I am in no way an expert on the subject matters I am about to discuss. Sure, I've read a little about Zombies. The little to which I refer means that I have read World War Z. I have also caught a couple of zombie films: Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead, that one with Will Smith in a deserted New York City. But, the fact tried to get my wife to watch 28 Days Later by telling her it was a thinker will attest to the fact that I am not an expert on Zombies.Also, I have never even read a book by Jane Austen. Sure, whenever the latest chick flick version of Emma or Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility comes out I am obliged to sit through it with my wife at least once. But I usually have no idea what is happening.
I must admit, both my wife and I were looking a little askance at the book rack when we first saw Pride and Prejudice and Zombies staring up at us. She was wondering how they could twist such classics into a zombie thing. I am sure she thought that someone was going to try and tell her they were real thinkers. I was wondering why they didn't just write a straight-on zombie book and make it fun for the readers instead of trying to make it somehow tie into those books that I have never read.
So, when I heard that my friend (on Facebook anyways. Does that count?), Steve Hockensmith, had written the latest offering in the series, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls, and that I could get a book for free if only I posted a review of it on here, I said, “Sign me up!” When I got my package with both the book and a poster, well then, in spite of my skepticism, I was excited.
Ok, I was still skeptical. How am I gonna get all the way through 288 pages of this thing and write a review. Not knowing how else to go about it, I began to read.
To my surprise and delight, as I began to read, I found I was actually enjoying the story. As I read on, I found that I actually wanted to know what happened to the characters. I was having so much fun reading that I was disappointed when the story ended. Not because the ending was disappointing, but....you know what I mean.
Speaking of the characters, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls, introduces us to a colorful and entertaining cast. Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine of the original Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and her four sisters begin their martial arts training, dalliances with love and battles against the undead hoard (unmentionables, since it is not polite to use the “Z” word) in this book.
They are aided, or hindered, in these efforts by a number of colorful characters. Their Father, who has given up martial pursuits for a proper British lifestyle. Their mother, who continues to fret over who they will betroth, even in the face o
f a cataclysmic plague of animated corpses. Master Hawksworth, who travels from the east to teach them the skills they need to survive, and that even a man who can control a sword is not always in control of his passions. Dr. Keckipenny, who is trying to capture the undead, and maybe even the heart of Elizabeth, to research and defeat them. Capt. Canon, the limbless commander of the Army that is sent, pushed in a wheelbarrow by two “limbs”, to stand against the dreadfuls. The bombastic and lustful Lord Lumpley that is the local version of nobility. And the list goes on.
I was, at first, a little concerned with some little tidbits swirling around the martial arts maven, Master Hawksworth(does this seem a little to close to Hockensmith?). He was trained in the wu-shu ways of China, but showed up preferring Japanese weaponry. This seemed like an inconsistency, until I realized that he was a master of Mixed Martial Arts. Randy Couture would be proud of the heritage of zombie fighting his predecessors practiced.
Hockensmith has obviously done his research. I never would have considered the fact that quick lime on a body would make the later arisen zombie have a harder time moving, or the detail that a zombie moan would be phlegmy. Of course it would, but who would think of that? Steve Hockensmith. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls is a thoroughly readable story that makes Regency England and Zombie plagues fun. You can get a copy for yourself on March 23rd.
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