Pride and Prejudice And Zombies- Review

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains"

By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

A much talked about book, that I finally finished on the 4th! But just in case you've not heard- it is awesome, if you're a zombie geek, and a Jane Austen lover (or hater even, I think). It's even great if you're like me and like the concept of zombies but can't cope with too much gore so don't go much further than Shaun of the Dead in terms of Zombie Movies, as it's all in text format and is just so funny juxtaposed with Regency England!

The basic idea is that someone has added zombies to Pride and Prejudice. Woah there, don't get angry- they did it in a completely awesome way, and most of the original text is still there! The zombies have been woven almost flawlessly into it. I was expecting normal Pride and Prejudice, and then sudden Zombie attack, like what often happens in movies- they have no awareness of zombies before that point. No. They've written it so that quite a few decades ago, a plague started, a strange plague, that brought the dead back to life. Now, it is usual and expected for young ladies of a certain social standing to add 'zombie killing' and 'hand to hand combat' to their list of accomplishments, for children to be sent to China, or better (according to Lady Catherine) to Japan, for martial arts training, for groups of militia to travel about the country side killing the afflicted and for deadly blood oaths to be sworn rather than mere grudges based on pride or prejudice.

Yet all of the original story is still there (though altered sometimes due to the zombie changes).
Brilliance.
I also love the fact that it is *illustrated*!

I will have happy memories of this book forever, as I started reading it in the tent while I was away on the Yorke Peninsula, lit only by a torch, and I was laughing away at all the changes Seth made. If you love Jane Austen (or Zombies) you'll love that there's some more stuff to read that could easily get people loving the original (rather than just loving the most recent P&P movie which was sadly lacking in my opinion. No, not talking about that one where she jumped into the book through a portal, which I quite liked!). If you hate it, it'll make it more entertaining for you.


I look forward to the movie that is being made, and also to reading Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters, which I got for Christmas.