Book Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Since my predictions are eating it and given that I'm close to the finish of the book that I'm reading now, I decided that now would be a pretty good time to make an attempt at reviewing said book. The book in question? That would be Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Yes, you read that correctly, and in case you think your eyes are deceiving you, the picture of the book cover should remove all doubt.

The book, written by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, is a hilarious take on the original Pride and Prejudice novel written by Austen. With some "help" from Grahame-Smith, there are now zombies, or as they are referred to in to story, unmentionables. The basic story remains intact, as Elizabeth Bennet has to deal with the infestation and the appearance of arrogant prick Mr. Darcy, among other things. The determination to wipe out the horde displeases her mother Mrs. Bennet, who wishes for the marriage of her five daughters, including Elizabeth, instead of the training that Mr. Bennet puts them through. Conflict arises when Lady Catherine de Bourgh makes an appearance and appears to challenge the Bennets, proclaiming that their style of training from the Shaolin temples of China are inferior to her training that she received from Japan. That conflict would escalate when Elizabeth, blindfolded, manages to kill the three ninjas that de Bourgh sends during a training session. Meanwhile, Elizabeth has to deal with a friend that gets infected by the unmentionables and eventually marries Mr. Collins, for whom it was intended by Mrs. Bennet that Elizabeth should marry. The description in which Charlotte's slow transformation into an unmentionable (the reasons for which is later revealed) is pretty graphic, but leaves no details out of how others react, which is one of the highlights of book.

As for the rest of the book, I really thought Mrs. Bennet came off as the nagging mother that just simply wouldn't shut up. In fact, I felt like smacking the crap out of her for every time she talked during the book. The evolution of the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy is carefully plotted out, from the hostile beginnings to what is seen as a warmer mutual feeling between the two. Even though the whole China/Japan prejudice is never really explored in the novel, it gets mentioned quite a bit. I would have liked to have known a little more about it, but it wasn't a central part of the story, as is the whole marrying the cousin concept that seems to keep coming up, so those are minor complaints to an otherwise great novel. If you've read the original Pride and Prejudice at all, you know how the story ends. If you haven't, I won't spoil it here. Overall, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is one of the better reads in recent memory. It has humor, romance, drama, and best of all, zombies. I definitely recommend it for all, especially for those who just simply can't get into the original story.