want to be alone and she wanted to have warriors at home. That’s not fair to Kitty and Mary, though, who at the end of the novel, find their own love interests. It’s assumed they’re going to not want to live with the Bennets anymore, so it would make sense to have the orphans go home with them so Mrs. Bennet has two children that she can take care of as well as them taking care of her. I believe Mr. Bennet alluded to it, I just wish it hadn’t been so open-ended when it was definitely going to be the last book. Also, I was disappointed to see Georgiana not come back till the very end. There were a few times where I thought she would have shown back up after being tricked into leaving, but that never occurred.

While it was nice to see certain characters get their chance to shine, I really missed the interaction between Darcy and Elizabeth, which is really what I read it for. I’m glad to take away the knowledge of them continuing to be badass together, I just wish I could have seen more. Again, I got the audio book, Katherine Kellgren is the best.

four-stars

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

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls

dawn-of-the-dreaduls Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith

I was a little worried about this before I started it, because it wouldn’t actually stem from Jane Austen’s own writing and would be pure fan fiction. It was spectacular, though!

I also highly recommend getting the audio book! Katherine Kellgren is absolutely incredible! Her voices are so perfect that there’s no way I could have read it with the same enjoyment she definitely brought to me.

As someone who is into martial arts, I absolutely loved the learning process the Bennet girls had to go through to get their moves down in the midst of the dreadfuls beginning to populate. The humor was fantastic–I found myself laughing out loud to several parts of the book. I truly felt like all of the characters retained the essence of how Jane Austen wrote them to be when they’re older.

This was such an enjoyable read that I fully plan on reading it several more times (or, more preferably, listening). Kitty and Lydia are just as silly, Jane and Elizabeth’s bond is just as great, Mary’s actually a little more interesting, Mrs. Bennet is just as ridiculous as ever, and Mr. Bennet is still the best. Particularly, I love how much Mr. Bennet was in this one, guiding his girls into becoming the best warriors possible, no matter the cost to how it would look on society.

Pick this one up! It’s such a fun starter before going into Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

five-stars