Steve Hockensmith

To start, I have to admit that the judgment I made of what "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" would be like prior to reading it was totally wrong. The whole concept of morphing a Jane Austen novel into a blood-soaked zombie farce seemed silly and beyond merit. I was certain that it would be a complete waste of time for any reader over the age of 15. I was wrong, but let me qualify that. I experienced "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" via its audio version and, largely because of the superb show more performance of Katherine Kellgren, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, even to the point of laughing out loud several times. On the one hand, I still doubt that reading a printed version of the book would even come close to matching the fun of the audio book. On the other, I can honestly say that this is my favorite audio book to this point of 2010.

England has been beset by zombies for more than five decades and, in order to protect his family, a man like Mr. Bennett does what he has to do. Bennett, a man with five daughters but not a single son, makes the most of having numbers in his favor by sending the girls to China for training in the "deadly arts." Upon their return, the ladies become Hertfordshire's primary defenders against the "unmentionables" that plague the countryside.

But despite the great joy the girls take in personally disposing of hundreds of zombies, they and their mother believe that their lives cannot be considered complete unless they make a good match as early into their twenties as possible (if not at an even younger age). Mrs. Bennett's sole purpose in life seems to be placing her daughters into situations from which they can attract the most suitable young men in the region. So, while the daughters are busily chopping off heads and limbs, pulling still beating hearts from the bodies of sparring ninjas, and setting zombies afire, Mrs. Bennett eagerly welcomes young bachelors into her home in hopes of snaring a new son-in-law or two for the family.

Admirers of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" will already be familiar with the Bennett family, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Collins, Charlotte, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh, among others. Now, Seth Grahame-Smith tells the rest of their story. And what a story, it is.

Katherine Kellgren's presentation of the novel mimics the style of whichever author's work she is reading. When she reads the words of Jane Austen, characters speak in a voice and tone that will be very familiar to fans of movies made from the Austen novels. The words of Grahame-Smith require an added edge and vigor but Kellgren presents them in a way that sounds perfectly natural to Miss Jane's version of the girls. Throw in Elizabeth's wholehearted adoption of the warrior code and its requirement that one's honor must be defended at all cost, and the new Elizabeth Bennett is, if different, more fun than ever. Call me weird, but the idea of Elizabeth Bennett yanking the heart from an opposing warrior's chest and eating it during a tea party makes me laugh.

This audio book is great fun, and readers curious about this kind of genre mash-up will do well to start here. Whether or not they will feel compelled to venture further into the field is an open question. I do not; others might want more.

Rated at: 4.0 show less

Another delightfully quick read from Quick Classics and Steve Hockensmith, Dawn of the Dreadfuls serves as the introduction to the Pride & Prejudice and Zombies world. Recently, I read the end of the trilogy, and found Hockensmith's work both dedicated to the inspiration, as well as original in its execution (tee hee, execution).

I think I enjoyed this one of the three the best partly because I'd read the subsequent books and therefore knew how certain things would turn out, but also because show more this is really a world all Hockensmith's own. Sure, he has to make the story abut the exposition of Pride & Prejudice and Zombies but aside from that, he can pretty much do whatever he wants - create and kill whatever characters he wants, because they'll be of little consequence once the story is complete. Yet still this author retains a whimsy dedicated to the canon characters.

This, like its friends, is not a book for the faint of heart. I would also argue that, unlike its temporal successors (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and Dreadfully Ever After), this one is not necessarily for the Janeites. Staunch believers in Jane Austen's word as holy grail will find the character development in this book to somewhat eclipse the natural order of things from the original. There is affection where there wouldn't be, and there is a kinship that shouldn't be. For this series, it works. But for anyone who identifies strongly with Austen characters as-written, not so much.

But that said, it is quite funny and very enjoyable. And while some will argue that book series are meant to be read in the author's order, I would argue that the dramatic irony retained by having read the 2nd and 3rd books prior to the first is actually worth it.

Lauren Cartelli
www.theliterarygothamite.com show less

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After in which the warrior women of the Bennett line combat intrigues, scandals, dreadfuls, ninja and high society by utilizing their varied martial arts skills and the manners and etiquette of a gentleman's daughters.

I am going to start this by stating that I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice (Austen). I also enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
If anything, this latest installment may have been even more fun, probably because it didn't have the show more original novel to which to adhere. Or stand up to, for that matter, though it does remain in keeping with the "comedy of manners" feel of the original. The story opens a few years after the close of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, with Jane and Bingley settled comfortably with their offspring at Netherfield, Lizzie and Darcy still happily married (though childless), and Kitty and Mary are still at home (through the contrivances of their mother, who, having married off three of her daughters discovered that she wants to keep the remaining two at home to wait on her. She uses her personality to discourage would-be beaus, much to Kitty's vexation.) Elizabeth and Darcy are returning to Pemberly after having visited Jane and her newborn, when disaster strikes - Darcy is bitten, and Elizabeth begins her search for a cure by contacting and following the instructions of her formidable enemy, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

I liked that this installment focused on some of the lesser characters - Kitty, Mary and even Anne are much more fully fleshed out and given greater consequence in the plot, something I think that Austen would approve of, even if she may not have quite approved of their more unladylike activities (fighting, seduction, misdirection and bouts of brazen hussy-ness, to name a few.) Darcy is unexpectedly humanized, Anne de Bourgh displays unusual vitality and even the ninja are brought forward into the light. Well, as much as they can be at any rate.

The descriptions of the spread of disease (cholera) in London, the battles with the unmentionables, and the insights into the point of view of the zombies are all excellent touches, and should satisfy even the bloodthirsty mobs of ancient Rome. The humour is excellent; Austen's wit and satire tweaked into black comedy, as even parasols become weapons against the undead.

4 stars (of 5)
Crossposted to Amazon.com, BookMooch and GoodReads. show less

It's always a pleasure to immerse myself in Steve Hockensmith's Old West with the Amlingmeyer brothers. In Hunters of the Dead, there are characters going incognito, bad guys with guns, the lucrative nut butter business, an Apache named Eskaminzim who reminded me a bit of Inspector Clouseau's valet, Kato, and Old Red (Gustav) Amlingmeyer teaching himself to read.

For me, the icing on the Hockensmith cake is the fact that there's always something to learn while I'm enjoying the story; in show more this case, the cutthroat early days of paleontology. And as for Eskaminzim, he has one of my favorite lines in the book: "You whites have so many words for stupid. I guess you need them."

There seems to be a trip to Texas in the Amlingmeyer brothers' future, and I'm looking forward to that. Get your hands on this series if you're in the mood for some lighthearted (yet educational) fun set in the Old West. It's a treat. show less