Book Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. Never was this truth more plain than during the recent attacks at Netherfield Park, in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by a horde of the living dead."

Well at least now we know why Mr. Bingley was able to move so close by.

Such is the beginning of Seth Grahame-Smith's reimagining of Jane Austen's beloved classic Pride and Prejudice.

I loved this book. I loved it for its cheek, I loved it for its wit, and more importantly, I loved that it was so reverent to the original source material that I can't imagine even the staunchest of Austen-ites taking issue with it.

(Actually I take that back--these are the same people who hated Colin Firth coming out of a pond all sexy-like in the BBC Production and Kiera Knightly for arriving at Netherfield with her hair down. Nutters they truly are.)

This really is Pride and Prejudice with zombies in that 90% of the book was taken from the source material. In this incantation, we are simply given a reasons for why the military is suddenly stationed in a sleepy country village, why Charlotte would marry the pathetic Mr. Collins, and why Darcy would try to separate Bingley from Jane Bennett--the plague that has created a league of zombies has overtaken the English countryside and the unmentionables, as they are often called, have become a serious issue. The military and the Bennett sisters (having been trained under a Shaolin master in China) are Meryton's only hope.

Plus there is a serious amount of ass kicking from my favorite literary heroine. The girl disembowels a few ninjas and still gets her man.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is available now in paperback (and on the Kindle if you're technologically inclined) now.