I actually left my hometown for a shopping trip, aren't you proud? Shopping trips for me usually involve clicking over to Amazon.com or Ebay, but this time I actually drove into a city. Anyway, I waltzed on into a book store hoping to find Atlast Shrugged, but my bookstore is pretty stinky, and they didn't have it. I also went on a quest to find some C++ books, not the "For Dummies" stuff, but an actual book to help replace the one my kitty shredded. No such luck there, either. For some reason, bookstores in my area completely lack anything interesting, save for a book I once picked up called "Weird Minnesota", which I will review later, and a quirky book I found on this trip, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. This is the book, same plot and all, with zombie goodness in it.
First of all, I am not a Jane Austen fan, so I didn't go into this book as a purist. I went in thinking, "Cool! Someone's actually attempting to liven this dreary book up!" So sue me, but I have better things to read about than a bunch of women speculating their prospective suitors, such as reading a novel about dragons and wizards, a book explaining how our lack of free markets and the Federal Reserve have crashed our fiat currency, or even a book about a crazy sailor whose goal is to exact his revenge upon a certain unique whale.
So, how did I like this book? It was certainly interesting. 80% of the book is Jane Austen's original text, sprinkled with touches of zombies and talk of a warrior's pride, while the rest of ultra-gruesome zombie action. How gruesome, you ask? I'll just give you a heads up before I continue, so look away now if you don't wish to know.
First of all, the decaying zombies are often times described in vivid detail. Even the most squeamish person around can probably stand this, but it also describes in vivid detail how they come upon their victims and proceed to eat them alive.
Elizabeth also has a penchant for beheading the creatures, and she also strangles a man with his own entrails and bites into a fresh heart. Not very ladylike, eh?
There's also one character who gets infected with the zombie virus (I didn't know that could happen until after you're dead, but whatever), and slowly turns into one. This is supposed to be comical, and it is, with a hint of tragedy, but it can also be pretty darned gross at times.
So, now that that's out of the way, and if you're still interested, I bet you want to know if the additional stuff actually works. I'm pleased to say that it does, for the most part.
The English countryside is occupied by zombies, or, as this book often refers to them, unmentionables. Being trained in combat is a must if you hope to survive, so the Benett sisters are sent to China to learn the ways of the Shaolin. Of course, there's the normal marriage prospects, etc., but this is all sprinkled with the fact that zombies are running around lose, and no one knows how to stop them!
It's very easy to suspend disbelief and acknowledge that by "occupation" they mean "zombie invasion" and not a military reference. However, I must admit that I had a harder time swallowing the whole ninja sideplot. In a day and age when the Western world largely looked down upon the Oriental, the idea of sending away women to learn karate and martial arts is a bit of a stretch. The whole Japanese pagoda thing was a little off-beat, too, but this book doesn't even try to take itself seriously, so just go with it and laugh.
Some of the book's highlights include a better explanation as to why Charlotte decided to marry Mr. Collins at all, a much colder, stronger Elizabeth, and lots of zombies. With any luck a movie will grace the silver screen soon, but first we have to finish with Pride and Predator, which is said novel with aliens instead of zombies.
First of all, I am not a Jane Austen fan, so I didn't go into this book as a purist. I went in thinking, "Cool! Someone's actually attempting to liven this dreary book up!" So sue me, but I have better things to read about than a bunch of women speculating their prospective suitors, such as reading a novel about dragons and wizards, a book explaining how our lack of free markets and the Federal Reserve have crashed our fiat currency, or even a book about a crazy sailor whose goal is to exact his revenge upon a certain unique whale.
So, how did I like this book? It was certainly interesting. 80% of the book is Jane Austen's original text, sprinkled with touches of zombies and talk of a warrior's pride, while the rest of ultra-gruesome zombie action. How gruesome, you ask? I'll just give you a heads up before I continue, so look away now if you don't wish to know.
First of all, the decaying zombies are often times described in vivid detail. Even the most squeamish person around can probably stand this, but it also describes in vivid detail how they come upon their victims and proceed to eat them alive.
Elizabeth also has a penchant for beheading the creatures, and she also strangles a man with his own entrails and bites into a fresh heart. Not very ladylike, eh?
There's also one character who gets infected with the zombie virus (I didn't know that could happen until after you're dead, but whatever), and slowly turns into one. This is supposed to be comical, and it is, with a hint of tragedy, but it can also be pretty darned gross at times.
So, now that that's out of the way, and if you're still interested, I bet you want to know if the additional stuff actually works. I'm pleased to say that it does, for the most part.
The English countryside is occupied by zombies, or, as this book often refers to them, unmentionables. Being trained in combat is a must if you hope to survive, so the Benett sisters are sent to China to learn the ways of the Shaolin. Of course, there's the normal marriage prospects, etc., but this is all sprinkled with the fact that zombies are running around lose, and no one knows how to stop them!
It's very easy to suspend disbelief and acknowledge that by "occupation" they mean "zombie invasion" and not a military reference. However, I must admit that I had a harder time swallowing the whole ninja sideplot. In a day and age when the Western world largely looked down upon the Oriental, the idea of sending away women to learn karate and martial arts is a bit of a stretch. The whole Japanese pagoda thing was a little off-beat, too, but this book doesn't even try to take itself seriously, so just go with it and laugh.
Some of the book's highlights include a better explanation as to why Charlotte decided to marry Mr. Collins at all, a much colder, stronger Elizabeth, and lots of zombies. With any luck a movie will grace the silver screen soon, but first we have to finish with Pride and Predator, which is said novel with aliens instead of zombies.
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